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)

1910

His mother mentions “

Márta keeps

pace with this roaming admirably” (viz. in 19 days Márta

will

give birth to a son). - In Budapest Zoltán

Kodály and

the divorced Mrs Henrik Gruber get married on this day. Bartoks wedding-present is the dedication of No. 3 of the Seven Sketches.

6 August

- Still in Graz, Bartok buys 2 shirts for 6 K (crowns) and 12 fillérs.

Around 8 August they return home.

11 August

- From Budapest Bartok writes a postcard to his mother in St. Ruprecht.

21 August

- At 5 o’clock in the afternoon he accompanies his wife to the Erdey Sanatorium in Bakáts

Square,

and he remains by her side till 00:30 at night.

22 August

- Their little son Béla

- the writer of these lines - is born in the morning. Bartok sends a telegram in French: “

Fils tout

bien

” (boy

everything all right) to his mother in St. Ruprecht; and he sends a postcard: “from 9 p.m. till 4 a.m. = ugly red boy. Everything normal...” to his sister in Szilad.

23 August

- He gives a more detailed account to his mother in St. Ruprecht. He also sends a rudimentary drawing about his son, remarking “(the drawing doesn’t do him justice, because he is uglier than this)”. He mentions that one of Ferenc Erkel’s grandchildren was also assisting at the event.

28 August

- He travels to Kerepes

to

look after the housebuilding project planned already in December 1909, but he doesn’t reach an agreement with the contractor neither at this time nor at his next trip of 12 September.

7 September

- He writes his mother that his wife has not yet recovered completely, so she can return home only the next day. He gives an account of having sold the Kossuth funeral march to Károly

Rozsnyai

for 75 K (crowns), furthermore he is working on 5 Beethoven and a 123