Béla Bartók and turn-of-the century Budapest

by Judit Frigyesi

Bartok's music is greatly prized by concertgoers, yet we know little about the intellectual milieu that gave rise to his artistry. Bartok is often seen as a lonely genius emerging from the gray background of an "underdeveloped country." Now Judit Frigyesi offers a broader perspective on Bartok's art by grounding it in the social and cultural life of turn-of-the-century Hungary and the intense creativity of its modernist movement.