View source for List of string quartets by Béla Bartók

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[[File:Bartók Béla 1927.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Béla Bartók in 1927]]
The Hungarian composer [[Béla Bartók]] wrote six [[string quartet]]s, for two [[violin]]s, [[viola]] and [[cello]]:

==List==
* [[String Quartet No. 1 (Bartók)|String Quartet No. 1]] (1909), Op.7, Sz. 40, BB 52
* [[String Quartet No. 2 (Bartók)|String Quartet No. 2]] (1917), Op.17, Sz. 67, BB 75
* [[String Quartet No. 3 (Bartók)|String Quartet No. 3]] (1927), Sz. 85, BB 93
* [[String Quartet No. 4 (Bartók)|String Quartet No. 4]] (1928), Sz. 91, BB 95
* [[String Quartet No. 5 (Bartók)|String Quartet No. 5]] (1934), Sz. 102, BB 110
* [[String Quartet No. 6 (Bartók)|String Quartet No. 6]] (1939), Sz. 114, BB 119

== Posterity ==
Notable composers who have been influenced by them include:
* [[Benjamin Britten]], particularly in the [[Cello Sonata (Britten)|Sonata in C for Cello and Piano]]{{sfn|Rupprecht|1999|loc=250}}{{sfn|Whittall|2013|loc=189}}
* [[Elliott Carter]], who refers in the opening of his own [[String Quartet No. 1 (Carter)|First String Quartet]] to Bartók's Sixth Quartet{{sfn|Schmidt|2012|loc=172}}
* [[Chen Yi (composer)|Chen Yi]]{{sfn|Wong|2007|loc=237}}
* [[Edison Denisov]], whose Second Quartet is closely related to Bartók's Fifth Quartet{{sfn|Čigareva|2007|loc=231}}
* [[Franco Donatoni]], who was deeply impressed when he heard a broadcast of Bartók's Fourth Quartet{{sfn|Osmond-Smith|2001}}
* [[Robert Fripp]], who mentions them as an influence on the band [[King Crimson]]{{sfn|Tamm|n.d.}}
* [[Miloslav Ištvan]]{{sfn|Němcová|2001}}
* [[György Kurtág]], whose Opp. 1 and 28 both owe a great deal to Bartók's quartets{{sfn|Sallis|2014|loc=passim}}{{sfn|Sanderson|[2013]}}
* [[György Ligeti]], whose [[String Quartets (Ligeti)|two string quartets]] both owe a great deal to Bartók's quartets{{sfn|Iddon|2014|loc=passim}}{{sfn|Satory|1990|loc=101–103}}
* [[Bruno Maderna]]{{sfn|Palazzetti|2015|loc=passim}}
* [[George Perle]], who credits the Bartók Fourth and Fifth Quartets as precedents for his use of arrays of chords related to one another by different types of symmetry{{sfn|Lansky|2001}}
* [[Walter Piston]]{{sfn|Donahue|1964|loc=passim}}{{sfn|Manheim|n.d.}}
* [[Steve Reich]], who described them in an interview as "the greatest set of quartets since Beethoven"{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}
* Kim Dzmitrïyevich Tsesakow{{sfn|Shcherbakova|2001}}
* {{ill|Wilfried Westerlinck|nl}}{{sfn|Volborth-Danys|2001}}
* [[Stefan Wolpe]], who explained in a public lecture how he had derived ideas from Bartók's Fourth Quartet{{sfn|Babbitt|n.d.}}
* Xu Yongsan{{sfn|Wong|2007|loc=238}}
* [[Jouni Kaipainen]], credited openly Bartók's quartets as his model.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://relatedrocks.com/2006/03/26/sibelius-bartok-and-the-anxiety-of-influence-in-post-world-war-ii-finnish-music-2/ | title=Sibelius, Bartók, and the "Anxiety of Influence" in Post World War II Finnish Music | date=26 March 2006 }}</ref>

== Recordings ==
Key recordings of the complete cycle include:
* [[Emerson String Quartet]], Deutsche Grammophon, released 1990.{{full citation needed|date=June 2016}}<!--Date of recording, catalog number, etc.-->
* [[Hagen Quartet]]{{full citation needed|date=June 2016}}
* [[Juilliard String Quartet]]:
** Recorded 1949, New York. Robert Mann and Robert Koff, violins; Raphael Hillyer, viola; Arthur Winograd, cello. Three LPs, 12&nbsp;in., monaural. Columbia Masterworks ML 4278/4279/4280.
** Recorded May and September, 1963, Columbia 30th Street Studios, New York. Robert Mann and Isidore Cohen, violins; Raphael Hillyer, viola; Claus Adam, cello.{{Full citation needed|date=June 2016}} Three LPs, 12&nbsp;in., stereo. Columbia Masterworks D3L 317 (set): ML 6102, 6103, 6104. New York: Columbia Masterworks, 1965.
** Recorded 13–23 May 1981, Columbia 30th Street Studios, New York. Robert Mann and Earl Carlyss, violins; Samuel Rhodes, viola; Claus Adam, cello.{{Full citation needed|date=June 2016}}
* [[Lindsay String Quartet]]{{sfn|Anon.|1988}}
* [[Takács Quartet]], Decca 289 455 297-2. Released 1998.{{full citation needed|date=June 2016}}

==See also==
* [[List of compositions by Béla Bartók]]

