Bartók Béla, ifj.: Chronicles of Béla Bartók's Life (Budapest, 2021)
School Years (1890–1903)
SCHOOL YEARS (1 890-1 903) 1903 recommend Bartok to Count László Szőgyén-Marich, Hungarian ambassador in Berlin. 6 November - He leaves Vienna for Pozsony. He returns the books that János Batka lent him in the summer. 7 or 8 November - He returns to Berlin. 19 November - From Berlin he writes Thomán the program of his Budapest stay. 22 November - He spends the evening at the Stencels’, from where the party - among them Godowski - takes a night walk to the Tiergarten and a restaurant. 23 November - He leaves Berlin for Budapest. 24 November - Once in Budapest he listens to a home concert of the Music Academy, where Director Mihalovich welcomes him with distinctive kindness, and indicates that he can count even on a further scholarship. 25 November - At an artistic soirée of the Lipótváros Casino he plays Liszts Spanish Rhapsody, his own Scherzo and left handed Study. During his Budapest stay he visits Mrs Gárdony, and has lunch twice at the Thománs ’, once at the Grubers’. 26 November - He sets out to return to Berlin, where he would arrive on 27 November with a 10-hour delay after travelling for 25 hours. 28/29 November - He takes another night walk in the company of his friends, then writes a letter to his mother about the previous days. Among other things he writes: “If I have got the minimal knowledge of human nature, I will not be deluded in my judgment that Dohnányi has an honest, true character, the opposite of all treachery”. 2 December - He is performing at an American family’s tea party where several people promise to go to his concert of the 14th, which is important because he organises it on his own budget. 3 December - In his letter he writes his mother: “I feel as fine in Berlin as nowhere else, in no other town. Undoubtedly even its climate, its 69
