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Dear MiloĹĄ:

Vít Zouhar & Gabriela Coufalová

Dear Miloš: Bohuslav Martinů’s letters to Miloš Šafránek

Palacký University,Olomouc Olomouc Olomouc 2S19

Reviewed and recommended by: doc. MgA. Mgr. Monika Holá, Ph.D. Mgr. Jaromír Synek, Ph.D.

Published with the kind support of the Czech Science Foundation (GAČR) as a part of the project Bohuslav Martinů Complete Edition – Phase 2, No. 13-19162S.

Unauthorized use of the work is a breach of copyright and may be subject to civil, administrative or criminal liability.

© Vít Zouhar, Gabriela Coufalová, 2019 © Palacký University Olomouc, 2019 Translation © Hilda Hearne, John Hearne and Adam Prentis, 2019 First Edition DOI: 10.5507/pdf.19.24455297 ISBN 978-80-244-5529-7 (print) ISBN 978-80-244-5534-1 (online : PDF)

INTRODUCTION

The extensive correspondence of the composer Bohuslav Martinů (1890–1959) comprises more than two thousand written documents. His letters addressed to Miloš Šafránek (1894–1982) – diplomat, music journalist, promoter and biographer of Martinů – are one of the most impactful subsets of the whole collection. In quantity and in scope of years, they are also the second largest volume of correspondence, second only to the composer’s letters home to Polička. The information that Martinů provided Šafránek over the course of more than three decades is crucial for any deeper understanding of the genesis of Martinů’s works, his reflection of them and meditation on his work, and of the fateful peripeteias of his life. It was not by chance that Martinů stressed to Šafránek in one of his letters: “Now as regards the qoutation [sic] from my letters […], most of [them] are correct, at least to you or musicians, yet sometimes the more-or-less and more private letters are not decisive […].”1 At the same time, these letters are important historical documents that shine light on the musical scenes in Paris in the 1920s and 30s and New York in the 1940s and 50s and narrate the dramatic for tunes of Czech exiles in France and the United States in the course of these four decades of the twentieth century.

Letter from Bohuslav Martinů to Miloš Šafránek, 20 Apr. 1958, CBM, PBM Kmš 872.

The majority of Bohuslav Martinů’s documents are located in the archives of the Bohuslav Martinů Centre in Polička, the Czech Museum of Music in Prague, the Moravian Museum in Brno, the Paul Sacher Foundation in Basel, and the Bohuslav Martinů Foundation in Prague. However, a plethora of letters is interspersed among the archives of publishing houses (Bärenreiter, Boosey & Hawkes, Universal Edition, etc.), copyright collectives (OSA, ASCAP), and other institutions and private collections. Of this vast quantity, as yet the only sets to be published are his correspondence with the conductor Václav Talich (Kuna, 1970, 1995), a selection of his letters to Polička (Popelka, 1996, 2013), the mutual correspondence with the Czech Academy of Sciences and Art (Maýrová, 2000), the mutual correspondence with Nikos Kazantzakis (Dostálová–Březina, 2003), his letters to the conductor Zdeněk Zouhar (Zouhar, 2008), a selection of letters to the publishing editor Karel Šebánek (Brádková, 2010), his letters to the poet Miloslav Bureš (Zouhar–Coufalová, 2017), and the first volume of his correspondence home (Synek–Všetičková, 2019). Of these, only four are available in English (Popelka, 2013; Zouhar, 2008; Zouhar–Coufalová, 2017; Synek–Všetičková, 2019). This annotated critical edition of the correspondence of Bohuslav Martinů with Miloš Šafránek is based on the editorial guidelines and conception of the editions of Martinů’s letters to Miloslav Bureš and to his family in Polička. In authentic, generously commented form, it publishes 168 letters, seven postcards, six postal cards, one telegram, and one lettercard, which the composer sent to Šafránek in the years 1928–59. Many of them are severely damaged. This set of correspondence was preserved in the estate of Miloš Šafránek and has been housed in the Bohuslav Martinů Centre at the Municipal Museum in Polička since 1986. It can no longer be 7

