Bartók acknowledged his musical debt to the Hungarian composer Franz Liszt and the French composer Claude Debussy, and his tone poem Kossuth (1904) shows the influence of the German composer Richard Strauss. About 1905 Bartók realised that what generally passed as Hungarian folk music was actually gypsy music arranged according to conventional Central European standards. With his friend the Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály, Bartók systematically collected and analysed Hungarian and other folk music, a collaboration that resulted in 12 volumes of folk songs.
Bartók rarely incorporated folk songs into his compositions; rather, he assimilated into a powerful personal style the scales and melodic contours and the driving, often asymmetrical rhythms of Balkan and Hungarian folk music. His music always has a tonal centre, but this is usually established in personal, only partially traditional ways.
The six-volume Mikrokosmos (1935), consisting of 150 progressively graded piano pieces, constitutes a summary of his development, as do his six string quartets, considered among the most important string quartets after those of Ludwig van Beethoven. Bartók did research at Columbia University (1940-41) and taught music in New York City, living in financial stress. He died of leukaemia in New York City, September 26, 1945.
Differences: Bach, Mozart, BartókBachMozartBartók At the forefront of the baroque composers. Studied with Buxtehude and Lübeck.Very classical. He appreciated Bach and used Haydn?s sting quartets as models.Studied late Romantics. Strauss, Wagner, the impressionist Debussy and 20th Century Stravinsky. Largely self-taught.Taught mainly by father.Taught mainly by mother. Bach began to earn his own living as a chorister at around age five. Did not go to a musical academy. Began touring when he was around five.Accepted into the Budapest Royal Academy of Music at 18 and began as a concert pianist. Bach was constantly at odds with the local council.Mozart was apolitical.Intensely nationalistic. Got one months leave to study composition at age 10.Began composing regularly from age 5.Began actively composing at age 26. Bach was a craftsman but did not spend a long time writing his compositions.Melodies came to him naturally. Considered notating his compositions a chore.Bartók was meticulous in the construction of his compositions and spent time writing them. Bach had a huge output. He wrote over 215 cantatas.Mozart had a large output: 49 symphonies and 18 operas.Bartok had a relatively small output. 1 opera. No sonatas. Master of polyphony or counterpoint. Fairly controlled rhythms.Controlled rhythms and resolved harmonies.Notable for vigourous rhythms, ostinatos, dissonance and atonality.Similarities All three played keyboards very well and toured as performers.
They played their own compositions from an early age.
Mozart and Bartók had parents as first teachers.
Both Mozart and Bartók used instruments for solo passages that had not been used again.
All demanded high performance levels from their orchestra.
Both Mozart and Bartók wrote string quartets.
All had great influence on later composers, Mozart on Beethoven, Bartók on Copeland and Bach on everyone including his twenty or so childrenJ
All were leaders in their own eras.
All died tragically, all succumbing to illness.
BibliographyTitleAuthor/ EditorPublisherDate James Galways? Music in TimeWilliam MannMichael Beazley Publishers1982 The Concise Oxford History of MusicGerald AbrahamOxford University Press1979 Music in Western CivilizationPaul Henry LangW. W. Norton and Company1941 The Ultimate Encyclopaedia of Classical MusicRobert AinsleyCarlton Books Limited1995 The Cambridge Music GuideStanley SadieCambridge University Press1985 School text: Western European Orchestral MusicMary AllenHamilton Girls? High School1999 History of MusicRoy BennettCambridge University Press1982 Classical Music for DummiesDavid PogueIDG Books Worldwide,Inc1997Assignment Completed By: Wolff, © June 2000
A: Yr 12 Musical Knowledge Research Assignment 24/05/00/Joan