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(c)
Copyright Bartók Archives of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Institute for Musicology, 2004-2005
Portraits of the Man
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At the age of 3 he was given a drum, and was very pleased
with it. When I played the piano he sat on his little chair,
with his drum in front of him on the footstool, and gave out the
exact beat. If I changed over from 3/4 to 4/4 time, he left off
drumming for a moment, then resumed in the proper time. Even now
I can visualize just how seriously and attentively he
accompanied my playing.
From the letter of Bartók’s mother to her
grandson, 1921; Malcolm Gillies, Bartók Remembered (London,
1990), 6
Possibly, precise people are not content with the
impressionistic pictures offered by poets and they crave, first
of all, for the positive facts of science. Let us see what we
should write about him on the basis of the group divisions of
Kretschmer’s characterology. None of the cyclothyme
traits refer to him. There are, however, features of the other,
the schizothyme group, that fit him: fragile, fine,
sensitive, cool, severe, withdrawn, cold, dull, indolent. ... Up
to the attribute cold, all fitted him. The categories of psychic
tension ...: fanatical, pedantic, unyielding, persevering,
systematic. Only the upper extremes—capricious and confused—do
not fit him, whilst the rest hit the nail right on the head. The
agility aspect, speed in reactions to stimuli: inadequate, that
is to say, reactions to stimuli quicker than customary. The
subtitles of this heading are: restless, precipitate,
hesitating, awkward, aristocratic, contrived, angular, rigid.
With the exception of this last, all the rest more or less fit
him. With respect to social relations: self-contained, reserved.
Grades: idealist, reformer, revolutionary, systematic,
organiser, self-willed, crotchety, dissatisfied, restrained,
mistrustful, lonely, unsociable, misanthropical, brutal,
anti-social. With the exception of the last three there is none
that could not have been attributed to him with more or less
reason. The categories of psychic tension: ingenious, lively,
susceptible, energetic, inhibited. He could have been a typical
example of the schizothyme mental form. ... That is what
characterology says of him. It sounds fairly precise, though ...
the conditions of life are such that science cannot catch up
with life. For even if it is true that these qualities emerged
at times, man is not so simple a phenomenon that his eternal
secret can be solved by a label with a few lines on it. ...
Zoltán Kodály, “Béla Bartók the Man,” in The Writings of
Zoltán Kodály (Budapest, 1974), 97–98
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Bartók’s figure imprinted itself with unforgettable sharpness
on the minds of all who ever met him, although he never sought
to draw attention to himself or acted conspicuously. He could
permit himself the greatest luxury of his age: to be true and
sincere. And though there is hardly any evidence of it in his
art, his family, his acquaintances, his peasant singers and
young pupils all bear witness to the warm and simple human
feelings concealed in the depths of his infinitely complicated
creative personality. He was of middle height and had a
nervously delicate build, but his frail body bore a head radiant
with inner light; his hazel eyes had a penetrating look. They
dilated and blazed up in the heat of discussion or when he was
playing the piano; his forehead domed, and the once wavy, later
short-cropped hair turned prematurely grey, especially at the
temples; his nose was finely shaped and his lips thin and
energetic—all this gave the impression of a medieval, ascetic
monk.
Bence Szabolcsi, “Introduction,” in Ferenc
Bónis, Béla Bartók:
His Life in Pictures (Budapest, 1964), 5
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... I still preserve the
characteristic note he wrote to me (in English) shortly before
my visit, of which the following is an extract:
Dear Mr. Gray, ...Please let me know exactly by a telegram
the time of your arrival. I shall expect you at the station and
guide you to Mr. Kodály. Here I send a more recent photograph of
mine to you: you must try to address me on your arrival—I am
very thin, have grey hairs, and am wearing spectacles. Besides,
I shall have with me a copy of The Sackbut in order to make for
you easier to find me. ...
All these secret code instructions proved unnecessary. He was
charmingly unaware of the fact that, even in the vast surging
crowd which confronted me on my arrival at the central station
in Budapest, without the necessity of sending me a recent
photograph or carrying ostentatiously a copy of The Sackbut,
even with my more than myopic eyes, would be able to identify at
a glance the personality whom I had immediately recognized, from
a mere glance at his works, to be one the most outstanding
masters of contemporary music.
From Cecil Gray, Musical Chairs (London, 1948),
quoted in Malcolm Gillies, Bartók Remembered (London, 1990), 69
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...we of the younger musical
generation were captivated by Bartók, and to listen to a fresh
work of his became an event, alas too rare, of capital
importance. Most writers have agreed to hold Schönberg and
Stravinsky responsible for the reaction which set in after
Debussy. Some have included Erik Satie. I personally would
nominate Bartók instead. These three are the authentic
representatives of the musical revolution of that generation.
Less direct and sparkling than Stravinsky, less dogmatic than
Schönberg, Bartók is perhaps the most profoundly musical of the
three and best manifests a close-knit organic development.
From Arthur Honegger, “Preface,” in Serge
Moreux, Béla Bartók (London, 1953), 10
Whoever met Bartók, thinking of the rhythmic strength of his
work, was surprised by his slight, delicate figure. He had the
outward appearance of a fine-nerved scholar. Possessed of
fanatical will and pitiless severity, and propelled by an ardent
spirit, he affected inaccessibility and was reservedly polite.
His being breathed light and brightness; his eyes burned with a
noble fire. In the flash of his searching glance no falseness
nor obscurity could endure. If in performance an especially
hazardous and refractory passage came off well, he laughed in
boyish glee; and when he was pleased with the successful
solution of a problem, he actually beamed. That meant more than
forced compliments, which I never heard from his mouth...
From Paul Sacher, “Béla Bartók zum Gedächtnis,”
quoted from Malcolm Gillies,
Bartók Remembered (London, 1990), 100
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