List of string quartets by Béla Bartók

The Hungarian composer Béla Bartók wrote six string quartets, each for the usual forces of two violins, viola and cello. Notable composers who have been influenced by them include Benjamin Britten, particularly in the Sonata in C for Cello and Piano (; ), Elliott Carter, who refers in the opening of his own First String Quartet to Bartók’s Sixth Quartet , Chen Yi , Edison Denisov, whose Second Quartet is closely related to Bartók’s Fifth Quartet , Franco Donatoni, who was deeply impressed when he heard a broadcast of Bartók's Fourth Quartet , Robert Fripp, who mentions them as an influence upon King Crimson , Miloslav Ištvan , György Kurtág, whose Opp. 1 and 28 both owe a great deal to Bartók's quartets (; ), György Ligeti, both of whose string quartets owe a great deal to Bartók’s quartets (; ), 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 , Walter Piston (; ), Kim Dzmitrïyevich Tsesekow , Wilfried Westerlinck , Stefan Wolpe, who explained in a public lecture how he had derived ideas from Bartók’s Fourth Quartet , and Xu Yongsan .