ascertained whether the set was retained in its entirety. The composer’s silence in the period of 1948–54 can be explained by the political situation in Czechoslovakia; it cannot be ruled out that Martinů truly did not write a single letter to Šafránek in that period. The same goes for the years 1938 and 1940, from which no letters were preserved either. Seeing that Martinů’s Czechoslovak correspondence was monitored by Communist officials, it is possible that some of his letters were never delivered. As in the case of most of the composer’s addressees, Miloš Šafránek’s letters to Bohuslav Martinů have not been preserved. The only exceptions are one letter (CBM, PBM Kmš 891) and one postcard (CBM, PBM Kd 384), which are included in this chronologically ordered edition. The lack of extant received correspondence may be partly due to the composer’s frequent changes of address and the strained political situation, which necessitated a certain level of caution, but it is mainly due to Martinů’s spontaneous approach to all his correspondence. The composer saw letters as a purely communicative tool that was a substitute, at least as far as the received letters were concerned, for the possibility of meeting the addressee in person. Therefore, he did not archive his correspondence and saw no reason to do so. Only in rare cases did he forward them to his sister Marie in Polička (letters from Bruno Walter, Serge Koussevitzky, Charles Munch, Charles August Lindbergh, etc.). In fact, he even encouraged his family in Polička: “I hope you are not keeping my letters, use them as kindling for the stove.”2 To convey at least some of the information contained in the missing letters of Miloš Šafránek and give the unilateral correspondence a second dimension, Bohu2

Letter from Bohuslav Martinů to his family in Polička, 14 Mar. 1957, CBM, PBM Kr 559.

slav Martinů’s letters are supplemented in the footnotes with excerpts from his concurrent correspondence with his family in Polička, his friends Frank Rybka, Karel Novák, Jan Kunc, the poet Miloslav Bureš, the music publisher Karel Šebánek, the author Nikos Kazantzakis, the conductor Paul Sacher, the benefactor Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, etc., and with memories from the composer’s wife Charlotte Martinů.3 The annotations also identify the compositions mentioned in the letters and briefly introduce the people mentioned by Martinů. Inaccuracies are corrected, neologisms – combining Czech words with expressions from whichever language was spoken around him – are explained, and numerous other words are translated or contextualised. Bohuslav Martinů’s letters to Miloš Šafránek encompass the period from 30 July 1928 to 14 May 1959. The initial salutation, “Dear Dr. Šafránek”, changes to “Dear friend” midway through 1931.4 In the mid-1950s, Martinů switches from the more formal mode of Czech “vy” to the more familiar mode of “ty”, which he remarks on only in passing: “So I would like to ask you if you have the continuation of Genesis available, if you could briefly pick some verses from it and send them to me, you know what I mean, and since you cannot defend against it I have begun addressing you as ’ty’.”5 However, this has no impact on the character or content of the subsequent letters. There is only a slight shift in the exact wording of the salutation, as “Drahý Miloš” (“Dear Miloš”)6 irregularly alternates with the 3 4

Charlotte Martinů, 2003. Martinů first addressed Šafránek in this way in the letter from 24 Jul. 1931, CBM, PBM Kmš 718. Letter from Bohuslav Martinů to Miloš Šafránek, 4 Oct. 1954, CBM, PBM Kmš 819. Letter from Bohuslav Martinů to Miloš Šafránek, 20 Aug. 1955, CBM, PBM Kmš 822.

practically indiscernible “Milý Miloši” (also rendered in English as “Dear Miloš”)7 from 20 August 1955. Seeing that Šafránek published articles about the composer from the 1930s onwards and that he helped promote his works as a press attaché in France and later when he was in the US, Martinů regularly supplied him with information regarding new compositions, premieres, and performances of his works. Several of the letters include lists of his compositions, which gradually gave rise to Šafránek’s catalogue of the works of Bohuslav Martinů. Miloš Šafránek collected and compiled information from Martinů himself, but he also made suggestions for new compositions,8 he gave tips on books to read and concepts to consider. His lasting interest in Martinů’s oeuvre led to the publication of his monographs Bohuslav Martinů. The Man and His Music (1944), The Man and His Work (1946),9 Bohuslav Martinů. Život a dílo [Bohuslav Martinů. Life and Work] (1961),10 Bohuslav Martinů, His Life and Works (1962),11 Bohuslav Martinů. Leben und Werk (1964),12 and Divadlo Bohuslava Martinů (1979) [The Theatre of Bohuslav Martinů].13 He also published a selection of texts by Bohuslav Martinů, titled Bohuslav Martinů. Domov, hudba a svět [Bohuslav Martinů. Home, Music and World] (1966).14 7

