Writings | Sources database of B. Martinu Institute

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General information

Type of the document	Letter
Sender	Martinů, Bohuslav
Sender (corporation)
Sender‘s location	Paris
Send date	17.12.1936
Recipient	Beneš, Edvard
Recipient (corporation)
Recipient‘s location	Prague
Language	Czech
Acquired	Copy from the Archives of the Office of the President of the Czech Republic, 2018
Owner of the source	Archiv Kanceláře prezidenta republiky
Owner‘s call number	D 13451/36
Call number at IBM	KPR 1936-12-17

Content and physical description

Content	Bohuslav Martinů writes to President Edvard Beneš about the plight of the artist in Czechoslovakia. He is not writing to request financial support, but primarily to draw attention to the bureaucratic and administrative obstacles that hinder free artistic creation. The Foreign Minister [Kamil] Krofta has recently tried to support BM, but he has only achieved the granting of one-off support, which BM would not have accepted had it not been for KK's personal exposure. BM pointed out to the Minister of Education [Emil Franke] that when it comes to opera, composers are rewarded with the smallest share of the profits. However, he was assured that this conformed to the normal regulations. BM also applied unsuccessfully for a place at the Prague Conservatoire and also wanted to get a job at the 1937 Paris International Exhibition, also without success. In all these demarches he was not asking for money, but wanted to know whether Czechoslovakia was interested in his work and cared about it. What follows is a brief description of the composer's musical aesthetic - when he broke away from the Central European influence of Gustav Mahler and Arnold Schoenberg and composed in the spirit of Western music. In this way, he presents our modern music to the world, which he believes is a kind of work for the state. He is now trying to secure BM from Czechoslovak private publishers and also plans to apply for a place at the masterclass after Vítězslav Novák. He is now working on a full-length opera, THE KEY OF DREAMS [JULIETTE], which Václav Talich will study in Prague next season.
Total number of leaves	2
Number of pages bearing text	4
Note	Rubber stamp of Museum of Czech Music
Fixation	typescript and handwritten notes
Markings	signature of Bohuslav Martinů; on first page handwritten note: Dr Říha – report. [I want] to help him – after obtaining the information he will decide what to do; signature of MČH: HA G j. př. 64/89