==References==
{{reflist|15em}}

'''Sources'''
{{div col|colwidth=45em}}
*{{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Anon.|1988}}|reference=Anon. 1988. {{Discogs release|8717919|Bartók, Lindsay String Quartet – The 6 String Quartets}} (Listing of the 1988 reissue)}}
*{{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Babbitt|n.d.}}|reference=[[Milton Babbitt|Babbitt, Milton]]. n.d.. [http://ada.evergreen.edu/~arunc/texts/music/wolpe/wolpe/Milton_Babbitt.html untitled essay]. In "Recollections of Stefan Wolpe by Former Students and Friends", edited by Austin Clarkson. Ada Evergreen website (Accessed 18 April 2014).}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Čigareva|2007}}|reference=Čigareva, Evgeniâ Ivanovna. 2007. "Zur Bartók-Rezeption in Russland". ''Studia Musicologica'' 48, nos. 1–2 (March): 225–236.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Donahue|1964}}|reference=Donahue, Robert L. 1964. "A Comparative Analysis of Phrase Structure in Selected Movements of the String Quartest of Béla Bartók and Walter Piston". DMA thesis. Cornell University.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Iddon|2014}}|reference=Iddon, Martin. 2014. "Bartók's Relics: Nostalgia in György Ligeti's Second String Quartet". In ''The String Quartets of Bela Bartok: Tradition and Legacy in Analytical Perspective'', edited by Daniel Péter Biró and Harald Krebs, 243–260. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-19-993619-9}}.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Lansky|2001}}|reference=Lansky, Paul. 2001. "Perle, George". ''[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'', second edition, edited by [[Stanley Sadie]] and [[John Tyrrell (musicologist)|John Tyrrell]]. London: Macmillan.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Manheim|n.d.}}|reference=Manheim, James. n.d. "Harlem Quartet: Walter Piston: String Quartets Nos. 1, 3, and 5". [[AllMusic]] (accessed 18 April 2014).}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Němcová|2001}}|reference=Němcová, Alena. 2001. "Ištvan, Miloslav". ''[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'', second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Osmond-Smith|2001}}|reference=Osmond-Smith, David. 2001. "Donatoni, Franco". ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Palazzetti|2015}}|reference=Palazzetti, Nicolò. 2015. "Italian Harmony during the Second World War: Analysis of Bruno Maderna's First String Quartet". ''Rivista di Analisi e Teoria Musicale'' 21, no. 1: 63–91.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Rupprecht|1999}}|reference=Rupprecht, Philip. 1999. "The Chamber Music". In ''[[Cambridge Companions to Music|The Cambridge Companion to Benjamin Britten]]'',  edited by Mervyn Cooke, 245–259. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Sallis|2014}}|reference=Sallis, Friedemann. 2014. "Recycled Flowers: Quotation, Paraphrase, and Allusion in György Kurtág's ''Officium breve in memoriam Andreæ Szervánsky'', Op. 28, for String Quartet". In ''The String Quartets of Bela Bartok: Tradition and Legacy in Analytical Perspective'', edited by Daniel Péter Biró and Harald Krebs, 285–305. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-19-993619-9}}.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Sanderson|[2013]}}|reference=Sanderson, Blair. [2013]. "Armida Quartett: Bartók, Kurtág, Ligeti: String Quartets". [[AllMusic]] (Accessed 18 April 2014).}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Schmidt|2012}}|reference=Schmidt, Dörte. 2012. "&thinsp;'I Try to Write Music That Will Appeal to an Intelligent Listener's Ear': On Elliott Carter's String Quartets", translated by Maria Schoenhammer and John McCaughey. In ''Elliott Carter Studies'', edited by Marguerite Boland and John Link, 168–189. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Satory|1990}}|reference=Satory, Stephen. 1990. "Colloquy: An Interview with György Ligeti in Hamburg". ''Canadian University Music Review''/''Revue de musique des universités canadiennes'' 10:101–117.}}
* {{cite encyclopedia|last=Shcherbakova|first=Taisiya|year=2001|title=Tsesakow, Kim Dzmitrïyevich|encyclopedia=[[Grove Music Online]]|doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.44810}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Tamm|n.d.}}|reference=Tamm, Eric. n.d. "[https://web.archive.org/web/20120825192658/http://www.progressiveears.com/frippbook/ch03.htm Fripp the Listener]", chapter 3 of ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20140529231408/http://www.progressiveears.com/frippbook/ Robert Fripp – From Crimson King to Crafty Master]''. Progressive Ears website (Accessed 18 April 2014). {{self-published inline|date=April 2014}}}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Volborth-Danys|2001}}|reference=Volborth-Danys, Diana von. 2001. "Westerlinck, Wilfried". ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Whittall|2013}}|reference=[[Arnold Whittall|Whittall, Arnold]]. 2013. "Britten's Rhetoric of Resistance: The Works for Rostropovich". In ''Rethinking Britten'', edited by Philip Ernst Rupprecht, 181–205. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-19-979481-2}}.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Wong|2007}}|reference=Wong, Hoi-Yan. 2007. "Bartók's Influence on Chinese New Music in the Post–Cultural Revolution Era". ''Studia Musicologica'': An International Journal of Musicology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences 48, nos. 1–2 (March): 237–243.}}
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==External links==
* [http://www.carnegiehall.org/article/explore_and_learn/art_performanceguide_bartok.html Performance guide], [[Bartók Quartet]]{{dead link|date=April 2021}}

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[[Category:String quartets by Béla Bartók| ]]
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