First World War and Russian Revolution.

 

The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 changed Bortkiewicz's life. Being a Russian he was initially under house arrest and later to leave Germany. Going through Stockholm and Finland he finally reached St. Petersburg. He did not stay there but travelled to Kharkov, where he established himself as a music teacher, whilst at the same time giving concerts alone or together with the violonist Franta Smit. During his years in Kharkov he composed his cello concerto opus 20 (dedicated to Paul de Conne [1874-1959]), and the violin concerto opus 22 (dedicated to Franta Smit). The cello concerto was premiered in 1923 in Budapest, while the violin concerto was premiered in Prague in 1922 by its dedicatee Franta Smit.

 

Photo: Paul de Conne (1874-1959) (copyright: Wouter Kalkman)

 

The end of the first World War saw the beginning of the Russian revolution, which forced the composer and his family to flee the family estate of Artiomowka owing to occupation by the communists. In June 1919 the communists fled in the wake of the White army and Bortkiewicz was able to return and help to rebuilt the family estate, which had completely been plundered. This, however, was short-lived and whilst on a trip to Yalta with his wife, the fall of Kharkov to the Red army meant that his family could not return to Artiomowka. Whit the area now surrounded by the Red army, the composer watched his mother and the husband of his sister Vera, fall ill with typhus fever, of which both died in the chaos of Novorossysk. Bortkiewicz sought to escape from Yalta and succeeded in November 1919 to obtain passage on the steamer Konstantin. Bortkiewicz wrote in his Erinnerungen: "Now was the time for us to push through at any cost. For hours we stood at the stairs. Finally, we were successful in squeezing through, we showed are passenger tickets, and were on board. We breathed a sigh of relief, as we saw our luggage, our last property and wealth, swinging in the air on a cable of a mighty crane. My wife occupied a cabin with a few ladies. I remained on the upper deck without a place. The Konstantin was over-filled to bursting point with people and luggage, there was not even a spot free on the upper deck. The signal for departure was given. 'Adieu, adieu, my native shore', Byron's words flashed through my head." The next day Sergei and Elisabeth Bortkiewicz arrived in Istanbul (Turkey). Bortkiewicz was ruined: "I had 20 dollars in my pocket, that was all. My 1,5 million Russian roebel were totally worthless! We had only a couple of suitcases with clothes, a little underwear and my manuscripts."

 

Photo: The house in Charkow where Bortkiewicz stayed during World War I