The Hungarian composer

Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) 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 Hunga ...

wrote six

string quartet The term string quartet refers to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two Violin, violini ...

s, for two

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

and

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

List

* String Quartet No. 1 (1909), Op.7, Sz. 40, BB 52 * String Quartet No. 2 (1917), Op.17, Sz. 67, BB 75 * String Quartet No. 3 (1927), Sz. 85, BB 93 * String Quartet No. 4 (1928), Sz. 91, BB 95 * String Quartet No. 5 (1934), Sz. 102, BB 110 * String Quartet No. 6 (1939), Sz. 114, BB 119

Posterity

Notable composers who have been influenced by them include: *

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, o ...

, particularly in the Sonata in C for Cello and Piano *

Elliott Carter Elliott Cook Carter Jr. (December 11, 1908 – November 5, 2012) was an American modernist composer who was one of the most respected composers of the second half of the 20th century. He combined elements of European modernism and American " ...

, who refers in the opening of his own First String Quartet to Bartók's Sixth Quartet * Chen Yi *

Edison Denisov Edison Vasilievich Denisov (, 6 April 1929 – 24 November 1996) was a Russian composer in the so-called " Underground", "alternative" or "nonconformist" division of Soviet music. Biography Denisov was born in Tomsk, Siberia. He studied math ...

, whose Second Quartet is closely related to Bartók's Fifth Quartet * Franco Donatoni, who was deeply impressed when he heard a broadcast of Bartók's Fourth Quartet *

Robert Fripp Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is an English musician, composer, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and longest-lasting member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a session mu ...

, who mentions them as an influence on the band

King Crimson King Crimson were an English progressive rock band formed in London in 1968 by Robert Fripp, Michael Giles, Greg Lake, Ian McDonald (musician), Ian McDonald and Peter Sinfield. Guitarist Fripp remained the only constant member throughout the ...

Miloslav Ištvan Miloslav Ištvan (2 September 1928 in Olomouc – 26 January 1990, in Brno) was a Czech composer whose work was inspired by the works of Béla Bartók and by the orientation of the modal style of folk songs. He studied Romanian and African folklore ...

György Kurtág György Kurtág (; born 19 February 1926) is a Hungarian composer of contemporary classical music and pianist. According to ''Grove Music Online'', with a style that draws on " Bartók, Webern and, to a lesser extent, Stravinsky, his work is c ...

, whose Opp. 1 and 28 both owe a great deal to Bartók's quartets *

György Ligeti György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde music, avant-garde composers in the latter half of the ...

, whose two string quartets both owe a great deal to Bartók's quartets *

Bruno Maderna Bruno Maderna (born Bruno Grossato, 21 April 1920 – 13 November 1973) was an Italian composer, conductor and academic teacher. Life Maderna was born Bruno Grossato in Venice but later decided to take the name of his mother, Caterina Carolina M ...

George Perle George Perle (6 May 1915 – 23 January 2009) was an American composer and music theory, music theorist. As a composer, his music was largely atonality, atonal, using methods similar to the twelve-tone technique of the Second Viennese School. Th ...

, who credits the Bartók Fourth and Fifth Quartets as precedents for his use of arrays of chords related to one another by different types of symmetry *

Walter Piston Walter Hamor Piston, Jr. (January 20, 1894 – November 12, 1976), was an American composer of classical music, music theorist, and professor of music at Harvard University. Life Piston was born in Rockland, Maine at 15 Ocean Street to Walter ...

Steve Reich Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer best known as a pioneer of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, and canons. Reich descr ...

, who described them in an interview as "the greatest set of quartets since Beethoven" * Kim Dzmitrïyevich Tsesakow * *

Stefan Wolpe Stefan Wolpe (25 August 1902, Berlin – 4 April 1972, New York City) was a German-born American composer. He was associated with interdisciplinary modernism, with affiliations ranging from the Bauhaus, Berlin agitprop theater and the kibbutz mov ...

, who explained in a public lecture how he had derived ideas from Bartók's Fourth Quartet * Xu Yongsan *

Jouni Kaipainen Jouni Ilari Kaipainen (24 November 1956 – 23 November 2015) was a Finnish composer. Kaipainen was born in Helsinki to the physician and politician Osmo Kaipainen, and his wife, the author Anu Mustonen. He studied at the Sibelius Academy T ...

, credited openly Bartók's quartets as his model.

Recordings

Key recordings of the complete cycle include: *

Emerson String Quartet The Emerson String Quartet, also known as the Emerson Quartet, was an American string quartet initially formed as a student group at the Juilliard School in 1976. It was named for American poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson and began touri ...

, Deutsche Grammophon, released 1990. * Hagen Quartet *

Juilliard String Quartet The Juilliard String Quartet (JSQ) is a classical music string quartet founded in 1946 at the Juilliard School in New York by William Schuman and Robert Mann. Since its inception, it has been the quartet-in-residence at the Juilliard School. ...

: ** Recorded 1949, New York. Robert Mann and Robert Koff, violins; Raphael Hillyer, viola; Arthur Winograd, cello. Three LPs, 12 in., monaural. Columbia Masterworks ML 4278/4279/4280. ** Recorded May and September, 1963, Columbia 30th Street Studios, New York. Robert Mann and Isidore Cohen, violins; Raphael Hillyer, viola; Claus Adam, cello. Three LPs, 12 in., stereo. Columbia Masterworks D3L 317 (set): ML 6102, 6103, 6104. New York: Columbia Masterworks, 1965. ** Recorded 13–23 May 1981, Columbia 30th Street Studios, New York. Robert Mann and Earl Carlyss, violins; Samuel Rhodes, viola; Claus Adam, cello. * Lindsay String Quartet *

Takács Quartet The Takács Quartet is a string quartet founded in Budapest, Hungary, and now based in Boulder, Colorado, United States. History In 1975, four students at the Music Academy in Budapest, Gábor Takács-Nagy (first violin), Károly Schranz (se ...

, Decca 289 455 297-2. Released 1998.

References

Sources * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

Performance guide

Bartók Quartet The Bartók Quartet is a Hungarian string quartet ensemble, founded in 1963 in Budapest as the successor ensemble of the Komlós Quartet (1957–63). Their repertoire includes especially works of the Viennese Classicism and Béla Bartók as wel ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bartok, Bela Lists of string quartets by composer Lists of compositions by composer

List

Posterity

Recordings

See also

References

External links