About this Artist
Born: 1881, Nagyszentmiklós, Hungary
Died: 1945, New York
"I cannot conceive of music that expresses absolutely nothing."
In his early years, Bartók was heavily influenced by the exotic music of French composer Claude Debussy, but his passionate and painstaking research into the native music of Hungary and the surrounding regions was to change his own music profoundly. The element of rhythm pervades his later works, which combine startling harmonies and vivid orchestral colors with an intensity that makes them immediately identifiable.