| Content | Bohuslav Martinů thanks for the news about [Václav] Talich. He is sorry that Talich will no longer be conducting the [Czech Philharmonic]. BM was looking forward to working with him again. It seemed that BM would never hear JULIETTE again, so he included a section from the forest scene in SYMPHONIC FANTASIES so that he could hear it. Now people are beginning to take an interest in JULIETTE, but no one will perform it like Talich. He recalls the preparations for JULIETTE [at the National Theater], how Talich raged over the snare drum, Stáňa [Novák] wrote reports about the rehearsals to BM in Paris, [Jindřich] Honzl was hated at the theater, and [František] Musika created his dream set. What else they could have done together. BM will procure the scores for [Talich], but KN must write down exactly which ones; he will request them from Boosey & Hawkes, even though they don’t like that they’re making their own materials in Prague. BM heard that KN broke up with Míla [Nováková]—it’s good that they came to an agreement; they’re still young, and the memories will remain. BM has now been away from New York for two years, which did him good and Charlotte [Martinů] as well, but he didn’t rest; he wrote a lot. The SYMPHONIC FANTASIES will be published for next season and will be available in Czechoslovakia. BM is glad that the tide has turned and they can be performed [in Czechoslovakia] again. BM is writing a CONCERTO FOR OBOE for [Jiří] Tancibudek, who is in Australia. He will think about a WIND QUINTET [presumably a different composition than H 187]; he has commissions from Philadelphia and from famous performers, but he has no time. Greetings to [Karel] Ančerl and Talich. |