Paru le 15/05/2008 | Broché 239 pages
Tout public
Béla Bartok (1881-1945) is a key figure in twentieth-century music, and the singular nature of his genius and the originality of his contribution are explored in this book. Born into the heart of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Bartok worked through his youthful nationalism to a clearer understanding of his native culture, setting off with his friend Zoltan Kodaly to record the folklore of Hungary before it was destroyed. He later ventured further into Romania and North Africa in pursuit of original cultures, and these sounds and experiences helped him find his voice as a composer.
The period of time when Bartok was composing some of his outstanding works saw the rise of a crypto-Fascist government in Hungary and Hitler's Germany, and in 1940 he emigrated to the United States. Homesick, short ofmoney and seriously ill, he composed the magnificent Concerto for Orchestra and was complering a poignant and nostalgie Third Piano Concerto when he died in 1945. This book shows the inextricable links between this reclusive creator's life, his music and the turbulence of two world wars.
Kenneth Chalmers is an author, translater and composer. Born in Scotland, he studied music at Glasgow University and ethnomusicology at Queen's University Belfast. He has written widely on twentieth-century music, and his own compositions include two specially commissioned chamber operas.
Jean-Jacques Sempé is one of the worid's greatest illustrators, known among other things for his New Yorker covers. His albums, graphic novels and children's books are all published by Phaidon.
The 20th-Century Composers series presents engaging narrative histories of the great composers of our time, their art and their world, supplemented by essential reference material. Titles currently available in this series include :
American Pioneers Ives, Varèse, Cowell, Cage, Partch ; Béla Bartok, The Beatles, Leonard Bernstein, Benjamin Britten, Claude Debussy, Gabriel Fauré, George Gershwin ; Hindemith, Hartmann and Henze ; Jazz Greats Bolden, Armstrong, Bechet, Ellington, Mingus, Young, Parker, Coltrane, Davis ; Erich Wolfgang Korngold, György Ligeti, Minimalists Young, Riley, Reich, Glass ; Carl Nielsen, A Polish Renaissance Panufnik, Lustoslawski, Penderecki, Gorecki ; Francis Poulenc, Sergey Prokofiev, Giacomo Puccini, Maurice Ravel, Alfred Schnittke, Jean Sibelius, Richard Strauss, Igor Stravinsky, Anton von Webern
