Béla Bartók: A Great Hungarian Composer

(March 25, 1881 – September 26, 1945)
Béla Bartók was an outstanding composer of the modern age who wrote works for string quartets, large orchestras, and series of compositions for use of young musicians and students of music. At the age of six, he began to study music in his native Hungary. He was already composing short piano pieces at the age of nine. He further continued his music studies at the Royal Academy in Budapest, and returned in 1907 as one of its youngest professors in piano.
Upon visiting a friend living in a far off village, Bartók heard a kind of Hungarian music which eventually influenced his musical compositional style for the rest of his musical career. His fellow composer, Zoltan Kodaly, also admired this type of music. They both realized that what they were actually hearing as Hungarian music in the city was actually gypsy music, a different dimension of Hungarian, or Magyar, folk music, which they can use and derive inspiration from.

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Pieces for Children