Bartók Béla, ifj.: Chronicles of Béla Bartók's Life (Budapest, 2021)
Economic Crisis (1932–1933)
1933 CHRONICLES OF BÉLA BARTOK'S LIFE 13 August - Of this he also notifies Universal Edition. 17 August - The 2nd correction of the 16 sheets of the Slovakian collection has been sent him in the meantime, he returns it with pleasure to Ivan Ballo: “ Now everything is right...” - he writes in his accompanying letter, in which he also lets him know that he has been keeping the performing rights of Piano Concerto No. 2 for himself until September 1934, so it cannot be played by anyone else for the time being. 20 August - Bartok, ever preoccupied by the economic situation, tells his mother and aunt during his visit what he heard from an American visitor about their own bad situation, about the dismissal of musicians. He himself brought along many foreign papers from his tour at the beginning of August, all of which have been dealing with these matters - he leaves part of these with his mother, the rest he sends off to Mrs Károly Ziegler in Szekszárd. Ernő Dohnányi requests that he play Rhapsody at the 4 November “Europe” concert, but this he cannot undertake because of his London appearance. (In the end Lajos Heimlich played it.) 21 and 24 August - He writes Sándor Albrecht, mainly about financial matters. 24 August - He gives information and directions in reply to Ivan Ballo’s recent questions. 28 August - He reaches an agreement with the BBC regarding the November performance of Piano Concerto No. 2 for a fee of 42 pounds. Bartoks interest in nature is unflagging; during his trips abroad, especially in Switzerland, he augments his collection of plants and insects whenever he can. He even buys a plant identification handbook, and asks his mother to organise his collection. 29 August - He brings her his recent collection, and explains the method for arranging the pieces and pasting them on. - Having not had appearances in Hungarian country towns since March 1931, in his 354