9 10 11 12 13 14

Martinů first addressed Šafránek in this way in the letter from 29 Jan. 1956, CBM, PBM Kmš 830. For example, cf. “In Champfleury’s book The Pantomimes of Gaspard Deburau (1889), which I bought from a book stall in Saint-Michel Boulevard, Martinů found the theme of the ballet section of Theatre Behind the Gate.” (Šafránek, 2006, p. 139). Šafránek, 1944; Šafránek, 1946. Šafránek, 1961. Šafránek, 1962. Šafránek, 1964. Šafránek, 1979. Šafránek, 1966.

Bohuslav Martinů willingly reacted to Šafránek’s requests for analyses of his works, albeit at times with irony, as in the summer of 1941: “I had hoped that while writing this letter an idea of analysis for the violin concerto would occur to me, but nothing has occurred to me (perhaps it would if my state subsidy were to be increased???).”15 To assure Šafránek of his position as an established composer, he would include the rare selfassessment: “On the whole, I have not lost confidence in myself, and the most recent performances (Ricercari, the cello sonata and, particularly, the Concerto grosso) have strengthened my position here to such an extent that I myself have almost arrived at the opinion that I am one of the best composers, not so much owing to the pieces themselves, but when I look at the score and scrutinise how it is done I begin feeling respect towards myself, since it is a component that I have reached wittingly by means of great work and patience and that is now indeed such a ’certainty’ that I can now actually begin composing fully aware of having mastered it and so cannot get lost anywhere, whatever may happen.”16 Although there is a break of almost six years between the letters from 8 November 1948 and 5 September 1954, it has practically no impact on the content. This is presumably due to the fact that the composer communicated with his friends via his relatives in Polička, so as not to endanger them in this politically volatile period.17 Besides informing about new compositions, in the 1950s Martinů also gave frequent and detailed 15

Letter from Bohuslav Martinů to Miloš Šafránek, 14 Sept. 1941, CBM, PBM Kmš 765. Letter from Bohuslav Martinů to Miloš Šafránek, 3 Apr. 1940, CBM, PBM Kmš 748. One example is his mention in a letter to his family: “I am replying post-haste and attaching that list of compositions, send it to Mil.” 31 Mar. 1954, CBM, PBM Kr 457.

feedback on Šafránek’s texts about the composer and on the manuscript of Bohuslav Martinů. Život a dílo. In the 1930s and 40s, the composer also made considerable use of Šafránek as his music agent and ally, both to promote his works and, for example, when striving to obtain the post of professor at the Master School of the Prague Conservatoire in the late 1930s, when cooperating with the Czechoslovak government services in the US during World War II, or when building up contacts in the US. He readily informed Šafránek about his compositions, and he often stressed that he gave such information to no one else. Martinů turned to him when he needed help sending performance materials or was in financial straits, when making new contacts, but also when endeavouring to obtain visas to the United States in 1940: “Please intervene very vigorously at the Legation of ours in Washington, it is their duty to take care of me, even if I were to be assigned a typist job or something, but I must get out of here, and should I escape unharmed, they simply cannot ignore the effect it would have everywhere should they not take care of me, and it would also make no sense for me to vegetate around the villages here, explain this to Mme Coolidge, that I directly ask her for it, possibly tell Koussevitzky too, offer him the premiere of my Double Concerto, he could send me an invitation, or even some fictitious job at our Legation, I would find ways how to earn my living over there, and I assure you that this is my very last attempt (even if I escape from here) at constantly beseeching our authorities for something they themselves should offer me in their own interest, I have really had enough of it, especially after the experience over the past ten days, which I will be hard pressed to ever forget.”18 His letters to Šafránek also contain a remarkable testimony 18

Letter from Bohuslav Martinů to Miloš Šafránek, 22 Jun. 1940, CBM, PBM Kmš 749.

