Béla Viktor János Bartók (25 March 1881–26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and collector of Eastern European and Middle Eastern folk music.

Bartók was born in Sânnicolau Mare/Nagyszentmiklós (Present day Romania). He is considered one of the greatest of 20th-century composers, and was also one of the founders of the field of ethnomusicology, the study and ethnography of folk music. This interest in and knowledge of traditional music, especially that of his own culture, had a great influence on many of his own compositions.