Bartók Béla, ifj.: Chronicles of Béla Bartók's Life (Budapest, 2021)
World War II. Second and Third American Tour (1939–1945)
1 940 CHRONICLES OF BÉLA BARTOK'S LIFE 2 September - He goes to the Budapest consulate of the USA to retrieve his wife’s visa, but finds it closed due to the national holiday. 5 September - He writes Ralph Hawkes about this and other visa problems. 6 September - He writes the American itinerary simultaneously to Mrs Müller-Widmann, Paul Sacher and Stefi Geyer, and asks for their help procuring tickets and a loan necessary for proceeding from Switzerland. About his illness he writes that the periarthritis, started 15 years ago and developed in both shoulders, makes playing the piano impossible, but hopefully it will become better. 11 September - Budapest Opera House makes new attempts to prepare the performance of The Miraculous Mandarin. In their letter No. 1567/1940 they make Bartok the suggestion to name the author with a minor modification: “Written by Gyula Harangozó based on Menyhért Lengyel ’s idea”. Menyhért Lengyel gave his consent for the sake of the cause. 12 September - On his postcard to Sándor Albrecht Bartok qualifies his illness already “arthritis-like trouble”. 19 September - He calls his son Béla to the Academy of Sciences for another discussion on the 24th. 20 September - He writes Andor Schulhof about travel problems. 26 September - He pays another medical bill of 131 pengős to Lajos Bilkei Pap. He wants to entrust the managing of his underage son Péter ’s official matters to a temporary guardian in the person of his medical attendant of the time Dr. Tibor Hajnal. (It was an unfortunate choice, because, due to the already effective Jewish laws, Dr. Hajnal was unable to fulfil his mandate properly.) 29 September - Concerning this matter he visits the Hajnals with his son Béla. 2 October - He writes Walter Schulthess about travel problems. 4 October - He informs Schulthess of having got the Swiss visa. - He pays 456
