Busoni in America

On July 12^th, 1911, composer Feruccio Busoni was in Berlin. A few months earlier he had been in America, and a meeting with New York publisher Rudoph Schirmer set him to thinking about the United States as he wrote to his friend pianist Egon Petri:

“Last Friday we met up with Schirmer from New York and conductor Oskar Fried for an economical aristocratic meal at the Kaiserhof Hotel. It was quite a memorable undissonant evening. Right off we were united in our devotion to Gustav Mahler. We three happened in fact to have been his true friends.

“Fried has–in all likelihood–fulfilled his most heartfelt wish–America. From which you can see how human passions can be misled.

“Schirmer has decided to buy up the complete works of Delius. On top of that there was further pleasure. A Gustav Mahler Foundation for the support of gifted musicians has been started. It was the wish of Frau Mahler herself that I be one of only three people who should serve as a sort of trustee.

“You were also a topic of the conversation with Schirmer. If you eventually go to America, I can guarantee a good friend in this Schirmer fellow.

“My opinion of that country has again changed considerably. Not only do I put no stock in its cultural rise, but I also believe it has already passed its high point. What the Americans have done since crossing that line is leading to a moral desert. That is to say practical exploitation for its own sake and coarse indulgence in luxury. As other problems–moral, religious, and artistic questions are not being taken into account, America presents itself as the Middle Ages fitted up with machines and electricity. A great country! Yes, by God, and just as He created it, even if it does lack nightingales and wine. A person could be reconciled with the Americans if they weren’t so impertinent.”

Feruccio Busoni, July 12^th, 1911, writing to his friend Egon Petri from Berlin a few months after his American tour.