| Content | Ernest Roth apologizes for his long delay in responding, he had to travel a lot and hurried to Germany. He informs Martinů that their contract expired on December 31 and they do not see the possibility of its renewal now. They have a lot of Martinu's works, still waiting to be released, so they wouldn’t be even able to keep up with the new production. He reassures Martinů that their collaboration with Artia will result in greater satisfaction for him as a composer. So far, they have been communicating with Artia because of its will to publish THE OPENING OF THE SPRING, against which B&H has nothing.
B&H now has several works that have not yet been decided: LOCANDIERA, whose score has been in La Scala for a long time, Ernest will be in Milan next week to find out if La Scala will perform it. The score is also in Frankfurt, where it was unfortunately rejected. E. Leinsdorf [note: conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra] would be interested in it, but an English translation would be needed. They cannot continue to work on any production until they know exactly where it will be presented and what the translation will be.
THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH decided ER not to publish, because modern oratorios are almost impossible to enforce. SYMPHONY No. 6 should be released next season and together with it also either VIOLIN or OBOE CONCERTO, depending on what BM prefers.
In the ER’s opinion PRIMROSE will be better published by Artie, as it would be difficult to translate popular texts into a foreign language.
FRESQUES DELLA FRANCESCA would ER like to release, if it could wait until 1957. PIANO SONATA will obviously be difficult to enforce, as difficult piano pieces are hard to sell. ER fears that this music is out of fashion, just like chamber music.
ER has doubts about the MOUNT OF THREE LIGHTS and asks BM if the resolution in this case could wait until 1957.
That should be all of BM's work left at B&H, but ER doesn't know if there's anything left in the New York branch. ER wants to put things in order as soon as possible and promises that BM will no longer have to wait so long for an answer. |