Béla Bartók

An Hungarian composer and musicologist who transcribed Hungarian folk melodies and composed ballet, opera, orchestral, and chamber music, including "Dance Suite" (1923), "Sonata for Two Pianos & Percussion" (1937), "Mikrokosmos, 6 Books" (1926-39), and "Concerto for Orchestra" (1943). Bartók was a 20th-century original who showed how superb intellectual effort (he invented a composition system using Golden Sections, the Fibonnacci series, and quasi-serial techniques) and great passion (as can be seen in his in-depth studies of the Hungarian folk music, the "night music" expressionist social tension between the wars, and his own life as a forced émigré) can combine to make great art.