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B. H. HAGGIN
coherence." I had described Mozart's Piano Concerto K.453 as "one
of the greatest in the series, with a first movement that is one of the
supreme examples of Mozartean instrumental high comedy, an ex·
traordinarily organized and deeply affecting Andante, and a concluding
variation movement . . ."; he changed this to "one of the greatest in
the series. Its first movement is a supreme example of Mozartean
in·
strumental high comedy; there's an extraordinarily organized and deep.
ly affecting Andante, and a concluding variation movement. ..."
But additional hours were required now to satisfy Mr. Hatch
about the confusions which, in his letters, he managed to extract from
my clarity. In one instance I criticized details of stage action in the
Duma scene of a Metropolitan Opera performance of
Boris Godunov;
then I began the next paragraph with the statement "I noticed this
because I was sitting in the grand tier close to the stage; and that also
made a difference in what I heard"; from which I went on
to
describe
what I heard in the orchestration more clearly from the grand tier than
from the rear of the parquet. The progression of thought was simple
enough: sitting in the grand tier close to the stage caused me (1) to
see certain things better, and (2) to hear certain things better. But
Mr. Hatch wrote that although he realized from what I said that I
intended to show a connection between what I criticized in the action
and what I described in the music, I hadn't made the connection
evident: the difference I described in the musical effect didn't follow
from my criticism of the action. But the intention to show this con·
nection that I failed
to
show was something he read into writing in
which there was no such intention because there was no such connection.
In another instance Erich Leinsdorf's announcement that the New
York City Opera would offer a repertory ranging from
Rigoletto, La
Traviata
and
Carmen
to
Orpheus in the Underworld
and
Die Fleder·
maus
led me to write: "I don't think it is the business of an opera
company that produces
La Traviata
and
Carmen
to produce
Naughty
Marietta
or
Show Boat
or
Girl Crazy
or
Guys and Dolls;
and it is even
less its business to produce
Die Fledermaus
and
Orpheus in the Under·
world."
Mr. Hatch, again exhibiting his gift for muddying clear waters,
inquired whether Leinsdorf intended to produce
Naughty Marietta,
Show Boat, Girl Crazy
and
Guys and Dolls,
adding that if so he had
missed the announcement; and he didn't understand what I meant by
the statement that Leinsdorf had less business producing
Die Fledermaus
and
Orpheus,
since he had no business producing the American
musicals, and one couldn't have less than nothing. To this I answered
that "even in arithmetic there are minus quantities; and in writing I
think one can say 'It isn't the business of an opera company to produce