of how the composer considered emigrating across the Atlantic following the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939. Although he had been searching for a way to escape war-torn Europe from mid-1939, he still wrote to America in early June 1940: “[… we are] awaiting other events, which are not encouraging at all, we are waiting to see what Italy will do this week. We may be making a mistake by not leaving, but we don’t feel like abandoning Paris.”19 However, the situation changed dramatically a mere week later, when the Martinůs fled the city in a hurry. In the 1950s, when Šafránek lived mostly in Prague, Martinů’s letters contain his comments on compositions and thoughts on creativity. The composer was responding to Šafránek’s queries in connection with the preparation of his new book about Bohuslav Martinů. The correspondence was thus focused on practical matters and unburdened by personal confidentialities. As if he abided by the principle: “Leave private matters out of the Biography.”20 In the late 1930s, the tumultuous drama of Martinů’s relationship with Vítězslava Kaprálová appears only in subtle strokes. The subject is often not even hinted at, nor is it named, although it appears in many of the letters in 1939 and 1940. Instead, Martinů offers vague statements: “[…] my whole situation has become so complicated that I am not quite sure how to get out of it with my hide intact, and I would really need to be strolling with you along the embankment or breathing fresh air somewhere, I don’t know where.”21 The following letter contains a similar lament: “I myself have it all so tangled up that I don’t know whether 19

Letter from Bohuslav Martinů to Miloš Šafránek, 3 Jun. 1940, CBM, PBM Kmš 748. Letter from Bohuslav Martinů to Miloš Šafránek, 22 Dec. 1957, CBM, PBM Kmš 863. Letter from Bohuslav Martinů to Miloš Šafránek, 8 Oct. 1939, CBM, PBM Kmš 745.

I will get out of it in one piece, too much came at once and I am at my wits’ end.”22 It was not until half a year later that he acknowledged that the complicated situation was not related to the disputes between Osuský’s Czechoslovak legation, the “German legation”, and the Czechoslovak Colony, or to any of the other dangers of the time, but instead: “To be honest, that which holds me back is not so much the outer circumstances, nor the events around, but a completely personal matter about which I cannot write.”23 The same can be said of his relationship with Rosalie Barstow several years later. Martinů only mentions her name in connection with the dedication of String Quartet No. 6, H 312, otherwise merely intimating the subject, of which the addressee was fully aware.24 In 1955–1956, when Šafránek was sent by State Security to gather intelligence in France, the situation reversed, and it was he who asked Martinů for help. The composer repeatedly denied him any financial aid, emphasising his own bad economic situation.25 “Please don’t construe my being slow as dilatoriness and reluctance to help you; as I wrote to you, I had great expenses myself and you see when I send you something then I must do it secretly, you know what it’s like in marriage, so putting a large sum in $ aside is connected with great difficulties. You know, if Ch. knew that I have been sending you money I would be in pretty hot water at home. Nothing is left from my secret reserves that 22

Letter from Bohuslav Martinů to Miloš Šafránek, 5 Nov. 1939, CBM, PBM Kmš 746. Letter from Bohuslav Martinů to Miloš Šafránek, 3 Apr. 1940, CBM, PBM Kmš 748. Letter from Bohuslav Martinů to Miloš Šafránek, 19 Nov. 1946, CBM, PBM Kmš 806. Letter from Bohuslav Martinů to Miloš Šafránek, 30 Dec. 1955, CBM, PBM Kmš 828; letter from 15 Jan. 1956, CBM, PBM Kmš 829, later again in the letter from 12 Oct. 1956 CBM, PBM Kmš 848.

I have saved for holidays, so I only have that which I receive as a Chek [sic] and it’s difficult to take anything from it.”26 Instead, he sent Šafránek Sonatina for Clarinet and Piano, H 356, and Sonatina for Trumpet and Piano, H 357, for the latter to publish in the publishing house of his brother-in-law, Alphonse Leduc, for his own profit. It is difficult to surmise the actual reasons for Martinů’s unwillingness to help and whether he may have been partly influenced by suspicions of Šafránek’s secret mission or by the political tension between the McCarthyist United States and Eastern Europe under the Soviets. Later that year the composer wrote to Šafránek in Paris: “I have received the letter, and I actually expected a surprise of the kind you mentioned, yet I still don’t know how I should decide, it is a risky trip, especially given how the situation has developed of late, it doesn’t look like fraternisation of nations, or does it? Here, as you may know, they are very attentive to these histories and it could even happen that next time I wouldn’t get a passport to go to Europe. Well, for the time being it isn’t so hot, I haven’t yet received anything officially anyway, but give me advice, what you yourself think of it.”27 The letters from the 1950s explain the genesis of a number of works, namely, the operas Mirandolina, H 346, The Greek Passion, H 372, and Ariadne, H 370, the cantata Mount of Three Lights, H 349, The Epic of Gilgamesh, H 351, Sinfonietta Giocosa, H 282, the orchestral Parables, H 367, Memorial to Lidice, H 296, but they also shine light on the sources of chamber compositions – Sonatina for Clarinet and Piano, H 356, and Sonatina for Trumpet and Piano, 26

