The Violinist Imre Waldbauer's Acquaintance with Béla Bartók

Németh, Zsombor (2024) The Violinist Imre Waldbauer's Acquaintance with Béla Bartók. In: Studien zur Musikwissenschaft. Studien zur Musikwissenschaft - Beihefte der Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich, 62 (62). Hollitzer Verlag, Wien, pp. 175-206. ISBN 9783990941850

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Abstract

After his death, the composer, pianist, and folklorist Béla Bartók (1881–1945) was remembered by many of his contemporaries, both in public and in private. Around and shortly after the centenary of his birth, the ever-growing number of recollections were collected, organized, and presented in two major publications.1 While neither Bónis’s book nor Gillies’ could be exhaustive, both give voice to many contemporaries, from Bartók’s youthful friends to his last acquaintances. However, one important person is missing from both publications: the violinist and string quartet leader Imre Waldbauer, who was Bartók’s fourth most frequent recital partner,2 gave the first performance of many of his works, and was one of his closest colleagues. As will be discussed later in this article, their relationship dates back to the first decade of the twentieth century, and over the years it also developed into a friendship. First, I present an English translation of a recently surfaced ego document written by Imre Waldbauer;3 the edited Hungarian text of the source, which served as the basis for the translation, can be found in the appendix of this article.4 The publication of Waldbauer’s writing is followed by discussions of the topics covered in the text, as well as a description of the source, and the circumstances of the genesis of the ego document.

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