Renowned pianist, composer, teacher and academician.
His father was the director of the agricultural school. His mother Paula Voit was a teacher and a talented musician. His father is a musician too, he founded the local Musical-and Folk Song Society (1887), and organised concerts. He father died in 1888 at the age of 32, his mother hat to become the breadwinner in the family. She worked as a substitute teacher in the local school, where his son finished the fifth grade. At the age of seven the young Bartók had a perfect ear for music, and composed his first piece called „A Duna folyása ajánlva mamának, 1890-1894. Helyszín: Nagyszőlős-Nagyvárad Nagyszentmiklós”). (“The Course of the Danube dedicated to mother, 1890-1894. Place: Nagyszőlős (today Vinogradiv, Ukraine) Nagyvárad (today Oradea, Romania), Nagyszentmiklós (today Sânnicolau Mare, Romania).
In the following years Bartók’s mother and her family moved a lot, because she was looking for work. First they went to Nagyszőlős then to Nagyvárad, Pozsony, Beszterce, finally settled down in Pozsony. It was hard for the young Bartók to cope with the constant moving of the family. Bartók visited his home town several times before and after the First World War. In 1903 he was invited by a friend and spent there several days. On April 13, he held his first concert in the Fekete Sas hotel. He went back in 1919 and to collect folk songs in Nagyszentmiklós and in its surroundings.
From 1892 until 1896 he studied piano and theory at László Erkel in Pozsony. In 1899 Bartók started studying piano under István Thomán and composition under János Koessler at the Royal Academy of Music in Budapest. He graduated from the Academy in 1903 with excellent results and performed as a piano player in several cities (Pozsony, Vienna, Berlin).
He stared composing music influenced by the music of Brahms and R. Strauss. His first important works (Kossuth-szimfónia, 1903;
I. Szvit, 1905) are the continuation of the Hungarian Romantic music of the 19th century. His patriotic works were inspired by recruiting dances and popular folk music. The turning points for Bartók were the years 1905 and 1906 when he became interested in folk songs. In 1906, helped by Kodály, he started collecting folk songs. He travelled a lot, especially in Transylvania. He also showed interest in other nation’s culture. From 1906 until 1909 he made research in Slovakia as well. After 1909 – until the war broke out-he was collecting folk songs in Romania. Bartók has been considered the best Romanian folk song collector ever.
Based on the national and folk songs, together with Kodály, they created a new Hungarian music style and language. In 1906 they published their collection of compositions based on folk songs (Magyar népdalok -Hungarian Folk Songs). In 1910 they held to concerts where they presented, together with other compositions, their string-quartet. The public was at least indifferent, but mostly hostile. To gain the approval of the public, together with other young musicians, they founded the New Hungarian Music Society, but their efforts were not successful. After this, Barók retired from public life.
His ballet (A fából faragott királyfi -The Wooden Prince, 1914–16) and his opera (A kékszakállú herceg vára -Bluebeard’s Castle, 1911) were welcomed by the public.
During the revolution he was working together with Kodály. After the First World War he held several concerts abroad. In 1928 he was in the USA and after that he held concerts in Soviet Union. He became acknowledged all over the world as a pianist and as a composer.
He fought against fascism. He did not allow his compositions to be played by German and Italian radios, and also stopped collaborating with German musicians. In 1940, together with his wife Ditta Pásztory (they got married in 1923) they settled down in the USA. During this period he became more and more ill. In 1943 he wrote the Concerto, which was presented to the public in the following year. He met Yehudi Menuhin to whom he composed the Sonata for Solo Violin. In 1954 in the last year of his life he was working on the Viola Concerto, but he did not finish it.
For his 50th birthday the inhabitants of Nagyszentmiklós were planning to welcome him in the town. They would have liked to place a commemorative tablet on the house where Bartók was born. But the celebration could not be held…
Bartók held two concerts in the 20’s in Temesvár (today Timişoara, Romania) 1924, 1926. His last concert in this town took place in 1938.
In his hometown a statue was raised in his memory. In Temesvár in the high-school named after him a memorial tablet was placed. The Hungarian high-school in Nagyszentmiklós was also named after him. The Pro Bartók Society has been founded to help preserve his memory.
