JOSEPH "JOSKA" SZIGETI - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 05/20/1945 - HFSID 49509

JOSEPH SZIGETI
Signed autograph letter (1945), confiding that he finds it difficult to keep working hard on his memoirs
Autograph Letter signed: "Joska", 2 pages, 7¼x10½ (front and verso). Palos Verdes Estates, California, 1945 May 20. On personal letterhead to "Dear Frances" [Winwar]. In full: "I can't thank you enough for taking out time for the chore I imposed upon you at a time when you must have been exhausted by your labors on the George Sand and in need of a real rest! Your corrections could be an immense (& lasting) help to me if I were energetic enough to meditate over them and try to deduce some rules from them! However it's too late at my age and I'll just have to muddle along ... [ellipses in original] (I waste so much time writing - and I waste so much time, period!!) It's so lovely here that it's difficult to keep to any schedule. The garden is at its best and Wanda is happy to have her old gardener back; she even planted some mushrooms with good results; grapes will turn out well we hope. Lots of honey too. If only you could come and stay with us some time! We are happy for you to be with your little grandson but we do envy you! Nikita cabled from Madrid and we of course wrote to him there but strangely enough no letters yet from Irene. But we must be patient now. So you're returning to work in the heat of New York! ... I read your piece in the Times Book magazine very attentively and marveled at the way you gave such a big panorama in so little space. Even for me who has no historical background at all it was engrossing reading. There was one point I didn't quite get: something about the divorce case I think. (I haven't got the article before me), but I suppose it must have been my fault. Again a thousand thanks and love from Wanda. With all good things, Yours ever". [signature] Did you listen to some of the Festival concerts?" Hungarian virtuoso violinist Joseph Szigeti (1892-1973) debuted as a child prodigy, touring and recording until his retirement in 1960. Known as "the scholarly violinist," he championed works by contemporary composers, including his lifelong friend Bela Bartok. Szigeti and his wife Wanda (Ostrowska) Szigeti lived mostly in the US from 1939 to 1960, returning thereafter to Switzerland. Szigeti's memoirs, With Strings Attached, obviously a work in progress when he wrote this letter, were published in 1947. Szigeti on the Violin appeared in 1969. The addressee was Frances Winwar (1900-1985), author of many literary biographies, who was evidently helping edit Szigeti's manuscript. Her biography of George Sand was published in 1945. Normal mailing folds. Creases, lightly soiled on verso. Slightly creased at top edge and corners. Otherwise, fine condition.