Bartók Béla, ifj.: Chronicles of Béla Bartók's Life (Budapest, 2021)
Economic Crisis (1932–1933)
ECONOMIC CRISIS (1 932-1 933) 1932 28 February - He arrives in Harwich, proceeding from there to Glasgow of Scotland. He is greeted ceremoniously at the train station. 29 February - In Glasgow composers evening in the Stevenson Hall. He holds a four-hour rehearsal with his participant partners: singer Angela Pallas and violinist Bessie Spence with whom he plays “Slow” of Rhapsody No. 1 and transcriptions of Sonatina and Rumanian Folk Dances. His solo programme: Elegy No. 2, 3 Burlesques, Kolindas, Suite, Allegro barbaro, and Preludio-AirUngherese. “Everything went all right ... I haven’t had such a bad lunch for a long time as today ... It seems the Scots cannot cook, only play their bagpipes” - he writes his mother. 2 March - In London radio concert with Bartok and the Virtuoso String Quartet. Bartok plays pieces by Bach, Scarlatti, and Marcello, while the string quartet performs pieces of Haydn, César Franck, and Coleridge Taylor. - He gets his Egyptian visa at the Egyptian consulate. 3 March - On his free day in London he writes his mother and wife. 4 March - Bartok concert at the BBC. Rehearsal from 10 a.m. till 5 p.m., performance in the evening conducted by Henry Wood. Programme: Suite No. 1, Rhapsody - with Bartoks participation -, The Miraculous Mandarin-Suite. 5 March - He leaves for Switzerland via France. 7 March - At Radio Zurich he plays Rhapsody. 8 March - He leaves for home in Budapest via Austria. 10 March - He receives the accounts of fees between 28 January and 7 March from ITHMA: 400 Austrian schillings, 350 DM, 3,000 French francs, 139.15 English pounds and 350 Swiss francs. - He obtains his Greek and Yugoslav visas. 11 March - He leaves for Egypt via Szabadka. - On this day Rudolf Voit, who often gave him a relative s help during his stays in Vienna, dies in Budapest. 12 March - Upon arriving in Greece he writes his mother that - contrary to his habits - he travelled in a wagon-lit. 339
