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

War Years (1914–1919)

WAR YEARS (1914-1919)

1917

and 1928.

22 December - Upon his wife’s insistence Bartok - who is working on the orchestration of The Wooden Prince - travels to Tőkésújfalu

(Nyitra

county) where he can continue his work in peace in Count Ágost

Haupt-Stummer’s manor.

23 December - He arrives in Tőkésújfalu

via

Nagybossány,

with

a onehour delay, and from there on 25 December he writes his wife: “Here everyone, including the last servant, talks in German - this is a German island here in the middle of the Tots, instead of being Hungarian ... I work with a horribly slow pace, 9 pages in 3 days! ... food is warlike even here, but everything is always perfect, fresh, tasty...”

28 December - He writes again, work is progressing better, he accomplished 7 more pages in 2 days. He is worrying a lot about his wife’s health condition: “In case of trouble, please, write, I can return anytime if I am needed”. - In the evening he plays the ballet to Haupt-Stummer,

then once again on 29 December to a guest of the Haupt-Stummers.

31 December - He writes both his wife and his mother that he is preparing to come to Pozsony

on

9 January, by then he will be about ready with his work.

1917

1 January - He takes a walk in the forest, and on 5 January sends the picked flowers to his wife, enclosed in a postcard. He is worried that she doesn’t take good enough care of herself. He is at the end of the 2nd dance of the wooden puppet in the orchestral score.

By then his wife has been having a fever for several days, but doesn’t want to ruin Bartok’s vacation.

9 January - In the morning Bartok arrives in Pozsony,

then

on 13 January at 10 a.m. he arrives in Budapest. He continues work on

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