Pair of Typed Letters Signed regarding the premiere of the Violin Concerto

An interesting set of two typed letters signed by the composer addressed to the Dutch musicologist Salomon Andrianan Maria [S.A.M.] Bottenheim (1880  - 1957), general secretary of the Nederlandsche Koorvereniging, and secretary of the conductor Willem Mengelberg at the Concertgebouw. The letters are concerning, explicitly or by context, the premiere of Stravinsky's Violin Concerto, which was first promised to the Concertgebouw but finally premiered in Berlin. In the first (1 page. Letterhead of 167. Boulevard Carnot, Nice. May 5, 1930; 8vo. on thin paper, two hole punches to left edge, folds, overall fine), Stravinsky complains of a lack of response from Bottenheim and asks him "Why do you force me to provide you with heads of Pasteur? [the French postage stamp with portrait of Louis Pasteur] Do you collect them?...if you decide to respond to me, I ask you to please write to me at Pleyel in Paris, where I am traveling tomorrow. In so waiting, please receive, dear Mr. Bottenheim, my friendly regards, even if you absolutely don't deserve them." In the second letter (1 page. Letterhead of 167. Boulevard Carnot, Nice. December 27, 1930; 8vo. on thin paper, marked "copy" in ink by Stravinsky who also adds the address of the Lotti-hotel, two hole punches to left edge, small tears and separations around edges, else fine), the composer advises Bottenheim of his unanswered telegram of one week earlier reporting that the Violin Concerto premiere had already been fixed in Berlin but that he wished to maintain the planned concerts in Holland and expresses his concern that perhaps the lack of a reply indicated that he had not received the telegram.  He concludes by stating that it is "of capital importance for me to confirm that his engagements in Holland will be maintained" so that he can fix the date for the premiere in Berlin. He "waits impatiently for your answer and hopes that you will not put me, with prolonged incertitude by your silence, in a most disagreeable situation."  Each letter approx. 27.4 x 21.4 cm. Provenance: Pierre Boulez Collection. 

It was around the time of the first letter that Stravinsky offered the premiere of his still unwritten Violin Concerto to Mengelberg at the Concertgebouw, unaware that Willy Strecker (who had introduced the composer to violinist Samuel Dushkin), "was no less blithely offering it to the Berlin radio.  Berlin, Strecker insisted when he heard of the double booking, would make bigger waves on Stravinsky's behalf (perhaps he meant that they would make more trouble if jilted). No doubt there was some national bias in this view. On the face of it, Stravinsky had more to lose at the Concertgebouw, whose committee was planning a Stravinsky festival of three concerts around the concerto premiere but who, when they heard they were losing the premiere, promptly cancelled the entire festival." (Stephen Walsh, " Stravinsky: A Creative Spring"). The Concerto was eventually premiered in Berlin, with the composer conducting the Berlin Radio Symphony and Dushkin as soloist, on October 23, 1931.

Stravinsky's Violin Concerto in D is a neoclassical violin concerto in four movements and one of the undisputed 20th century masterpieces in the form. The idea of a violin concerto was born in the mind of Willy Strecker of B. Schotts Söhne, Stravinsky's music publisher at the time, who proposed to Stravinsky that he compose something for the young violinist Samuel Dushkin, assuring Stravinsky that he could consult with Dushkin about technical issues (White 1979, 368). Stravinsky noted in his autobiography that Dushkin's availability for advice was a factor in his undertaking the Violin Concerto. Stravinsky began sketching the Concerto in Paris early in 1931, with composition beginning in earnest in Nice, where the first two movements were completed and the third begun. In the summer, Stravinsky moved to the Château de la Véronnière in Voreppe in Isère, where he completed the third movement and wrote all of the fourth (White 1979, 369).  Though Stravinsky told his publisher he wanted to write "a true virtuoso concerto", "the texture is always more characteristic of chamber music than orchestral music. I did not compose a cadenza, not because I did not care about exploiting violin virtuosity, but because the violin in combination was my real interest. But virtuosity for its own sake has only a small role in my Concerto, and the technical demands of the piece are relatively tame "(V. Stravinsky and Craft 1978, 306; I. Stravinsky and Craft 1982, 47–48; quoted in Pople 1991, 3). (21295)

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