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

At The Academy of Sciences. Great Compositions (1934–1938)

AT THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.

GREAT C

O M P O S I

T

I

O

N S

( 1 934-1 938)

1938

13 May

- Bartok receives the first accounts of the 27 choral works from Magyar Kórus

(Hungarian

Choir). The results for a year and a half are: 742 complete scores and 20,366 parts sold; Bartoks cut is 659.90 pengős. (Corresponding

cca to his one-month salary.)

19 May

- He informs Sándor

Albrecht

using “language of flowers” that his pupil Erzsébet

Bacsák, who

comes to Budapest regularly for lessons, can manage to bring over the sum in reserve at the Albrechts, while the transfer of the monthly pension will not be impeded.

21 May

- He mails the first part of his manuscripts to the Müller- Widmanns in

Basel for safeguarding.

23 May

- He writes again to the Boosey & Hawkes firm.

24 May

- He sends Mrs Müller-Widmann

the list of his manuscripts’ first consignment, and lets her know of their concert and vacation plans for the summer. - He writes about the situation in Vienna: “... A.K.M. keeps on violating their statutes in Vienna,... the newest being that it denies payment of sums due to those members who refuse the - unlawfully required - filling in of the questionnaires [about grandparents].”.

25 and

27 May - He writes Antonia Kossar about the dates and his claim of fees for the Benelux concerts.

27 and

28 May - Pátria

gramophone

recordings are made at the Radio with two Csángó

women

of Moldavia who managed to come to Budapest under pretext of the Eucharistic Congress. The womens names had to be hushed up because of their fear of Romanian retaliation. - Beside a letter to AKM, Bartok answers A. Kossar s latest concert suggestion by telegram: “Impossible”.

29 May

- He sends the second package of manuscripts to Mrs Müller- Widmann and

gives an account of the Csángó

recordings:

“I had two beautiful days yesterday and the day before: two so-called ‘

Csángó’ women were here from Moldavia [Eastern Romania]: Csangos are the existing easternmost Hungarians who had never belonged to Hungary, they count ca 20,000 souls, [in their language] they are 423