Let this cache take you on a journey to South Kensington to find out fun facts about one of the most significant Hungarian composers of the last century.
Béla Bartók was not only one of the most important composers of modern music, but also an outstanding specialist in musical folklore and a teacher of wide repute. He was inspired principally by a love for his native folk music.
Béla Bartók’s statue, designed by Imre Varga, one of Hungary’s most important contemporary sculptors, was unveiled on 2nd October 2004 on a traffic island in South Kensington. It shows Bartók nattily dressed in coat and hat with a little bird on the base of stainless steel leaves. Under this lies a tiny treasure chest filled with a copy of Allegro Barbrabo, his most famous solo piano piece, a yellow notepad with a wine bottle and a soda siphon on its cover as well as an mp3 player with an interview and piano pieces performed by Bartók himself.
Bartók left his homeland for the United States during World War II and died in New York at the age of 64. Before this, however, he had spent quite some time in London and he would always stay around where his statue is located today.
Cache placed with the kind permission of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.