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

Great Concert Tours on Two Continents (1922–1931)

GREAT CONCERT TOURS ON TWO CONTINENTS (1 922-1 931 )

1925

Beethovens Sonata in E flat major, he plays 6 pieces by Couperin, then the 2nd series of Kolindas, Rubato

from

Kodály

’s Piano

Pieces Op. 11, Debussy’s prelude Ce

qua

vu

le vent

d

’Ouest, and

finally Suite Op. 14 and Nos. 2, 4 and 6 of Sketches.

22 March

- He writes Ernő

Südy in

Békéscsaba

that

his planned concert can be postponed, maybe to next season. (This became more than four years in the end!) - He also writes Cesar Saerchinger.

29 March - In Weimar a Bartok matinee is organised where, following a lecture by Ernst Latzko, Lotte Loos-Werther sings four Hungarian folk songs, then Robert Reitz and Ernst Latzko play Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2.

2 April

- In Szeged Bartok gives a concert in Hotel Kass. His programme consists of Liszt’s Variations Weinen,

Klagen, Beethoven

’s Sonata in E flat major, 4 preludes by Debussy, Chopin’s Ballad in G

minor,

and of his own works 5 numbers of the series For Children, Suite, and Old Rumanian Dances (probably the Rumanian Folk Dances). - This same day he writes Mrs Fischer b. Stefánia

Szalay

in Nagyvárad

that

the jubilee festivities of the Music Institute of Higher Education (Music Academy) got postponed to May, so she should come to Budapest at that time. - In Weimar The Wooden Prince and Bluebeards Castle are performed. - He writes his pupil Olga Kovacsics: “Please, come to a lesson at 12 o’clock on Tuesday the 7th. With greetings Bartok”.

19 April

- He writes Prague lawyer Jan Löwenbach

regarding

his mother’s still unsettled pension, and in the postscript of his letter declares that under such circumstances he doesn’t feel like attending the Prague SIMC festival in May to which he was invited. He also writes this to his mother, finishing his letter with: “But be it as it might, be tranquil, there will be no trouble, seen that I am here, always ready to help you”. His mother replies at once and tries to persuade him to go to Prague (in the end he went indeed).

20 April

- In the Great Hall of the Music Academy, at Helge Lindberg’s 241