Bartók Béla, ifj.: Chronicles of Béla Bartók's Life (Budapest, 2021)
Great Concert Tours on Two Continents (1922–1931)
1925 CHRONICLES OF BÉLA BARTOK'S LIFE farewell performance of a Bach-Händel programme Bartok participates with the 6 Couperin pieces played on 21 March. 23 April - On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Music Institute of Higher Education (Music Academy), Regent Miklos Horthy bestows the third class of crown “Medal-for-Merit” (Signum laudis) on Béla Bartok. 24 April - Bartok buys tickets for the jubilee festivities at the Rózsavölgyi and Co. firm for Mrs Fischer b. Stefánia Szalay. 25 April - In his letter to Nagyvárad he notifies her that the tickets are available on 4 May. (This is an obvious mistake, because the festival started on 2 May.) 2 , 3 and 4 May - Days of the festive performances. Of Bartoks works the movement “Village Dance” of Two Pictures is performed. Bartok probably attended one of the concerts - on the 3rd or 4th. 6 May - The Ministry of Religion and Public Education informs him in letter No. 1473/1925 about the bestowal of the “Medal-for-Merit”. 15 May - Bartok writes a letter to Bu§i|ia, asking for the Romanian names of the villages visited during his kolinda collecting. (In Budapest there was an adequate gazetteer at disposition concerning these, but it never occurred to him; that’s why there are so many misunderstandings regarding some names of communities.) - The publication of this collection met some difficulties in Romania, but Oxford University Press undertook the English publication. Bartok was very glad about it, but even this caused him lots of annoyance later on. - In his letter to Ernst Latzko in Weimar he thanks him for the information about the 2 April stage performance: he is glad that both Latzko and the audience prefer Bluebeard - he himself isn’t too fond of The Wooden either, he considers Bluebeard a better opus. 15 to 20 May - Festival of the International Society of New Music in Prague, which Bartok attended after all. The Hungarian part of the programme on 17 May is György Kosa ’s Six Orchestral Pieces, on 19 242
