| Content | Bohuslav Martinů's extensive and varied reflections from 1947 on many topics - reflections on the nature of a musical work, on the possibilities of its knowledge, on the role of history and, consequently, of art in the everyday life of man, on emotions and the feeling of pleasure that art is (not) supposed to arouse, general reflections on human nature, the problem of reception, the limits and limitations of the reception of music, listeners, emotions, the differences between German and French culture (thought), expounds his understanding of the concepts of "unity" and "variety", the conductor and the interpretation of a work, the relationship between content and form in a work of art, the importance of psychology in the reception of music, the limits of musical notation, compares practices in music with practices in the sciences, points out the vagueness, limitations and obsolescence of many statements about music and views on the nature of the work of art. The convolume also includes manuscript "Advice for Composers" on the creation of and relationship to the orchestra. BM's text transitions seamlessly from English to English and French. |
| Note | Commentary by Martinů from 1947 year, it was published in ŠAFRÁNEK, Miloš, ed.: Bohuslav Martinů - domov, hudba a svět: deníky, zápisníky, úvahy a články. 1. vyd. Praha: SHV, 1966, (str. 227-267); small differences among book and typescript version - especially in order and passages which Martinů cited from other books; according to MŠ book this diary from year 1947 consist of 43 typescript pages |