Bartók Béla, ifj.: Chronicles of Béla Bartók's Life (Budapest, 2021)
World War II. Second and Third American Tour (1939–1945)
WORLD WAR II. SECOND AND THIRD AMERICAN TO U R ( 1 9 3 9 - 1 9 4 5 ) 1 944 Koussevitzky, just like the second performance of 2 December. 3 December - He and his wife are back in New York. 5 December - He writes about the premiere of Concerto in a letter to his son Péter: “ Koussevitzky is enthusiastic about the piece, he declared several times that it was the most significant orchestral work of the last 20-25 years. As somebody else told me: ‘he is raving about the piece’.” 13 December - He writes a letter to Ágnes Butcher in Toronto. 16 December - From New York he writes his son in Panama: “In our last week’s ... letter we described Boston events. Since then there was another small premiere ... The mature and robust women of an association called ’Szent-Cecilia sang 5 children’s choirs accompanied by a small orchestra. ... surely this cannot be compared to the singing of the children of Pest. (Poor things, what are they doing now!)”. 17 December (then continued after a few days) - He describes events of the last year in detail to Wilhelmine Creel, and also how much the situation in Hungary worries him. 24 December - He calls her attention to the next performances of Concerto. 29 and 30 December - Concerto is performed again in Boston, it is even transmitted by the Radio. Even the Bartoks listen to the performance of the 30th at the Pál Kecskemétis’. During the last week of December he gives 5 piano lessons to Ágnes Butcher, furthermore he goes through Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 with 2 ladies from Rochester. He receives 65 dollars for these. - His financial situation looks somewhat more promising: he agreed with the Boosey & Hawkes firm that, beside the normal selling and performing royalties, he would be paid a yearly advance of 1,400 dollars for the next 3 years. 495
