Bartók Béla, ifj.: Chronicles of Béla Bartók's Life (Budapest, 2021)
School Years (1890–1903)
SCHOOL YEARS (1 890-1 903) 1903 14 April - Picture postcard depicting Nagyszentmiklós sent to his sister in Pozsony. 18 April - Picture postcard sent to his mother in Pozsony. 23 April - Medical examination of his lungs at doctor Hertzka’s; the result is negative. 26 April - He presents his new work, Sonata for Violin and Piano with Viktor Herzfeld to a private company - in the presence of the Dohnányis and Lichtenberg. The first performance is cumbersome. 29 or 30 April - Picture postcard sent to his sister Böske in Pozsony. 3 May - He writes his mother about the ex-lex, and about his delight that the fashion of wearing Hungarian outfits is spreading, even if not in due degree. He hasn’t yet drawn the Liszt scholarship, the case of the capital’s scholarship is advancing slowly. 4-5-6 May - Half-century jubilee of the Philharmonic Society. Programme of the first day: Erkel’s Festive Overture, Goldmark’s Zrínyi Overture (“not worth a thing”), Hubay’s Idyll and Gavotte (“this was the most horrible”), three movements of Mihalovich’s Symphony in C minor; Liszt’s Hungarian Fantasy is played by Dohnányi, really beautifully. - At the Opera on the 5th Erkel’s Brankovics, on the 6th Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. 7 May - He writes his sister briefly about the scholarships. The Liszt scholarship is only 600 K (crowns), but “Two birds in the hand are worth one in the bush”. A t the beginning of May his childhood acquaintances from Nagyszentmiklós, daughters Emsy and Irmy of Othmár Jurkovics come to Budapest, they meet Bartok frequently. 11 May - He describes the events of the previous week to his mother. 13 May - Danube festivities and fireworks - “in scandalous circumstances”. 14 May - He is invited to dinner by one uncle of the Jurkovics girls, Manó Wein, on the 16th by another uncle, City Councillor János Vaszilievics (whose support Bartok is also expecting with the case of his scholarship). 61
