ΣΑΝ ΣΗΜΕΡΑ ΣΤΗ ΜΟΥΣΙΚΗ

11/10/1921
Ο αμερικανός συνθέτης Aaron Copland (1900-1990)
γράφει
από το Παρίσι στους γονείς του:

207 Bd. Raspail
Paris

Dear Ma & Pa, --

I really ought to be sending you a cablegram with this wonderful news, but I was afraid it would scare you. Just think, I have just sold my first composition. Let me catch my breath and tell you the whole story. I wrote you that M. Durand, the biggest publisher in Paris, had promised to publish a piece of mine called "The Cat and the Mouse" after he had heard me play it at Fontainebleau. Well, I have just been to see him at his office here and have sold him the piece outright for 500 francs. I signed a contract with him and he has promise to have the piece ready in about 2 or 3 weeks, at which time I will send you a copy. Try to remember that in pre-war times, 500 francs was equal to $100. which is an extraordinary price to pay a young, unknown composer for a little piece of 5 pages. Then Durand is a very well-known publisher all over the world, so it gives one a reputation merely to be published by him. A great deal of the credit is due to Fontainebleau and the school as I could never have accomplished so much in so short a time without all that influence helping me. What will Goldmark and Adler have to say when I send them copies? Its too bad I am not able to play the piece for you, but you'll have to wait until I get home, unless some one plays it in N.Y. by some wild chance. Of course, this is only a beginning. One doesn't get exactly famous simply because he has written one piece which is printed. But it is a start. And the 500 francs tickles me silly, even if it isn't a fortune.