Bartók Béla, ifj.: Chronicles of Béla Bartók's Life (Budapest, 2021)
World War II. Second and Third American Tour (1939–1945)
WORLD WAR II. SECOND AND THIRD AMERICAN TO U R ( 1 9 3 9 - 1 9 4 5 ) 1 941 York), their address is 110-31, 73rd Road. 9 December - They receive a notice from Lisbon by telegram that their baggage arrived there. 10 December - Bartok repeats his letter written to Zoltán Székely on 18 November, because in occupied Holland it is unsure that mail can find him: “I had returned to Budapest again after a five-week springtime USA sojourn. I have been waiting for a sign of life from you, unfortunately in vain; so I formed the opinion that postal traffic has become impossible....” 24 December - In the afternoon of Christmas Eve he writes a long letter to his two sons (two copies: to Budapest and to Sárospatak). He describes their American life, the greater and smaller difficulties, his doctoral inauguration, and that their baggage presumably arrived in New York but they couldn’t recover it as yet. 1941 7 January - From Forest Hills he writes Dorothy Parrish in Huntingdon about his plans for January and his visit to her; about the baggages not having arrived after all, he knows nothing about them. Furthermore three of his records - that he has been using during his lectures - broke; one had been copied in Huntingdon, he would like to get a copy of that at least. 11 January - He writes his son Béla that he received 5 letters from him so far, they are looking forward to the subsequent ones with great joy. (In this period he was corresponding almost exclusively with his two sons in Hungary, they were mediators of his messages to family members, to the Kodálys and others.) He also writes about financial matters, and about the baggage still not having turned up. 15 January - He modifies his itinerary sent to Dorothy Parrish. 461
