Bartók Béla, ifj.: Chronicles of Béla Bartók's Life (Budapest, 2021)
Connecting to the Music Life of Europe (1904–1906)
1904 CHRONICLES OF BÉLA BARTOK'S LIFE due to the difficulty of the piece - but somehow it was still managed. The audience liked it for 3 callbacks.” 22 November - He leaves Vienna for Pozsony, then on the 23rd he returns to Vienna. 24 November - On a postcard he gives an account of the concert to Thomán. Then he goes to Pozsony again, he is there on the 26th in any case. 29 November - By the afternoon he is in Vienna again where in the evening he listens to Ernő Dohnányi ’ s concert. Dohnányi invites him for dinner, but Bartok prefers to return home to Pozsony, leaving at 11 o’clock that night. 2 December - In the afternoon he leaves Pozsony for Budapest where he planned to perform his Piano quintet with the Grünfeld-Bürger Quartet. However, the quartet members were unable to learn the piece, so on 4 December at the Royal Hall they perform Schubert s Trout Quintet. The newspaper Újság (News) praises the performance of Bartoks quintet at length, not acknowledging the fact that the work’s premiere was cancelled. “Now this is a howler!” - writes Bartok to Lajos Dietl in Vienna. 9 December - Again in Pozsony, he plays a few of the folk songs collected in Gerlice for his mother and company. 10 December - He takes a long walk with his mother. 14 December - He is preparing to go to Vienna. 16 December - At the chamber music evening of the Fitzner-Walther String Quartet in the Vienna Bösendorfer Hall, he plays Strauss’ Violin Sonata Op. 18 with Rudolf Fitzner, in the presence of his mother. 18 December - In Vienna he listens to the performance of Heldenleben. 20 December - Again in Pozsony, he pays a visit to the Rigele family. 24 December - After lighting the candles, he plays a sonata by Beethoven and his own Scherzo for his mother and the family. 76
