X: Writings ’79–’82

B. W. 1916-1979

B . W . 1 9 1 6 - 1 9 7 9 This tribute was first published in the Proceedings of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, id series, No. 30, 1979i have not seen you for a long time But Ever so ofteN you telephoned mostly you did the talking there Was no nEed for me to speak But i listEned it seemed to me you weRe lonely But long ago in thE 'forties we'd have diNner together never at my house alWays at yours you nEver wanted to go out seymour Barab for whom you wrotE so much music was sometimes pResent you kept telling stories we laughed did you introduce me to Billy massElos or was it aNahid or maro who did that your Work was always triplE: composing, copying, and cooking no B's at all and you oftEn left one job to continue anotheR 119 But no difficulty was involvEd iN these interruptions nothing burned all three Worlds took placE in the same room the stove was right By thE desk by the window wheRe you copied music whether it was yours orsomeBody Else's i remember how shocked you were wheN i told you over the telephone hoW i had dEcided to change my notation By making spacE equal to time you weRehorrified rather than pleased By my discovEry i asked you why you were alarmed you said No one will be able to copy your Work it sEemed to me that just By crossing the room and sitting at thE piano you became anotheR person the one you've left with us you advised me to shop on 9th avenue But you pointEd out that though i'd save moNey i might be cheated 120 i; d have to Watch carEfully what i was Buying but rEcently you couldn't leave youR room someBody had to do your shopping for you musically wE were always incompatible What with your affinity for thE past a past out of Bounds for mE i could admiRe your craftsmanship But not fEel close to your expressioN this disturbed me because from your side there Was nothing but gEnerosity no matter what else there was my feelings provided a Blight that fortunatElyjust belonged to me and didn't seem to botheR you at all the Boundary bEtween us is a liNe right doWn thE middle of the master janus he looked Both back and towards what joycE calls the footuRe mujik of the footure 121 perhaps our musical friendship came aBout bEcause of him (Not Joyce) schoenberg he Was inclusivE the Basis of your work was in your fEelings on the one hand and youR love on the other of music as it 19th-century german and russian was you Brought thEse two feeliNgs close together With warmth without distorting Either your music was written By itsElf at least it seemed to have its own motion you neveR seemed to stand in its way you helped it get Born sitting bEside it at the piaNo maybe i'm Wrong (i am wrong) but i think that's how it w¿ copyist and cook ovEr there where it's light and Brilliant gEnial composeR over here where it's dark 122 ...