SC - 1000 - #877

Traveling the back roads of Hungary, in 1905 Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály began their pioneering work in ethnomusicology, and they were armed only with an Edison phonograph and insatiable curiosity.

(A) Traveling the back roads of Hungary, in 1905 Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály began their pioneering work in ethnomusicology, and they were armed only
(B) In 1905, Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály, traveling the back roads of Hungary, began their pioneering work in ethnomusicology, and they were only armed
(C) In 1905 Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály began their pioneering work in ethnomusicology, traveling the back roads of Hungary armed only
(D) Having traveled the back roads of Hungary, in 1905 Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály began their pioneering work in ethnomusicology; they were only armed
(E) Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály, in 1905 began their pioneering work in ethnomusicology, traveling the back roads of Hungary, arming themselves only

C is clearly out...the sentence appears fractured
D - it alters the intent of the sentence by giving the reader an impression that Bela Bartok and Zoltan began their word after having traveled...moreover we don't need a semicolon
E - Again construction is awkward
Between A and B i would vote for B

OA?

OA is C - I was surprised

A) Traveling the back roads of Hungary, in 1905 Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály began their pioneering work in ethnomusicology, and they were armed only out as this statement says 1905 travelled rather than bela and zoltan
(B) In 1905, Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály, traveling the back roads of Hungary, began their pioneering work in ethnomusicology, and they were only armed out as wordy when compared to C
(C) In 1905 Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály began their pioneering work in ethnomusicology, traveling the back roads of Hungary armed only this is consise and does not have the tense error or the misplaced modifier
(D) Having traveled the back roads of Hungary, in 1905 Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály began their pioneering work in ethnomusicology; they were only armed out as this is wordy.. this means that bela and zoltan were travelling before 1905 ( improper usage of tense )
(E) Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály, in 1905 began their pioneering work in ethnomusicology, traveling the back roads of Hungary, arming themselves only out as misplaced modifier.. who were travelling :roll:

Experts, could you please reply here?

Traveling the back roads of Hungary, in 1905 Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály began their pioneering work in ethnomusicology, and they were armed only with an Edison phonograph and insatiable curiosity.
(A) Traveling the back roads of Hungary, in 1905 Bela Bartok and Zoltan Kodaly began their pioneering work in ethnomusicology, and they were armed only
(B) In 1905, Bela Bartok and Zoltan Kodaly, traveling the back roads of Hungary, began their pioneering work in ethnomusicology, and they were only armed
(C) In 1905 Bela Bartok and Zoltan Kodaly began their pioneering work in ethnomusicology, traveling the back roads of Hungary armed only
(D) Having traveled the back roads of Hungary, in 1905 Bela Bartok and Zoltan Kodaly began their pioneering work in ethnomusicology; they were only armed
(E) Bela Bartok and Zoltan Kodaly, in 1905 began their pioneering work in ethnomusicology, traveling the back roads of Hungary, arming themselves only

1. The OA is C but in C, modifiers ("travelling .." and "armed ..") are placed back to back:
In 1905 Bela Bartok and Zoltan Kodaly began their pioneering work in ethnomusicology, traveling the back roads of Hungary armed only with an Edison phonograph and insatiable curiosity.
Is such a placement of modifiers alright?

2. Also please point out the problems in B. I chose B because I thought B was lesser of the devils between B and C options.

thanks in advance