1985-03 (March)

March 1st, 1985

March: another month. Set out on birthday shopping expedition for Gwyn (tomorrow) with no notion of what I should get. I settled for a case of wine at Buster’s, red burgundy, white burgundy. Then went by mid-South Travel; delivered check for New York tickets, also inquired about Air France flights to and from Paris. Price-including NY round trip, $158- is $870 each; no worse than I expected. Stopped by Round Table, bought two books- Collected stories of Colette with a nearly complete Horace translated by B. Raffel. I’ve been meaning to read further in the book for years. Paperbacks, but expensive: $9.95, $13.50.

Continued Ravel: Piano Trio, Intro and Allegro, Solo Piano (Minowes?, “Gaspard,” Le Tombeau de Couperieu”). During 2 ½ mile walk, played duo piano (Ma Mere l’Oye,” “Valses Nobles et sentimentales”), Tzigane, and (after I got back) Bolero.

March 2nd, 1985

Slept till nearly 8. Gwyn’s fifty fifth birthday; gave her the case of wine I got yesterday-seven red butgaudiers? Five whites: Mancilly Resserve and Macon Lugny. Continued Ravel with “L’Enfant et Les Sortileges” and the songs 1902-32, “Scheherazade,” Mallarme poems, “Chansons Chadelasses,” and “Rou Quixote.” Then wound him up with the Violin sonata, his last chamber work…Began R. Strauss: “ Tod und Verklarung,” “Til Eulenspiegel,” “Also sprach Zarathustra” and “Salome’s Dance” (latter two 2 ½ mile walk) and “Don Quixote” when got back home at 4.50. Only “Heldenleben” awaits…..weather warm again; 70 degrees in mid afternoon; no rain, though it threatens.

Jim and Lawrence came by for Gwyn’s birthday, old time movie, “St Benny the Dip,” on TV; a 1951 antique, itself a copy of his from the ‘30’s; a technical farce.

Foote Diary: March 3rd, 1985

“Heldenleben” wound up Strauss in plenty of time for David Brinkley at noon. Now comes Sibelius and the atonal, 12-tone Vienna trio, Schessaberg, Weber, Berg. Began xxxxxxx with “En Sagg” and “The Swan of Tuonela,” continued with symphonies 1 and 2. In afternoon, went to Ridgeway Quartet, sad movie “The Killing Fields”- Cambodian horrors. Dinner at Boulay? Afterwards; then home for Sunday night TV.

Bill Thomas

March 4th, 1985

Continued Sibelius: Violin concerto, Pohjola’s Daughter, string Quartet in morning, symphonies 3-7 in after-noon; only Tapiola left for tomorrow.

Received from Random, copies of latest printings of all three Civil War volumes: I ,15th, II, 12TH; III, 8th. Remarkable; roughly 100,000 plus copies, including sets and individual volumes; enough for a man to live on if he’s careful.

Watched dramatization of Phillip Roth’s “The Ghost Writer” on TV. Well done. Bill Thomas called; will come for interview at 2 o’clock tomorrow. New book page for Commercial, which badly needs it.

March 5th, 1985

Tapiola finished Sibelius. Onto Schoenberg: five pieces for orchestra, Verklarte Necht (sextet and orchestral versions). Read Horace, Odes, in modern translation, referring to some old versions as I went along, and in many cases I preferred the early ones.

Continued Schoenberg: quartets 3 and 4, concertos for quartet. Still don’t make any real connection- much as with Brahms, all down the years. Received by airmail French paperback editions of Dry Season and September. Publisher, Christian Bourgois. E Hopper paintings on cover; an altogether first class job.

Talked with Hugs in Paris to tell him of the plans for a two- or three week visit in April and May. He said he’s seen the paperbacks in bookshops and in subways. Getting on with Proust, he says, and enjoying every page of it.