General information
Type of the document Letter
SenderHenderson, Michael
Sender (corporation)
Sender‘s locationAmsterdam
Send date20.02.1984
RecipientNovák, Jan
Recipient (corporation)
Note on Recipient‘s location[Ludwigsfeld, Neu-Ulm, Německo?]
LanguageEnglish
Acquiredcopy from Czech Museum of Music, from inheritance of Jan Novák
Owner of the sourceČeské muzeum hudby
Call number at IBMNovJ 1984-02-20
Content and physical description
ContentMichael Henderson asks Jan Novák for details of Bohuslav Martinů's life and work for the purposes of his planned biography. He asks for more in-depth descriptions than he received in a previous letter from JN several years ago. He is particularly interested in the question of BM's national feeling and his relationship to Czechoslovak music, and what ultimately led BM to decide not to return to his homeland. He would also like to know about the position of BM and his music in Czechoslovakia after 1948 and whether, apart from critical responses in the press, he had any supporters in his homeland. What was BM's attitude towards the work of Josef Suk and Vítězslav Novák? MH hopes that after Charlotte Martinů's death JN will be able to write more openly about Roe Barstow. He is also interested in the musical aspect of some of the works, and BM sees a fundamental contrast in the second movement of SYMPHONY 3, in which he sees the composer's inner ambivalence. He also compares part of the second movement of Symphony No. 3 to the second act of JULIETTA. What does JN think would have happened if BM had returned to his homeland in 1946?
Total number of leaves3
Number of pages bearing text3
Fixationtypescript with handwritten signature
Markingshandwritten signature of Michael Henderson
Digitisation
Quality of digitisationNot professional colour

Preview only available at the Institute.

Location as subject
Czechoslovakia
Italy
Nice
Polička
Russia
USA
Person as subject
Ančerl, Karel
Barstow, Rosalie
Diamond, David
Dobiáš, Václav
Dvořák, Antonín
Firkušný, Rudolf
George, Earl
Martinů, rodina v Poličce
Martinů, Charlotte
Martinů, Bohuslav
Novák, Vítězslav
Páleníček, Josef
Rybka, Doris
Rybka, Frank
Shanet, Howard
Suk, Josef st.
Talich, Václav
Corporation as subject
Boosey & Hawkes
Pražská konzervatoř
Composition as subject
Juliette (The Key to Dreams), H 253
Symphony No. 3 [auth.], H 299
« previous
ID 7453 (entry 1 / 0)
next »