Béla Bartók. Collection of c.39 autograph letters by Ditta Bartók, and other Bartók-related material, the letters c.1942-1950, APPARENTLY UNPUBLISHED

Béla Bartók

Collection of autograph letters by Ditta Bartók, and other Bartók material, the letters c.1942-1950, APPARENTLY UNPUBLISHED

comprising:

c.39 autograph letters, notes and postcards signed by Ditta Bartók, mostly to Peter Bartók, over 70 pages, various sizes, New York and Budapest, c.1942-1950

and: an autograph document in Bartók's hand, consisting of an annotated three-line text in Turkish, 1 page, 1942 or later; c.20 autograph and typed letters signed, mostly to Peter Bartók, by various correspondents, including Béla Bartók junior (3), János Bartók (2), Gyula Pásztory (2), Dr Tibor Hajnal (official guardian to Peter Bartók during his parents American tour starting in late 1940, later in 1941 the organizer of Peter's journey to America) (2), Yehudi Menuhin, Paul Sacher, and Victor Bator (4; one concerning Primrose and the Viola Concerto and another discussing Bartók's relationship to the Nazis: "...he [Bartók] is well known in Europe for his anti-Nazi sentiments...after the Nazi rule became established in Germany he forbade his works to be played, although this meant a very considerable material loss to him..."), c.37 pages, various sizes, 1942-1950; an autograph letter by Otto Gombosi to Zoltán Kodály, 4 pages, 18 November 1946; c.9 miscellaneous documents relating to Bartók, including a printed concert programme of Ditta Bartók, and some documents from 1942, including draft applications 'to extend time of temporary stay' for Béla and Ditta in the United States, the manuscript entries by Ditta Bartók; a telegram to Peter Bartók from Ditta and Béla Bartók ("Our heartiest wishes on your Birthday"), 31 July 1942; and 6 PHOTOGRAPHS OF BARTOK AND MEMBERS OF HIS FAMILY, and 24 others, and one transparency, including of Peter Bartók, János Bartók (the composer's nephew), the ethnomusicologist György Kerényi, and Ditta at the piano, being recorded by her brother Jenő Pásztory, various sizes, mostly mounted or laid down on card, no places or dates

AN IMPORTANT SOURCE OF BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION ABOUT BARTÓK IN HIS FINAL YEARS AND CONCERNING THE AFTERMATH AFTER HIS DEATH FROM LEUKAEMIA IN 1945.

The Hungarian pianist Ditta Pásztory-Bartók (1903-1982) was the second wife of the composer, and also (after she gave up her solo career), his duo partner. Her only son Peter, born in 1924, and for whom the composer wrote from 1932 his Mikrokosmos cycle, became the fierce guardian of Bartók's legacy, and was responsible for many notable recordings of his father's works.

All the letters by Ditta here would appear to be unpublished. Only short messages by her to her son which were embedded in Bartók's letters were included in Peter Bartók's personal recollection, My Father (2003). A number of the letters concern the emigration of Peter to the United States in 1942, Bartók and Ditta having already emigrated in 1940.

PROVENANCE:

Formerly in the collection of the composer's son, Peter Bartók (1924-2020)