Typed Letter Signed, Organizing a Visit to the Institut für Neue Musik, Freiburg and giving details of a lecture on Mahler

An interesting typed letter signed from the important twentieth-century composer, organizing the details of a lecture series at the Institut für Neue Musik, Freiburg. Addressed to a Mr. Carl Johnson and dated February 23, 1969, the letter mentions Ligeti's travel arrangements from Vienna to Freiburg, his preference for a quiet hotel room ("bell-ringing does not bother me, but cars very much do") and the details of his lecture series on "Form and Instrumentation in Mahler's Symphonies." Complete translation from the German below. Large rust mark from a paperclip and one small tear at the upper edge, but signature in fine condition. 8 x 10.5 inches. Letters from Ligeti are exceedingly uncommon on the market.

Translated from the German:
"Dear Mr. Johnson, Thank you for  your kind letter. Date, fee, travel expenses: agreed. About the travel expenses: to save time, I will fly (to Frankfurt or Basel, depending which has a more convenient connection from Vienna), and then take the train the rest of the way. Hotel reservation: Prof. Fortner told me that there is a good and quiet hotel at the Münsterplatz. That would be ideal, because bell-ringing does not bother me, but cars very much do. In any case: wherever it is, it should be a very quiet room, with a bathroom if possible. Arrival: I will arrive on Sunday, May 18. Departure: Friday, May 23. It is very kind of you to offer to pick me up from the station! Thank you very much for that, but I will hardly know my arrival time in advance, that is, I will arrive on Sunday evening from Frankfurt or Basel, I don't know exactly when. So it would be practical if you would send a card to me in Vienna, with the address of the hotel.
Lecture times: please, if possible not early in the morning. Otherwise, anytime. As the title of the lectures I suggest: "Form and Instrumentation in Mahler's Symphonies."I will deal with the following movements in particular: 1st symphony, 1st movement; 4th symphony, 1st and 2nd movement; 5th symphony, 1st and 2nd movement; 6th symphony, 1st, 2nd, and 4th movement (2nd movement in the original order, so the Scherzo.) It would be important that many students bring their own scores; I will make technical analyses, and having the music is essential. One could...that there is at least one score for every three students.
As aids, I need the following: Record player, etc., and a record of each of the above symphonies, as well as of the 2nd symphony (I am not analyzing this symphony, but for the discussion of the 6th symphony we will listen to a part of it.) A blackboard with music staves.
For the operation of the record player, it would be important to have someone available - perhaps one of the students - because I will need many musical examples one after the other.
Many thanks! Best wishes, also to Prof. Fortner - I am also sending him a copy of this letter.
Gyorgy Ligeti."

"[I]n many works Ligeti often sought to evoke a vanished place or time, for which Mahler served as an inspiration. His writings and lectures on Mahler, Webern, and form in new music are heavily indebted to Adorno, as filtered through the ostensibly pragmatic concerns of a vocational composer [...] Yet despite Ligeti's conclusion that 'Truth lies in the dubious nature of Mahlerian forms,' he resisted the sociological demands Adorno placed on both new and old music, recasting the latter's observations to focus on perception and cognition." (Amy Marie Bauer, Ligeti's Laments: Nostalgia, Exoticism, and the Absolute, pp. 17-18.) (14598)

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