Born: 1881-03-25 (Nagyszentmiklós, Magyar Királyság).
Died: September 26, 1945 (New York, New York, United States).
Béla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer, pianist, ethnomusicologist and collector of Eastern European and Middle Eastern folk music (born 25/03/1881 in Nagyszentmiklós, today Sânnicolau Mare, Romania - died 25/09/1945 in New York, U.S.A).
He is considered one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century; his vast production reveals a daring and restless harmonic instinct that is affected by his passionate studies on Hungarian folk songs. Typical elements of Béla Bartók style (derived from Hungarian, Transylvanian and Romanian folklore) consists in the use of irregular rhythms and a clear preference for obsessive rhythms. His compositions have sonorities, sometimes abstract, but often harsh, rough and barbaric.
Married to the pianist Ditta Pásztory-Bartók. His 2nd son, Peter Bartok became a recording engineer.
