Bartók Béla, ifj.: Chronicles of Béla Bartók's Life (Budapest, 2021)
Last Journey Home, “… But For Good” (1988)
LAST JOURNEY HOME, „...BUT FOR GOOD" (1988) 1988 LAST JOURNEY HOME, “...BUT FOR GOOD” 1988* 1988 My father Béla Bartok passed away on 26 September 1945 in New York and was buried in the Ferncliff Cemetery of Hartsdale, in a metal coffin which was said would make it possible to take him home when the appropriate time came, according to the wishes of oneself and the kind-hearted Hungarians. The “appropriate time” was proving slow to arrive. During the 50s it was forbidden even to play Bartoks pieces here, and later a variety of undesirable suggestions were voiced regarding the funeral. Luckily, both Hungarian and American law make exhumation, Although Béla Bartoks life on earth had ended with his death of 26 September 1945 and his being privately buried ‘the third day’ in the United States, still for him the final resting place could be in Hungarian soil alone. My godfather Béla Bartók Jnr couldn’t yet have written in 1981 that seven years later - in 1988 - he and his brother Péter Bartók together would bring home their father’s earthly remains and place them in their final resting place in the Farkasréti Cemetery But this event is such an integral part of Béla Bartok ’s “life course” that by no means could it be omitted, so I edited it into a separate chapter. Although I myself had also participated in the preparations and the ceremony at the Farkasréti Cemetery, my godfather documented the exact story of these - sad, yet at the same time uplifting - days in another book of his written later (“The Five Continents As I Have Seen Them During My 186 Journeys” by Béla Bartók Jnr), and because of this I can disclose this chapter, too, in his words. (Gábor Vásárhelyi) 507
