Bartók Béla, ifj.: Chronicles of Béla Bartók's Life (Budapest, 2021)
Settling In Budapest. Systematic Collection of Folk Songs (1907–1913)
1908 CHRONICLES OF BÉLA BARTOK'S LIFE 10 December - At the concert of the National Casino he plays an intermezzo by Brahms, Regers Aus meinem Tagebuche, and Chopins Scherzo in B flat minor. 1908 3 January - At Budapest he redeems his half-fare train pass. 8 January - He writes Etelka Freund on a postcard that nobody was admitted that day to the stage rehearsal of the Philharmonics (neither was he). He sends the orchestral score of Suite No. 2 to conductor Volkmar Andreae in Zurich, and asks him in a letter of 12 January to take a look at it: he would be grateful if he performed it. (This didn’t happen.) 31 January - He writes Etelka Freund from Vienna: “Today I pocketed yet another failure of my Suite No. 2”. On the other hand “the orchestral score of the violin concerto is practically ready”. 5 February - Ending date of Violin Concerto, having been started in 1907 in Jászberény and dedicated to Stefi Geyer. 8 February -He buys artistic copies of paintings in the value of 130.50 K (crowns) in the Artaria art gallery of Vienna, among them the Mona Lisa and a portrait of Beethoven, which then he frames and places in his flat. 10 February - He is in Budapest again, he settles his tailors bill. 18 February - He offers his condolences to Etelka Freund for the family’s bereavement. 1 March - He travels to Körösfő (Kolozs county) and continues folk song collecting there. 1 May - A detailed article of praise appears in the Nyugat by Géza Csáth about Bartok: “ Béla Bartok ’s music, especially his orchestral piece is throbbing with his whole remarkable temperament. ... Béla Bartok 106
