Lajos bertok biography of donald

Hungarian composer (–)

"Bartok" redirects here. For other uses, see Bartok (disambiguation).

The native form of this personal name is Bartók Béla Viktor János. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

Béla Viktor János Bartók (; Hungarian:[ˈbeːlɒˈbɒrtoːk]; 25 March – 26 September ) was a Hungarian composer, pianist and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hungary's greatest composers. Through his collection and analytical study of folk music, he was one of the founders of comparative musicology, which later became known as ethnomusicology.

Biography

Childhood and early years (–)

Bartók was born in the Banatian town of Nagyszentmiklós in the Kingdom of Hungary (present-day Sânnicolau Mare, Romania) on 25 March On his father's side, the Bartók family was a Hungarian lower noble family, originating from Borsodszirák, Borsod. His paternal grandmother was a Catholic of Bunjevci origin, but considered herself Hungarian. Bartók's father (–) was also named Béla. Bartók's mother, Paula (née Voit)&#;[hu] (–), spokeHungarian fluently. A native of Turócszentmárton (present-day Martin, Slovakia), she had German, Hungarian and Slovak or Polish ancestry.

Béla displayed notable musical talent very early in life. According to his mother, he could distinguish between different dance rhythms that she played on the piano before he learned to speak in complete sentences. By the age of four he was able to play 40 pieces on the piano, and his mother began formally teaching him the next year.

In , when he was seven, his father, the director of an agricultural school, died suddenly. His mother then took Béla and his sister, Erzsébet, to live in Nagyszőlős (present-day Vynohradiv, Ukraine) and then in Pressburg (present-day Bratislava, Slovakia). Béla gave his first public recital aged 11 in Nag

James L. Franklin
George Dunea
Chicago, Illinois, United States

Black clouds of war were hanging over the world when Béla Bartók and his wife Ditta Pásztory () disembarked in New York Harbor on October 30, For the remainder of his life, Bartók would learn, as had Dante, “. . . how salt the taste of another man’s bread and how hard is the way up and down another man’s ladder.” At the age of fifty-nine, a “stranger in a strange land,” he and his wife would have to learn a new language and with limited resources navigate the confusing and chaotic landscape of one of the world’s largest metropolises. He would confront a slowly progressive and mysterious illness that would ultimately cause his death at the age of sixty-four. Yet he triumphed, writing some of his greatest music and assuring his place as one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century.

Shortly after his death, a polarized view of Bartók’s final years emanated from voices in post-war Hungary. The democratic world had not recognized his courageous stand against Fascism or rewarded his musical mastery. It was alleged that he was exploited by a millionaire culture that led him to betray modernism and compose works that would be acceptable to the public. There were accusations that he had left Hungary well, but in the asphalt jungle of America failed to receive medical attention and died in poverty. As a foil to those charges, what follows is an account of those years in America with an emphasis on his illnesses—tuberculosis and leukemia—and the medical care he received.

Throughout the s, Bartók watched anxiously as Europe and his beloved Hungary drifted further under the grip of Fascist dictators. As a young man, Bartók had felt the weight of Austrian oppression and fiercely supported Hungarian nationalism. Writing to his mother, he asserted: “I shall pursue one objective all my life, in every sphere and in every way: the good of Hungary and the Hungarian Na

NEW YORK — The great Hungarian composer Bela Bartok was honored in musical tribute Sunday, 43 years after his death in self-exile and three days before his remains are moved to “his beloved country, Hungary.”

Ferenc Esztergalyos, Hungary’s ambassador to the United Nations, joined other Hungarian officials, aficionados of classical music and Bartok’s two sons at a memorial service at the Unitarian Community Church in Manhattan.

The service was the first memorial for Bartok, considered one of the greatest composers of the 20th century. He fled the Nazis in and died of leukemia in at the age of 64 while eeking out a living as a musical researcher at Columbia University in New York.

A state funeral is scheduled July 7 in Budapest for the composer.

Esztergalyos wished the composer “a safe journey and rest in peace to his beloved country, Hungary.”

Bartok’s remains will be removed Wednesday from Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, N.Y., to begin the journey to Budapest, where they will be publicly displayed at the Academy of Sciences July 6. The reburial will be in Farkasrep Cemetery there.

In post-war Hungary, Bartok was widely recognized as one of the nation’s outstanding sons after the Communist government dropped its early opposition to his music, which failed to reflect the prescribed tenets of social realism. His portrait is printed on Hungary’s biggest bank note.

His sons will accompany the coffin on the Queen Elizabeth II to Southampton, England, sailing June

“At first the idea of disturbing my father after he had been laid to rest seemed unpalatable, but the idea of his making the trip alone was even more unpalatable,” said Peter Bartok,

During the tribute, six of Bartok’s dark, brooding pieces--including “Out of Doors” and “Dance Suite”--were played by pianist Robert Schwartz. He described the music as steeped in pathos reflecting Hungary’s turbulent history.

The pieces were written in , whe

Significant development of classical music in Hungary, including music education, did not begin until well into the second half of the nineteenth century.  The Philharmonic Society (Filharmóniai Társaság) was formed in , while the Opera House opened only in   Despite this relatively late beginning, standards were high from the outset.  The highly skilled composer/conductor/pianist Ferenc Erkel headed both institutions.

Erkel conducted the first Philharmonic concert on 20 November as well as a further sixty concerts in subsequent years.  He remained at the helm of the Philharmonic Society for eighteen years (), and stability was maintained through the fact that all the chief conductors who succeeded him served for long periods.  Ernst von Dohnanyi (Dohnányi Ernő) was the longest serving music director ().  Composers such as Brahms, Dvořák, Mahler, Mascagni, Prokofiev, Ravel, Respighi, Richard Strauss and Stravinsky conducted their own compositions, while guest conductors included, among others, Hans Richter and Arthur Nikisch. Programming was innovative; for instance Mahler’s first symphony was premiered by this orchestra in   The orchestra also served as that of the Opera House – a model still in use today – and in that capacity one of its music directors was Gustav Mahler from to

The establishment of the Hungarian National Conservatoire (Nemzeti Zenede) in was a great boon to music education.  Standards improved further with the opening in of the Music Academy, whose founder-director was Ferenc (Franz) Liszt.

Jewish participation was significant in all Hungarian music institutions, as in other cultural fields.  Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the proportion of Jews at opera performances was so high that the political right-wing objected to state subsidy for the opera.  Nevertheless, by , the Jewish Gustav Mahler was serving as music director.  Jews also participated actively in Opera House p