Bartók Béla, ifj.: Chronicles of Béla Bartók's Life (Budapest, 2021)

Settling In Budapest. Systematic Collection of Folk Songs (1907–1913)

SETTLING IN BUDAPEST. SYSTEMATIC

COLLECTION OF FOLK SONGS ( 1 907-1 91 3)

1909

6, Budapest, as testified by the entry No. 1345/1909 in the marriage registry.

22 November - The Philharmonics perform Suite No. 2 with István

Kerner

conducting.

6 December - Preparing for his honeymoon in Paris, he gets a passport for two, valid for Europe, numbered 668446. Purpose of trip: “amusement”.

12 December - He writes a letter to Volkmar

Andreae in

Zürich,

and

calls his attention to Kodály

s

String Quartet Op. 2 with extreme warmth, recommending its performance there. (The suggestion was accepted, and the piece got duly performed by the ‘de Boer’ String Quartet.)

He would like to move from the flat on Teréz

Boulevard

to the neighbourhood of Pest. He is negotiating to buy a piece of ground and build a house in the garden-suburb Zsófia

by

Kerepes,

but

this doesn’t come true.

18 December - He travels to Paris with his wife (with some delay due to an indigestion), where they stay at Pension de

Famille, familiar

to him since 1905, for 13 francs a day.

20 December - He sends a funny “tinned-card” from Paris, with preprinted French answers to his sister in Szilad.

24 December

- Robert Berény

visits

the Bartoks at their accommodation.

25 December

- In the afternoon they go to a concert for the first time: “mediocre performances”; then Bartok writes about their recent experiences to his mother in Szilad.

26 December

- They listen to Strauss’ Zarathustra with the Orchestra Lamoureux.

The guesthouse is very noisy, and they are also bothered by the fixed menu.

30 December

- They move to Grand Hotel des

Pays-Bas. - At noon Bartok is “received” by Vincent d’Indy at the Schola

Cantorum as

a result of Busoni’s letter of recommendation, “...it strongly resembled an illustrious Professor receiving graciously a beginner disciple and 117