Béla Bartók composed his Sonata for Solo Violin (1944) after he emigrated from Hungary to the USA at the outbreak of World War II. A few years prior, he openly expressed his aversion to Hitler and the rise of the Nazis, refusing to play his own music or have it performed in Germany. As a result, Bartók faced boycotts in many places, especially in pro-German countries. The political situation in Hungary and the surrounding dictatorships became unbearable, leading Bartók, after much hesitation, to bid farewell to his homeland and his mother.
However, life in North America proved challenging for the composer and his wife. Bartók found it difficult to settle, and for many years, he was unable to compose. He believed that he would never regain his creative abilities. He wandered through the crowded streets of New York like an anxious animal, feeling like a miserable and uprooted stranger. His health deteriorated, and by 1943, he weighed only 44 kilograms. Sadly, Bartók passed away from leukaemia in New York in 1945.