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BARTÓK, Béla (1881-1945)
Autograph letter signed ('Bartók') to Stefi Geyer, n.p., 18 September 1938.
In Hungarian, with the phrases 'suggested it' and 'rotten country' in English. Two pages, 213 x 136mm.
On the Violin Concerto No.2 and a commission from Benny Goodman. Bartók complains of the 'mad rush' of life, and the 'dark' external situation, and refers (perhaps with deliberate obscurity) to some '"remarkably interesting" little books sent from Czechoslovakia'. He goes on to discuss his composing: 'I had two things to complete during the summer. One was the violin concerto parts 1 and 2 for instruments (which is done) and part 3 to be written (nearly ready). The other new commission is for two shorter pieces for clarinet and piano. This was commissioned by Benny Goodman (the American jazz-clarinetist)!! However, it wasn't his idea, but obviously Szigeti suggested it ... This is mostly complete. So I am now preoccupied with the violin all the time ... I was interested in putting the clarinet with the violin face to face. But the problem with these commissioned works is that they hold one up for three years – until then one cannot sell them, only to the person who commissioned them. Moreover, Goodman is hardly ever invited to Europe, but perhaps even were they to invite him, he wouldn't come to this rotten country'. Bartók concludes with bitter complaints about the Italians ('thieves, robbers, highwaymen, liars and untrustworthy brigands'), thanks for flowers and uncertainty about the future: 'One thing is for sure: whatever happens, it will not be good'.
The two works Bartók discusses are the Violin Concerto No.2 and Contrasts (Sz. 111, BB 116) for a clarinet, violin and piano trio, which as he says was prompted by a letter from the violinist Joseph Szigeti, although officially commissioned by Benny Goodman. Bartók's preoccupation with the worsening political situation in Europe was to culminate with his emigration to the United States in 1940. The Hungarian violinist Stefi Geyer (1888-1956) was the dedicatee of Bartók's Violin Concerto No.1.
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