ALAN HOVHANESS - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED - HFSID 224656

ALAN HOVHANESS
Composer Alan Hovhaness wrote this letter to a teacher in Federal Way, Washington, saying "Tell your good young people of any age that I never feel that I 'made it' or made anything but that I only try hard to improve" - an appropriate statement from a composer as eclectic as Hovhaness.
Autograph letter signed "Alan Hovhaness". 1 page, 6x9. Addressed to Federal Way, Washington. In full: "Dear Mr Norbutt = Happy to hear of your splendid work - I will send a signed photo in seperate [sic] mail - Tell your good young people of any age that I never feel that I 'made it' or made anything but that I only try hard to improve - All Best Wishes". Although sometimes stereotyped as an Armenian composer, Hovhaness (1911-2000) drew inspiration and material from a wide variety of cultures and traditions; his music is Eastern as much as it is Western. An American of Scotch and Armenian descent, he grew interested in Armenian, and then Middle Eastern music by the time he was 30 and studied with local musicians in India and Japan in 1959. He's notorious for destroying a large body of earlier work (he claimed to have destroyed over 1,000 pieces) in 1940. After this, his work included stage works like chamber operas (Blue Flame, 1959, and Pilate 1963), the score for the Broadway play The Flowering Peach, 1954-1955, and music for modern dance), orchestral and choral pieces like Magnificat (1959) and Lady of Light (1969), symphonies and chamber music. Hovhaness was a teacher at Boston Conservatory (1948-1951), composer in residence for the Seattle Symphony and founder of a record label, Poseidon Records, which he maintained for 15 years in order to record his own work. Folds and creases (not near signature). Otherwise in fine condition.