Ernő Lendvai was one of the first theorists to write on the appearance of the golden section and Fibonacci series and how these are implemented in Bartók

Béla Bartók

Béla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer...

's music. He also formulated the axis system

Axis system

In music, the axis system is a system of analysis originating in the work of Ernő Lendvaï, which he developed in his analysis of the music of Béla Bartók....

, acoustic scale

Acoustic scale

In music, the acoustic scale, overtone scale, Lydian dominant scale, or Lydian 7 scale, is a seven-note synthetic scale which, starting on C, contains the notes: C, D, E, F, G, A and B. This differs from the major scale in having a raised fourth and lowered seventh scale degree. It is the fourth...

 and alpha chord

Octatonic scale

An octatonic scale is any eight-note musical scale. Among the most famous of these is a scale in which the notes ascend in alternating intervals of a whole step and a half step, creating a symmetric scale...

.

Lendvai was married to the pianist Erzsébet Tusa, and together they moved to Szombathely

Szombathely

Szombathely is the 10th largest city in Hungary. It is the administrative centre of Vas county in the west of the country, located near the border with Austria...

in 1949 to run a local music school.

In Hungarian

• Szimmetria a zenében (Kodály Intézet, 1994)
• Verdi and Wagner (Bartók and the 19th century) (Kahn & Averill, 1988)
• Verdi és a 20. század: A Falstaff hangzás-dramaturgiája (Zenemukiadó, 1984)
• Polimodális kromatika (Kodály Zoltán Zenepedagógiai Intézet, 1980)
• Bartók és Kodály harmóniavilága (Zenemukiadó, 1975)
• Bartók Dramaturgiàja (Zenemükiaó Vállalat, Budapest, 1964)

In English

• Bartók's Style (Akkord Music Publishers, 1999)
• Verdi and Wagner (Bartók and the 19th century) (Kahn & Averill, 1988)
• The workshop of Bartók and Kodály (Editio Musica, 1983)
• Bartók and Kodály (Institute for Culture, 1980)