"Pierre Monteux was always an inspiration to me in my creative work. He will continue to be so - as long as there is music in my soul which must be expressed." - Autograph Letter Signed

ALS from the Italian-American composer to Doris Monteux, widow of the great conductor, written five days after his death.  July 6, 1964;  White Plains, N.Y.;  2 pp. on personal stationary.  In part, "I cannot find words to express my condolence for you or my personal bereavement in the loss of our beloved maestro.  I can only think of a phrase from Whitman: 'I do not ask the wounded person how he feels- I, myself, become the wounded person.'...Pierre Monteux was always an inspiration to me in my creative work.  He will continue to be so - as long as there is music in my soul which must be expressed."  Light mailing fold, else very fine.  5.5 x 6.5 inches (14 x 16.5 cm.).

Born into a poor immigrant Italian family as Giuseppe Guttoveggio, Paul Creston's music exemplifies the traits common in American Music of the first half of the twentieth century: it is distinctly tuneful, tonal in the modern American idiom and has a strong rhythmic sense.

The great conductor Pierre Monteux was known for conducting the premiere of the Rite of Spring and for his tenures with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Orchestre Symphonique de Paris, and the San Francisco Symphony. Pierre and Doris Monteux met in 1922, during Monteux's time with the BSO. Though he was married (to his second wife, Germaine) and she had two children from a previous marriage, their attraction was immediate. They became a couple, although they could not marry until Germaine granted Monteux a divorce, and Monteux legally adopted Doris' children. They remained devoted to each other for the rest of their lives, frequently traveling together and together founding the Pierre Monteux School for conductors in Doris' native Maine.

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Classical Music

Autograph Letter

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