Bartók Béla, ifj.: Chronicles of Béla Bartók's Life (Budapest, 2021)
Connecting to the Music Life of Europe (1904–1906)
CONNECTING TO THE MUSIC LIFE OF EUROPE (1 904-1 906) 1905 29 August - He sends a picture of Notre-Dame in Paris with the text “Here I send Quasimodos flat for consolation” to his sister in Szilad. He refers especially to the solar eclipse expected for the next day. 9 September - On a postcard he notifies his sister about having been to Versailles, and mentions that he was able to increase his collection of insects: “I caught 4 beetles, crickets, 2 other insects”. (The address on the postcard is only “ Vésztő”, without any name, but it got delivered.) 10 September - He writes a letter to his mother in Pozsony, partly concerning his future plans - “Where ever I first get employment, there I will go” - partly in response to her words of consolation: “In spite of having lunch ... with 20 people ... I am abandoned! ... And I prophesy, I foretell that my fate will be this loneliness of soul. I am looking for, searching for an ideal companion, although I know well that its in vain. Even if I were to have a feeling maybe, sometime, of having found someone, disappointment would soon set in anyway.” “For a while I feel myself nearly on the top, afterwards comes an enormous tumble, then again struggle, attempt to rise: and this is being repeated incessantly. Yet there will be a time when I shall succeed staying on top.” 18 September - Mrs Gruber writes a reassuring and encouraging letter to the widowed Mrs Béla Bartok concerning Béla Bartoks despair. 24 September - Bartok visits the dance hall of the Moulin de la Galette. 28 September - He sends its picture postcard to his sister. The failure of the Rubinstein competition is still disquieting him, he writes a 40-line satiric poem entitled “Ode to the Fifteens” ridiculing the members of the jury. 29 September - He sends the poem to his mother in Pozsony. 1 October - Marking the end of his Paris stay he writes his sister in Szilad: “Only 5 more days”. And on 5 October: “Last greetings from Paris”. 7 October - Already from Munich: “Many hails from here, too.” 11 October - He informs his sister that he arrived home safely, and writes her his address in Vienna: 57 Gersthoferstrasse XVIII/2. 83
