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) 1911 (Reference to Mrs Kodály s German translation.) 19 July - Bartok watches the programme of the Théâtre du Gymnase. 20 July - He writes a funny picture postcard to Magduska Tóth in Szilad. 22 July - The original piano arrangement of the Bluebeard and a copy arrive in Paris. “It is written really beautifully ... writing the orchestral score will be a difficult task” - writes Bartok to his wife, then he gives elaborate guidelines for writing the orchestral score. He also writes about having bought a French-Arabic dictionary and grammar book, and although the weather is very hot, he is happy about it as this might be good training for the trip to Africa planned for the following year, where they would already go together. (It happened eventually only in 1913.) Reflecting on the news of an epidemic of cholera in Marseille, Bartok asks anxiously whether it appeared in Hungary. (He also dreaded this during the world war.) - He writes his sister that its 35°C hot, and he is glad to travel to Switzerland already that evening. 23 July - He arrives in Zermatt. He stays at Hotel Perrend for 7 francs a day with full board. 24 July - From Zermatt he writes his mother, on the 27th both his wife and his mother. 28 July -_He takes the narrow-gauge railway to the Gornergrat, and has tea at Hotel Kulm. 31 July - He writes his mother that Zermatt is too elegant a place, he is not sure he can manage 5 weeks there. 1 August - He writes his wife: “Music notes and letter will be sent off today or tomorrow”. 2 August - His mother lets him know that his son already stands up, then she continues with an indication of the trip to Gornergrat: “I like you climbing the mountains by train”. 5 August - Bartok walks to the feet of the Matterhorn, to the height of 3,298 metres. 7 August - He goes on another excursion in rainy weather. 131
