Bartók Béla, ifj.: Chronicles of Béla Bartók's Life (Budapest, 2021)
Great Concert Tours on Two Continents (1922–1931)
1922 CHRONICLES OF BÉLA BARTOK'S LIFE own works part of the series For Children, Sonatina, Burlesque No. 2, Evening in Transylvania, Allegro barbaro, Bear Dance, and Rumanian Dance No. 1. 2 April - From London he writes his mother in Pozsony that his trip of England was a great success, he was greeted amicably, and earned 96 pounds having minimal costs. - He will have no concert in Amsterdam. (Dating of the letter is a mistaken 22 April.) 3 April - He leaves London for Paris, and stays at Hotel Majestic at Avenue Kleber. 4 April - Concert at the Sorbonne of Paris, at which Henry Prunières, editor of Revue Musicale gives a reading about modern music, bringing into prominence the works of Bartok there present, whom the students welcome with great ovation. “Then I played ‘Hungarian Peasant Dances’ and Bear Dance, and for encore Evening in Transylvania” - he writes his mother. 5 April - In the afternoon he is guest of duchess de Clermont-Tonnerre. “.. .they were enthusiastic about Bear dance, Rumanian dance, Allegro barbaro” - he writes his mother in Pozsony. The fee is 500 francs. 8 April - In Paris, at Le Vieux Colombier, concert of the periodical La Revue Musicale. Bartoks programme: Elegy No. 1, Suite, 2 Burlesques, Improvisations, Kodálys Epitaph, It Rains in Town, Transylvanian Lament, and Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 with Jelly Arányi. - M. Slivinski sings four Hungarian folk songs with horrible Hungarian pronunciation and Ravel’s Hebrew Songs, probably accompanied by Bartok. Dinner after the concert at Henry Prunières ’ in the company of Ravel, Stravinsky and Szymanowski. - After dinner even Milhaud, Poulenc, Honegger, and A. Roussel show up, and Bartok plays again Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 with Jelly Arányi. Ravel is turning the pages for Bartok, Poulenc for Jelly Arányi. 9 April - He and Jelly Arányi play the sonata at Madame Dubost’s in Paris. 210
