Bartók Béla, ifj.: Chronicles of Béla Bartók's Life (Budapest, 2021)

War Years (1914–1919)

WAR YEARS (1914-1919)

1919

Several of them get under disciplinary control, get suspended, however, this doesn’t render their activities totally impossible.

For example on 8 October Ernő

Dohnányi, having

been sent on a oneyear leave, gives a concert at the Music Academy. Beside pieces by Beethoven, Brahms, and Schumann his programme also contains Bear Dance and Allegro barbaro.

The

audience gives a warm welcome to Bartok there present.

22 October - Bartok writes his sister, and on 23 October his mother, about the situation at the Music Academy, about the strike on account of Dohnányi being

sent on leave gone askew, about being completely disheartened by the lack of good work possibilities (especially folk song collecting) and the deterioration of musical institutions, and that he has already made inquiries about work possibilities abroad. He would be interested first of all in Transylvania, maybe Vienna or Germany. He asked Géza

Révész, who

was about to install himself in Germany, to take along his studies of folk music and to talk on his behalf.

The whole Bartok family tries to set the separated relatives at ease.

28 October - Béla

Bartok

Jnr writes his grandmother in Pozsony:

“

We are all well, Daddy and Mommy are always cheerful. We’ve got lots of flour and we eat very good bread, we’ve got 48 eggs and lots of wood, 13 chickens, 3 of them will lay eggs by Christmas”.

29 October - Mrs Bartok writes Bartok’s sister: “

Béla is

putting his Hungarian collection in complete order now, and is working on his Italian”.

28 November - Bartok writes his mother from Budapest that he tried to apply for a passport but it’s not granted for the time being. He hopes to be able to extend his leave expiring at the end of the year, although he hasn’t yet met Hubay, the new director. He is continuing the editing of folk songs, in which he also makes use of his little son’s help.

2 December - Mrs Bartok writes her mother-in-law that Bartok’s reasons 187