Bartók Béla, ifj.: Chronicles of Béla Bartók's Life (Budapest, 2021)
Economic Crisis (1932–1933)
ECONOMIC CRISIS (1 932-1 933) 1933 28 December - He writes his mother already on the typewriter that on the 29th he will visit them and work at their home. 30 December - Even the Hungarian papers commemorate Bartoks Romanian decoration, of which his mother writes her daughter: “ Béla is surely not happy with it”. 1933 Owing to the lasting bad economic situation and the stagnation of concert life, Bartok takes on more and more private lessons at his home, generally for 25 pengős per lesson. 2 January - He gives 4 lessons in the morning. 5 January - He visits his mother. 6 January - Ernő Dohnányi invites him by phone to the performance of Suite No. 2, while János Temesváry even sends tickets. 8 January - However, Bartok excuses himself from attending the stage rehearsal as well as the performance with reference to his health condition. In his opinion the audience will not like the composition. 7 and 13 January - He writes Universal Edition. 15 January - The Bartoks get visited by the Aladár Toths; Mr and Mrs Bartok play Piano Concerto No. 2 for them and Bartoks mother. 16 January - Performance of Dance Suite at a special concert by the Philharmonics, conducted by Antal Deutsch (Doráti). Bartok doesn’t attend. 17 January - He visits his mother, then leaves for Frankfurt via Austria. 18 , 19 and 20 January - Afternoon orchestral rehearsals of 4 hours respectively of Piano Concerto No. 2 in Frankfurt; on the 21st the rehearsal is cancelled due to some other engagement of the orchestra. 20 January - In a letter to his wife and son Péter he writes among other things: “... I rehearsed with them for 4 and a half hours; we will have 347
