The Hungarian composer
Béla BartókBéla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist, considered to be one of the greatest composers of the 20th century, and regarded, along with Liszt, as his country's greatest composer...
wrote six
string quartetA string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string instruments — usually two violins, a viola and cello — or a piece written to be performed by such a group...
s, each for the usual force of two
violinThe violin is a bowed string instrument with four strings usually tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello....
s,
violaThe viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.The casual observer may mistake the viola for the violin because of their similarity in size, closeness in pitch range , and nearly identical playing position...
and
celloThe cello is a bowed string instrument. The word derives from the Italian violoncello. A person who plays a cello is called a cellist. The cello is used as a solo instrument, in chamber music, and as a member of the string section of an orchestra...
. Many musical connoisseurs often consider these quartets to be as intricate and as clever as Beethoven's later string quartets. They are replete with humor, desolation, and beauty tinged with a very distinct Hungarian feel. They also stretch the boundaries of the string instrument, adding for example Bartók pizzicato, a type of pizzicato performed by pulling the string upwards then letting it snap back against the fingerboard.
For information about each quartet, see the following links:
- String Quartet No. 1
The String Quartet No. 1 in A minor by Béla Bartók was completed in 1909. The score is dated January 27 of that year.The work is in three movements, played without breaks between each:#Lento#Allegretto#Allegro vivace...
, Op.7, Sz.
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The Hungarian composer
Béla BartókBéla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist, considered to be one of the greatest composers of the 20th century, and regarded, along with Liszt, as his country's greatest composer...
wrote six
string quartetA string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string instruments — usually two violins, a viola and cello — or a piece written to be performed by such a group...
s, each for the usual force of two
violinThe violin is a bowed string instrument with four strings usually tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello....
s,
violaThe viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.The casual observer may mistake the viola for the violin because of their similarity in size, closeness in pitch range , and nearly identical playing position...
and
celloThe cello is a bowed string instrument. The word derives from the Italian violoncello. A person who plays a cello is called a cellist. The cello is used as a solo instrument, in chamber music, and as a member of the string section of an orchestra...
. Many musical connoisseurs often consider these quartets to be as intricate and as clever as Beethoven's later string quartets. They are replete with humor, desolation, and beauty tinged with a very distinct Hungarian feel. They also stretch the boundaries of the string instrument, adding for example Bartók pizzicato, a type of pizzicato performed by pulling the string upwards then letting it snap back against the fingerboard.
For information about each quartet, see the following links:
- String Quartet No. 1
The String Quartet No. 1 in A minor by Béla Bartók was completed in 1909. The score is dated January 27 of that year.The work is in three movements, played without breaks between each:#Lento#Allegretto#Allegro vivace...
, Op.7, Sz. 40, BB 52
- String Quartet No. 2
The String Quartet No. 2 by Béla Bartók was written between 1915, and October 1917 in Rákoskeresztúr in Hungary.The work is in three movements:#Moderato#Allegro molto capriccioso#Lento...
, Op.17, Sz. 67, BB 75
- String Quartet No. 3
The String Quartet No. 3 by Béla Bartók was written in September 1926 in Budapest.The work is in one continuous stretch with no breaks, but is divided in the score into four parts:#Prima parte: Moderato#Seconda parte: Allegro...
, Sz. 85, BB 93
- String Quartet No. 4
The String Quartet No. 4 by Béla Bartók was written from July to September, 1927 in Budapest.The work is in five movements:#Allegro#Prestissimo, con sordino#Non troppo lento#Allegretto pizzicato#Allegro molto...
, Sz. 91, BB 95
- String Quartet No. 5
The String Quartet No. 5 Sz. 102, BB 110 by Béla Bartók was written between August 6 and September 6, 1934.The work is in five movements:#Allegro#Adagio molto#Scherzo: alla bulgarese#Andante#Finale: Allegro vivace...
, Sz. 102, BB 110
- String Quartet No. 6
The String Quartet No. 6 by Béla Bartók was written from August to November, 1939 in Budapest.The work is in four movements:#Mesto - Vivace#Mesto - Marcia#Mesto - Burletta#Mesto - Molto tranquillo...
, Sz. 114, BB 119
External links