What is Béla Bartók?
[[File:Bartók Béla 1927.jpg|thumb|right|280px|Béla Bartók in 1927]] '''Béla Bartók''' (b. Nagyszentimiklós, [[Hungary]], 25 March 1881; d. [[New York City]] 26 September 1945) was a famous Hungarian [[composer]] and [[piano|pianist]]. He was one of the most important and original composers of the [[20th century]]. He became very interested in [[folk music]] and travelled a lot in Hungary and other countries, including [[Romania]], listening to the folk songs which the country people sang. He often used the style of these songs in his music. He is famous for his piano music, [[string quartet]]s and several pieces for [[orchestra]] including one called ''[[Concerto for Orchestra (Bartók)|Concerto for Orchestra]]''. Bartók’s [[harmony|harmonies]] and lively [[rhythm]]s were sometimes quite new to [[classical music]] and some [[audience]]s found them difficult to understand at first. == Childhood and early years == Béla Bartók was born in the small town of Nagyszentmiklós. In those days it was in the [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]], but today it is in [[Romania]]. When he was very small he showed great musical talent, and his mother taught him to play the piano. Béla was often ill when he was a child. When he was seven his father died, and his mother took him and his sister to live in Nagyszőlős (today it is called Vinogradiv and is in [[Ukraine]]), and then to Pozsony (today it is [[Bratislava]] in [[Slovakia]]). There he gave his first public recital when he was eleven. He included some music which he had composed himself. == Early musical career == [[File:Bartok tablo.jpg|thumb|right|Bartók on his high school graduation]] Soon he was studying the [[piano]] with István Thoman who had studied with the famous [[Franz Liszt]]. He had lessons in [[Composition (music)|composition]] from János Koessler at the Royal Academy of Music in Budapest. There he met the composer [[Zoltán Kodály]], who was a great [[influence]] on him and who became a lifelong friend. He soon started to compose longer pieces of music. He liked th