| Content | Louis Lane regrets the delay in answering Gregory Terian's letter about his reminiscences of Bohuslav Martinů. In 1946, LL applied to attend Tanglewood to study with Aaron Copland but hus class was full and he was assigned to BM's class. He was disappointed at first, and could not find any recordings of his works in the University of Texas library. He describes the lessons which took place before the composer's fall from the terrace; Nikolai Lopatnikoff was asked by Serge Koussevitzky to take over the class but he was not a very interesting teacher. LL managed to see BM and found him in bed, composing an alternative movement to one in his SYMPHONY No. 5, H 310, which he didn't like so well. He was lucky enough to have two more sessions with him before he left Tanglewood. What he learned from BM in those few short sessions provided him with the material on which he lived as long as he remained a composer. In the Spring of 1947 he visited BM and his wife in New York and showed BM his six-minute overture. Later he changed it according to BM's suggestion and it has remained the only one of his pieces which he still enjoys conducting, or having other conductors lead it. He has the very highest idea of BM as a musician and a teacher. He has conducted a few of his pieces, and played other chamber music of his, but has been twice really disappointed when he planned performances of two compositions of BM's works in Atlanta; Rudolf Firkušný had to cancel, because of illness, a performance including CONCERTO FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA No. 2, H 237, and a year or so later Josef Suk also cancelled a performance of the VIOLIN CONCERTO [No. 1], H 226. He regrets that he has not directed a single line of BM's works for the last ten years. |