The Cambridge Companion to Bartók

The impression we get of Bartók, unquestionably one of the major composers of twentieth century music, is of an almost obsessive collector and analyst of folk music; although he made considerable use of such material in his own compositions, one cannot help thinking that he might have produced more original work but for that self‐imposed task. Even so, we are left with an impressive corpus in several genres.

This Companion describes the political, social and cultural background of Hungary during the period of Bartók’s formative years of learning and teaching: he was after all a mature 37 by the time...