Hungarian Bartók Legacy, Mr. Gábor Vásárhelyi’s Collection
A Digital Deposit
The Hungarian Bartók Legacy, formerly kept as permanent deposit in the Budapest Bartók Archives, is currently in the private collection of the legal successor of Béla Bartók, Mr. Gábor Vásárhelyi. Thanks to his permission, the most important part of his collection is available at the Budapest Bartók Archives in digitized form for study purposes. Interested researchers can contact the staff of the Bartók Archives to get access to the catalogue of the digital collection. Please write to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Bartók Archives
Institute for Musicology
Research Centre for the Humanities
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
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Address: |
H-1014 Budapest, Táncsics Mihály utca 7. Hungary |
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Postal address: |
H-1250 Budapest, Pf. 9. Hungary |
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Phone: |
+36 1 375-2139 +36 1 375-9282 |
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Email: |
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |
Other Bartók Institutions
Bartók Records
The composer’s younger son Peter Bartók’s private collection of Bartók’s American estate
Bartók Béla Emlékház (Béla Bartók Memorial House)
Housed in the building of Bartók’s last Budapest home; exhibition (including Bartók’s furniture, instruments, memorabilia); book-shop; concerts, programs for groups.
Csalán út 29, H–1025 Budapest, Fax +36 1 176-4472
Rákoshegyi Bartók Zeneház (Rákoshegy Bartók Memorial House)
Bartóks home in Budapest-Rákoshegy (between 1912-20 – Rákoskeresztúr-nyaraló at the time), now a cultural institution offering musical programmes
Folk Music Department of the Institute for Musicology
Keeps the original collection of Hungarian folk songs edited by Bartók (“Bartók Rend”)
Néprajzi Múzeum (Hungarian Ethnographic Museum)
Keeps the largest collection of original phonograph cylinders of Bartók’s field work.
Kossuth L. tér 12, H-1055 Budapest, Fax +36 1 269-2419
Szombathely International Bartók Seminar
Yearly seminar and festival in the Western Hungarian town (commute via Vienna or Budapest) in early July (July 6-21 in the year 2004); in addition to master classes, musicological programs (lectures, courses) in cooperation with former and present staff members of the Budapest Bartók Archives; contact IHungarofest Kht., H-1072 Budapest, Rákóczi út 20. Tel: +36 1 266-1459, Fax: +36 1 266-5972
e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Bartók Béla Zeneművészeti Szakközépiskola és Gimnázium (Béla Bartók Conservatory and Secondary Grammar School, Budapest)
Research conditions and facilities
The Budapest Bartók Archives is open to research only for scholars and Ph.D. candidates. The number of visitors is limited, so please make an appointment in advance.
Copyright-protected material can be studied only with previous consent of the copyright owners (Bartók’s publishers and heirs). Manuscripts which belong to the deposit “Bartók Hagyaték” (Bartók estate), owned by Béla Bartók Jr.’s heir, Mr. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. can be studied with previous written consent of the heirs. Photos of material housed in Peter Bartók’s collection can be obtained directly from the owner. – For a general list of the location of manuscript sources of the compositions, see Manuscripts, Primary Sources: A Guide to Research, for a more detailed list, see Somfai, Béla Bartók: Composition, Concepts, and Autograph Sources (Berkeley–Los Angeles–London: University of California Press, 1996), pp. 297–320 “Appendix: List of Works and Primary Sources.”
To study Bartók’s folk-music collections – primarily the Hungarian material (transcriptions, recordings) – you should also contact the Hungarian Folk Music Department and the Hungarian Museum of Ethnography.
In addition to the research library of the Bartók Archives, the Library of the Institute (in the same building) is open to our visiting scholars. The use of laptops is permitted.
Collections
1. Manuscripts of compositions: ca. 100 manuscripts, 30 corrected proofs of first editions, furthermore corrected printed copies, MS orchestral parts, etc.; in detail see Somfai, Béla Bartók: Composition, Concepts, and Autograph Sources (cf. Publications)
2. Folk-music collections: (a) phonograph cylinders of the Arabic collection; (b) manuscripts of the transcriptions of Bartók’s Rumanian, Arabic, Turkish collections, and of the gramophone recordings of Hungarian folk music; (c) printed collections with Bartók’s annotations
N.B. For transcriptions and recordings of the folksongs in the Bartók-System click here.
3. Ethnomusicological studies: drafts, manuscripts, corrected proofs of Bartók’s books and studies
4. Manuscripts of Bartók’s essays and articles
5. Bartók’s correspondence (original and photocopies)
6. Bartók’s library: (a) books; (b) periodicals; (c) printed music (NB: substantial parts of the library are kept in the collections of the Bartók heirs)
7. Miscellany: programs, newspaper clippings, photos, and miscellaneous papers
8. Bartók reference library: (a) books; (b) printed music (from first editions to recent editions); (c) recordings; (d) dissertations