The Hungarian Student, 1958 (2. évfolyam, 1-7. szám)
1958 / 3. szám
6 the Hungarian student OVER 20,000 HUNGARIANS PLACED BY CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES BARTÓK {Continued from page 5.) for his works, and by giving concerts. Later on, he was commissioned to write a solo violin sonata for Yehudi Menuhin. He only accepted the help of the ASCAP—the American Society of Composers and Performers, of which he never was a member—when he had to give up the usual hard work because of his health.” “He was working on another great job also. He wrote a book entitled Serbo-Croatian Folk Songs. It is a treasury of songs of the Serbian people, and it was possible for him to write this book because of a generous fund. He was working at Columbia University, and the book itself was printed by Columbia Press in 1951.” “As for his art of playing the piano, not too many people here liked his very simple, hard, non-bombastic style. But this was one of his principles to which he was never unfaithful. It is not without interest to note that although he was fluent in German, he had not uttered a word in that language since 1940.” “He had many talents. He spoke English with literary perfection, French the same way. He knew Turkish, Rumanian, and Slavic, too. Before he took off for one of his folk song collecting trips, he always .studied the appropriate language. He even translated the text of his chorus work, “Cantata Profana,” into English. Wait, I will show you the manuscript.” She showed us the manuscript. We became excited when we touched the sheet of paper. Bartok handwriting! The translation is unbelievably good. One is amazed, since it is almost impossible to make a fine translation into a language which is not one’s mother tongue. “Would you tell us about his philosophy and his method of creating?” “He certainly was the same type of creator as Mozart, one who works the entire piece out in his mind first, and then when it comes to putting it down, he has no more problems unsolved; he does not need to erase anything. Besides, he liked to get up late, on doctor’s orders, working in bed even in Budapest when he was not yet ill. When his health became affected, he used to lie in bed, and from time to time he got up and stepped to the window where his working table was set up. When he could not get up any more, he asked me to buy a little board for him on which he could write while lying down. It was on this small bed table that he finished the Third Piano Concerto. From his concerto for viola only sketches were prepared before he died. It was finished by Tibor Serly, the Hungarian composer. To finish it was extremely difficult, even though Serly knew Bartók’s methods very well.” “What about his philosophy?” “About his philosophy? He was a true Hungarian, but he never had any prejudices. Nor was he preoccupied at all; he knew CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES, a branch of the National Cahtolic Welfare Conference, is an agency established for the purpose of dealing with refugee problems and relief for civilians in warravaged and needy countries. It was set up in January 1943, and began operations in countries where American volunteer agencies could function. Between 1943 and April 1955, the official title of the agency was War Relief Services. Under the Refugee Relief Act, Catholic Relief Services has resettled more than 40,000 refugees in the United States. And, since the end of World War II Catholic Relief Services has assisted in the resettlement of approximately 225,000 persons. Between the date of its establishment in 1943 and September 30, 1957, the agency sent shipments of 3,169,812,132 pounds of goods valued at 1615,510,886.98. In 1957, these shipments amounted to 1,176,452,392 pounds, valued at $119,410,509.01. These goods were distributed to many areas of the world, principally West Germany, the Middle East, India, Pakistan, and the Far East, solely on the basis of need. During the first five months of the Hungarian emergency, the resettlement division of Catholic Relief Services received and registered 15,000 job opportunities, handled more than 10,000 inquiries, sent over 11,000 notifications to overseas offices, and acthe faults of his people and he stood beyond chauvinism, or any ‘ism.’ He left Hungary in 1940. He always thought of going back again, but in 1945 he saw the new tyranny and did not want any part of it.” “Maybe that is the reason why the Hungarian theme of the Concerto for Orchestra makes such a sad impression on the listener?” we asked. “Who knows? This may well be. We did not talk about these things. He was very reserved.” “What did he look like ? His face, his figure? Most of us know him only from photos.” “The photographs are not flattering. I have never seen a more sublime face. He was not tall, but he was not short either, and he was delicately built. His hands are —were—something one should talk about because in contrast to his fine figure, they were extremely strong, and, at the same time, very expressive.” “Apart from his hate for the Nazis, he had another reason for leaving his country. His mother, whom he adored, died in 1949. Although she was very old, her death left a deep mark on Bartók’s heart. I understood his feelings because I knew his knowledged approximately 11,000 individual letters. As the months went by, American enthusiasm waned; since March, 1957, placement of Hungarians has become extremely difficult. As of October 1, 1957, however, the government has admitted a total of 34,990 Hungarian refugees, of whom 20,880 have been received and placed by Catholic Relief Services. The next highest total for one voluntary agency is 6,308 persons. One-hundred-forty-six students completed the language program at Bard College, New York, forty-five at St. Michael’s College, Winoosky, Vermont, and 107 at many other universities which took small groups into what were known as “package programs.” These are the ones only who were handled by the Catholic Relief Services. Catholic Relief Services student program had a total registration of 676 young men and women. Ninety-five received scholarships in the spring of 1957, and 122 in the fall of 1957. One hundred and twelve persons who presented themselves as students were removed from the program as not qualified, while 347 have been resettled in homes and jobs, pdnenig academic placement. Finally, here are a few figures showing the refugee cases handled by the Catholic Relief Services: visas, 3,032 persons; parolees, 17,164 persons; unknown, 1,923 persons. This is a total of 22,120 persons handled by the Catholic Relief Services. mother. She was a woman of great intelligence, of great understanding, and she helped Bartók a great deal in his early days. There are not too many parents who are delighted with their son’s vocation as an artist...” We could imagine now how simply he must have lived. “He lived very simply, very economically. He used to walk four blocks in order not to take the Fifth Avenue bus; at that time the other lines were five cents cheaper. For years he wore the same checkered overcoat he had brought from Hungary and had only one more coat for the winter. When he died, he was buried in the same grey flannel suit he had had for years .. . ” It seemed as if the eyes of Mrs. Kecskeméti became somewhat cloudy. We arose; we do not want to take any more of her valuable time. We thanked her for telling us about Bartók, and stepping out of the house, a thought occurred to us. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to put a small inconspicuous plaque on the house where Bartók used to live and work amidst the jungle of New York City.
