| Content | Bohuslav Martinů apologises to Paul Sacher for the delayed reply to his letters. He spent two months camping and traveled through much of America. Now he's back in New York.
The Sinfonietta GIOCOSA, which was given in London (and BM did not know it), is still the same Sinfonietta for piano and was probably performed again by Germaine Leroux.
BM would have appreciated an analysis of the CONCERT SYMPHONY [No. 2] for the Basel Chamber Orchestra Bulletin written by PS himself. BM prefers to write about the circumstances that inspired him to write the work. It was in Paris, apparently in 1936, that BM first (and last) heard Joseph Haydn's Sinfonia concertante. The work made a strong impression on him, and he thought about it for many years, searching in vain for a score. Those around him convinced him that he was mistaken and had Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Sinfonia concertante in mind. When he arrived in Princeton [at Princeton University] as a professor in 1948, he immediately tried to find the score of this piece in the library and succeeded. He even found the recordings, and they were of the very set he had heard in Paris years before under the direction of Charles Munch. He looked at the score and was even more impressed by the simplicity and perfection of the piece. There was the joy and humble unpretentiousness that music in general should have. If Haydn's influence can be heard in the CONCERTANT SYMPHONY [No. 2], BM will be pleased. So he began to compose with the idea of a tranquil and happy life, which is so difficult to attain for nervous and eternally discontented human beings. All of this, of course, has to do with music. When PS was in New York, he and BM talked about this problem and the lingering ideas that BM tries to put into each of his works. Maybe that means forgetting himself and serving the music completely. It doesn't sound like anything groundbreaking like that, but when one starts to write down the notes, it takes on great significance. JH is better, but BM is also doing the best he can.
BM regrets not attending the performance of [CONCERT SYMPHONY No. 2 on 8 December].
The SONATA FOR FLUTE [AND PIANO] will be published soon and BM will send it to Sacher at once.
PS is to keep the fees with him. BM hopes to spend them sometime when he is in Switzerland.
I hope PS and Maja Sacher had a pleasant holiday. BM [and Charlotte Martinů] are in good health. |