The Daily Book of Classical Music

DAY 173

GREAT COMPOSERS

Béla Bartók (1881–1945)

NO ONE ELSE COMPARES

Due to numerous illnesses as a child, Hungarian composer Béla Bartók spent much of his youth in isolation, and he almost didn’t live to age 20—which likely contributed to his quiet, terse nature as an adult. One associate of his remarked that his outward demeanor was “exactly the opposite of the revolutionary vigour of his art.”¹

Many of Bartók’s compositions inspired intrigue but were largely misunderstood. His style was actually derived from a wide range of influences gleaned from his insatiable curiosity—from the Romanticism of Strauss, to Debussy’s impressionism, ...