Bartók Béla, ifj.: Chronicles of Béla Bartók's Life (Budapest, 2021)
Economic Crisis (1932–1933)
1933 CHRONICLES OF BÉLA BARTOK'S LIFE clarification of the performance rights requested by the Pozsonyians has to wait. 17 June - His son Béla obtains his engineers degree, but he is worried by the hopelessness of finding employment. 18 June - Bartok leaves on vacation, travelling to Zurich via Vienna. 19 and 20 June - He is hosted for lunch by his impresario Walter Schulthess, Stefi Geyers husband, they discuss Swedish, Swiss, English concert plans. 21 June - He arrives in Ambri-Piotta from Zurich. 28 June - In a letter he writes his son Péter that the next day he would go up to Piora “to stay by the lake, maybe I can remain there for 10-14 days.”. 29 June - He takes the funicular from Ambri-Piotta to Piora (Ticino) where he stays at Hotel Piora. 1 July - From here he writes his first wife in Szekszárdi “ Well now, are you happy that our son is holding a degree? I am happy, ... but would be even happier if I knew what he will ever do with his degree”. - He writes Universal Edition and AKM as well. 11 July - In a letter he calls his son Péter s attention to the correct use of the letters “ly” and “j” [Translators note: these are pronounced the same in present day Hungarian, the old distinction retained only in writing.]. 14 July - He leaves Piora for Lugano via Ambri-Piotta, then for Zurich. - From Lugano he sends a letter to his son Péter. 18 July - From Zurich he writes Sándor Albrecht in Pozsony. Worried by the bad economic situation and fearing financial restricting measures, he tries to secure part of his earnings for usage abroad, thus for example his Czecho-Slovakian income is handled by Sándor Albrecht. In his letter he calls Albrechts attention to the Hungarian letter censorship, and asks him to write of these matters “using language of flowers” because he wouldn’t want trouble. He also writes a letter to Zoltán 352
