Bartók, Béla
Famous Banat Composer & Pianist
Béla Viktor János Bartók (born March 25, 1881 in Groß St. Nikolausand died September 26, 1945) was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary’s greatest composer (Gillies 2001). Through his collection and analytical study of folk music, he was one of the founders of ethnomusicology.
Béla Bartók was born in the small Banatian town of Nagyszentmiklós in the Kingdom of Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Empire, (since 1920 Sânnicolau Mare, Romania) on March 25, 1881. Bartók’s family reflected some of the ethnic diversity of the country. His mother, Paula (née Voit), had German as mother tongue, but was ethnically of “mixed Hungarian” origin: Her maiden name Voit is German, probably of Saxon origin from Upper Hungary, though she spoke Hungarian fluently. Among her forefathers there were family names like Polereczky (Magyarized Polish) and Fegyveres (Magyar). His father, Bélla Sr., considered himself thoroughly Hungarian, though his mother was from a Roman Catholic Serbian family. [citation needed] Béla displayed notable musical talent very early in life: according to his mother, he could distinguish between different dance rhythms that she played on the piano before he learned to speak in complete sentences (Gillies 1990, 6). By the age of four, he was able to play 40 pieces on the piano; his mother began formally teaching him the next year. [Source: Wikipedia]
Published by Jody McKim Pharr, DVHH.org 10 Nov 2009.
Note:
Groß St. Nikolaus / Gross St. Nikolaus (German)
Groß Sankt Nikolaus (German)
Nagyszentmiklós / Nagyszentmiklos (Hungarian)
Sînnicolau Mare / Sinnicolau Mare
Sânnicolaul Mare / Sannicolaul Mare, Romania (Official)
Last updated: 07/26/2025