Letter from Bohuslav Martinů to Miloš Šafránek, 15 Jan. 1956, CBM, PBM Kmš 829. Letter from Bohuslav Martinů to Miloš Šafránek, 22 Nov. 1955, CBM, PBM Kmš 826.

H 357 – and numerous choral works (Brigand Songs, H 361, Songs for a Children’s Choir, H 373, Czech Madrigals, H 278, etc.). From 1957 onwards Martinů responded to Šafránek’s texts about his compositions. He criticised the study Divadlo Bohuslava Martinů [The Theatre of Bohuslav Martinů]28 and lambasted Šafránek’s biographical conjectures and notes on his works and their genesis.29 Martinů’s ruminations on the compositional method are especially momentous.30 The composer provided detailed corrections to Šafránek’s manuscript, Bohuslav Martinů. Život a dílo.31 He wrote about it repeatedly and stressed his aversion to biographical books. He concluded his amendments with a radical assessment: “The book is good but it lacks balance, it’s a heap of facts, as well as conjectures that give the impression that you have finally arranged your notes in chronological order, yet some of the things repeat in various places, almost in an identical version, and so it rather gives the impression that you wrote the entire thing more for yourself than the public.”32 Nevertheless, he returned to the manuscript again in later correspondence. He endeavoured to rectify Šafránek’s inaccurate concepts and data, but also his own diatribes and rash judgements. The letter from 14 May 1959 is again full of questions, plans, and expectations. But none followed. 28

Letter from Bohuslav Martinů to Miloš Šafránek, 21 Sept. 1957 CBM, PBM Kmš 859; Miloš Šafránek, “Divadlo Bohuslava Martinů”, Divadlo, 1957, 8, 7, pp. 547–67. Letter from Bohuslav Martinů to Miloš Šafránek, 28 Nov. 1957, CBM, PBM Kmš 862. Letter from Bohuslav Martinů to Miloš Šafránek, 7 Jan. 1958, CBM, PBM Kmš 865. Letter from Bohuslav Martinů to Miloš Šafránek, 20 Apr. 1958, CBM, PBM Kmš 872; letter from 25 Apr. 1958, CBM, PBM Kmš 873. Letter from Bohuslav Martinů to Miloš Šafránek, 25 Apr. 1958, CBM, PBM Kmš 873.

The authors would like to express their greatest appreciation to Jaromír Synek, Jaroslav Mihule, Gabriela Všetičková, Karla Zouharová, and Radka Rozkovcová for their valuable observations and comments on the text; to Jiří Malaník for transcribing and translating the French letters and for providing commentary and other ideas with regard to the manuscript. Their gratitude also goes to Jaroslav Mihule and Aleš Březina for kindly loaning the manuscripts. Further acknowledgement is owed to Monika Holá (CBM), Zoja Seyčková (IBM), Jiří Zahrádka (Moravian Museum Brno), Jitka Bílková (Security Forces Archive), and Michal Přibáň (AVČR) for important additional information, and to Alena Přibáňová (AVČR) for feedback on the transcription. Finally, thanks goes to Stanislava Střelcová – President of the Board of Directors of the Bohuslav Martinů Foundation, Prague, to Aleš Březina – Director of the Bohuslav Martinů Institute, to David Junek and Pavla Juklová – Directors of the Municipal Museum in Polička, to James Rybka and Boris I. Rybka for providing access to sources and for permitting them to be published. Vít Zouhar and Gabriela Coufalová Olomouc, May 2019

To Zdeněk Zouhar, Věra Zouharová, Karla, Jan, Anna and Vojtěch.