The past of the present volume harkens back sixty years. It first saw the light of day in 1956, when it was published by the Zenemű Kiadó, the state-owned firm founded with the purpose of making books on music available to the general public. Its choicefirst fell on the Bartók biography written by the music theorist and historian Bence Szabolcsi, which was previously published in a journal and which, as we have come to realize, was a tamely worded but ardent call to arms.