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

Great Concert Tours on Two Continents (1922–1931)

1930

CHRONICLES OF BÉLA

BARTOK'S

LIFE

22 April - The Nyugat

organises

an Ady ceremony at the Music Institute of Higher Education (Music Academy). Oszkár

Kálmán performs

two songs by Kodály,

Mária Basilides

one of Kodály

’

s Ady

Songs and three of Bartoks, accompanied on the piano by Bartok.

Around this time His Master’s Voice publishes its Bartok record, the recording of Allegro barbaro,

Burlesque

No. 2, Bagatelle No. 2, Suite, Rumanian Dance No. 1, Evening in Transylvania, and Bear Dance in Bartoks performance.

24 April - Letter to Universal Edition.

President of the New York Pro Musica,

Robert

Schmitz, also an excellent pianist, wanted to include Hungary in his planned European concert tour, he asked for Bartoks help in this matter. Given the amount of contribution to Hungarian music by the Pro Musica

association, Bartok wrote several people on his behalf, like on 26 April to Pál

Bodon

in Kecskemét,

later

to Ernő

Südy in

Békéscsaba.

At the Budapest Opera House the identity of the librettist for the Bartok pieces was a constant source of difficulties. In one respect they didn’t want to display the name of Béla

Balázs (living

in emigration) on the playbill, and in another they would not be able to grant his royalties either. Béla

Balázs agreed

to the omission of his name in his 3 April declaration. The Opera House thought of using a fake name, but in reaction Bartok writes in his April letter: “But would there be any Hungarian writer of integrity to lend their name to such an immoral procedure, or would the H. roy. Opera House take upon themselves prompting a Hungarian writer to do such a thing? I don’t believe so. ... There remain then 3 solutions: 1/ ‘Concealing’ the names of the librettist and the composer. 2/ ‘Concealing’ the name of only the librettist. 3/ Making appear a fictitious name for librettist. - The first solution is the fair one; all three are equally immaturely childish. I am deeply saddened by the immaturity of (hopefully only small) part of the Budapest audience that forces us to spend our time making up such idiocies”.

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