General information
Type of the document Letter
SenderMartinů, Bohuslav
Sender (corporation)
Sender‘s locationNew York, NY
Send date16.09.1946
RecipientMerritt, Arthur Tillman
Recipient (corporation)
Recipient‘s locationCambridge, Massachusetts
Note on Recipient‘s location[Cambridge, Massachusetts?]
LanguageEnglish
AcquiredIsham Memorial Library, Cambridge, USA
Owner of the sourceHarvard University, Cambridge MA
Owner‘s call numberMs. Coll. 100, box 1
Former call number at IBM31/10
Call number at IBMMer 1946-09-16
Content and physical description
ContentBohuslav Martinů thanks you for your letter of 10 September; he is very interested in the "Symposium on Music Criticism" and is happy to accept the offer to write a chamber piece for the symposium. He would like to write a string quartet [SMITH QUARTET No. 6]; perhaps it will not be a problem to have two performances of this piece at the planned concert. He does not want to write a quartet with piano; he has recently completed one [PIANO QUARTET?]. The score will be ready by February. BM would like to have a copy of Merritt's "analysis of Palestrina's music" [Sexteenth-Century Polyphony: A Basis for the Study of Counterpoint, (Harvard University Press, 1939)].
Transcription of the letter

Sept. 16. 1946.



Dear Mr. Merritt.



Thank you for your letter of Sept. 10. I am extremely interested in Symposium on Music Criticism, I am sure that now is the moment to clarify and discuss this problem. I am very honored by your offer and accept with great pleasure to compose a chamber music piece. I am planning to write a string quartet, I would be very happy to do it, because I just feel I have to do it now. Would it interfere too much to have two string quartets in the same program? I do not think so. Please let me know your opinion. I am not so interested in quartet with Piano. I recently finished one.



Please let me know if there are other conditions (beside the first performance) connected with this commission?



Score would be ready for February.



I would be very happy, if I can have one copy of your analysis of Palestrina music.



With my best regards



Yours



B. Martinu


Total number of leaves1
Number of pages bearing text2
Fixationhandwriting
Digitisation
Quality of digitisationNot professional colour
Digitized atIsham Memorial Library, Cambridge, USA
Date of digitisation11/2016

Preview only available at the Institute.

Person as subject
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da
Composition as subject
Piano Quartet, H 287
String Quartet No. 6, H 312
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