The Great Béla Bartók: An International and Interdisciplinary Perspective

Abstract

A 21st century review of Béla Bartók’s cultural position in the early twentieth century from an interdisciplinary point of view, first beginning with Bartók’s early musical training, then his theatre works, which involved the collaborations of such figures as Béla Balázs and Melchior Lendyl. Bartok’s familiarity with their thinking documents the impact of international Symbolist and Art Nouveau culture in his own formation, as well as the common interest in the folkloric elements incorporated by Bartók and others in this era. Also, Bartók’s achievement will be considered in relation to other significant composers on the international scene in the first half of the twentieth century, including figures such as Igor Stravinsky, Charles Ives, and Arnold Schoenberg. With special mention of Mihály Szegedy-Maszák’s writings on Béla Bartók, including his “Bartók’s Place in Cultural History.”