Béla Bartók's Reception in the United States 1940–1945

Between 1954 and 1962, Janos Demeny published a monumental documentary biography of Bela Bartók, whose four parts cover Bartók professional life from his student years up to his move to America in the fall of 1940. For obvious reasons Demeny's survey, published during the darkest years of the cold war, could not cover the last five years Bartók spent in the United States of America. This lack is remedied by the introductory essay of Tibor Tallian's book, based on painstaking collection of all available data. The essay is followed by the analytical list of Bartók's American concerts, of the performances of his works, of records and published scores, and as full a collection of reviews as possible. The reviews provide a detailed picture of the professional climate surrounding Bartók in the United States, which he felt was unfamiliar, and at times even hostile. They also display the rather unfriendly general attitude of American music criticism towards modern music during World War II.