| Content | Bohuslav Martinů writes to Vladimír Vaňek to forget about the history with Sklizní, BM was grumpy because of the flu, it's just a semantic problem, what we call order or comission etc. The main thing is that BM had no shortage of orders, otherwise he would have been in his grave by now. From home, he got a text about him in Czechoslovak Life magazine, but nobody sent it to him. He'll wait and then ask VV for a loan, BM is interested in how they screw propaganda on him. [Jaromír or Antonín] Měšt'an sent him two books of poems and an article from a German newspaper, which BM encloses and asks VV to write to him what it says. BM has a whole library of poems which he should somehow set to music, but he is postponing it for the time being. The bourgeois poems are nice, but the photos don't impress BM, with VV looking like an asshole in them, probably in the wrong light. BM is not out of the flu yet. He finished the first movement of the CONCERT [FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA No. 5], which made him feel better. First movements are always tricky - if the composer can't think of anything in the first movement, it's safe to assume that he can't think of anything in the following movements either. And if he does think of something, it can be said that at least in the first movement he thought of something. BM got a letter from the Academy [American Academy in Rome] saying that the janitor they knew had died. BM would like to send his wife Asunta his condolences and asks VV to write a few sentences in Italian for BM to copy. VV should not forget, however, that BM knows a little Italian, lest it be like when they taught the girls Czech together. BM also sends Asunta the Italian money he has left. BM will go to Zurich next week, the Webers are waiting for them. BM goes to Basel almost every day and has to walk up a 500 m high hill to get back. It's beautiful and quiet there. |