| Content | The text of Vladimír Vaněk's article "Letter to the beyond (75 years of Bohuslav Martinů)", which appeared in the magazine Proměny vol. 2 (1965), no. 4 October, pp. 22-24. VV remembers Bohuslav Martinů in the form of a letter he would have written to him on his anniversary if it had not been for the insidiousness that bit BM from the inside. How much more BM could have produced - crowds of enthusiasts were waiting to hear him and his music. VV recalls a letter [by Oldrich Korte, see KorO 1956-12-00] in which the author describes people's admiration for BM's music. Today, BM is appropriated in the CSR, but they would not pay him royalties; the hospital had to pay the Sacher family for BM. BM built an undying monument to his homeland, and meanwhile he was blamed at home for not writing enough Czech music. VV quotes from BM's letters, who describes his health problems with humour. When Vanek spoke to BM the day before his death, there was just a hint of Martinů, but he still retained his sense of humour when he asked Vanek for a "cigoche", not knowing that it was a cigarette in Parisian jargon. VV recalls that BM asked to remain buried at Schoenberg until it was "sicher". They would all go to see him every year - with Charlotte Martin, the Sachers, Parson Max [Kellerhals] and the other orphans. |