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

World War II. Second and Third American Tour (1939–1945)

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CHRONICLES OF BÉLA

BARTOK'S

LIFE

with his wife. Programme: Mozarts Sonata in D major, Debussy’s En

blanc et noir,

two fugues

from

Bach’s Kunst der

Fuge, four

pieces from Microcosmos, and Brahms’ Sonata in F

minor.

25 November

- He gets conferred the degree of honorary doctor of Columbia University of New York adhering to specific formalities.

27 November - He transfers 250 dollars by telegram to Budapest for the expenses there, because neither his pension nor his royalties have yet been made payable.

30 November - From New York he writes Dorothy Parrish (who has married a doctor in the meantime, Anthony N. Domonkos

of

Hungarian origin) about his plans for January and about having got news of their baggage after all, seemingly having arrived in Lisbon. The summing up of their stay of one month is: “... so far we have spent our days none too pleasantly”.

In December Bartok is giving concerts in the State of Ohio.

1 December

- He leaves New York.

2 December

- In Cleveland he stays at Wade Park Manor from where he writes a postcard to his wife who stayed behind in New York.

3 December

- He plays at the Warner Hall of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, his solo programme is: ten pieces from Microcosmos, The Nights Music, Suite, Allegro barbaro,

Kodály

’s Transylvanian

Lament and Epitaph; with the orchestra of the Conservatoire he plays Mozart’s Piano Concerto in D minor. According to his account: “Although it went smoothly, some parts sounded like caricatures”.

5 and

7 December - In Cleveland, at the concert of the Cleveland Symphonies conducted by Artur Ródzinski

he

plays - twice the same programme, following the American tradition - his Piano Concerto No. 2. “The orchestra is excellent, although it doesn’t go as I would like, but I am tired of talking” - he writes to his wife.

8 December

- He arrives back to New York at 10 p.m. They check out of their hotel room, and rent a flat in Forest Hills, Long Island (New

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