Bartók Béla, ifj.: Chronicles of Béla Bartók's Life (Budapest, 2021)
Great Concert Tours on Two Continents (1922–1931)
1927 CHRONICLES OF BÉLA BARTOK'S LIFE about half of which didn’t come to fruition eventually. Finally he mentions: “In the summer Zoltán had a lengthy flu which bothered him a lot in his work”. 10 September - Letter to Universal Edition. 13 September - He writes his mother that he wants to retire after 20 and a half years of service, which would mean an annual loss of about 2,400 pengős, but this is made up amply by other possibilities and most of all by the freedom. - In the evening he gives a concert at the Radio. Beside works by G. Frescobaldi, M. Rossi, D. Zipoli he plays Beethovens Variations in F major Op. 34, his own 9 Small Piano Pieces, and Emma Kodály’s 2 Hungarian Peasant Dances. 21 September - He informs his mother and aunt: he didn’t retire after all, but asked for and was granted a leave for the school year 1927/28. 26 September - He lets his mother and aunt know that his wife is preparing to return home, he himself will bring home their son Péter, and that he entertained Edward Clark (who will conduct on 10 October in London) sojourning in Budapest, and as a grass widower treated him to a dish of Hungarian squash marrow with meatballs followed by pastry. 27 September - He writes Universal Edition before he leaves Budapest. Then he travels to Szöllős Puszta, from where he brings his son Péter home to Budapest. His wife could not yet leave Davos due to a slight relapse. 1 October - He suggests his mother and aunt to rent a furnished room at his expenses during the renovations of their Pozsony flat (this they decline, of course). His concert fees would cover the expenses, as giving concerts “...had to be done even if ... I didn’t need money, because I need to propagate my own works myself anyway. As a matter of fact this year I play almost exclusively my own things, and only at rather important places”. 4 October - On his postcard written still from Budapest he calls his 268
