Bidspirit auction | [MUSIC AUTOGRAPHS] - FERRUCCIO BUSONI

[MUSIC AUTOGRAPHS] - FERRUCCIO BUSONI (1866–1924) - Autograph Letter Signed - FERRUCCIO BUSONI (1866–1924) - Autograph Letter Signed, thanking an unknown admirer for his warm and impartial appreciation, Berlin, January 1896 Autograph letter signed “Ferruccio B. Busoni”, in German, to an unidentified correspondent. Berlin, 3 or 31 January 1896. One page on a bifolium, octavo, written in dark ink. A gracious early letter from the thirty-year-old Busoni, thanking an unknown admirer for an unsolicited expression of appreciation and observing that such praise carries particular weight when it comes from someone personally unknown to him and therefore impartial. Busoni writes: “Hochverehrter Herr. Ich danke Ihnen sehr herzlich für die warmen Anerkennungsworte, die Sie an mich zu richten die Freundlichkeit hatten. Sie haben einen um so höheren Werth, weil sie von einem persönlich Unbekannten kommen, also von einem Unparteiischen.” (“Highly esteemed Sir, I thank you most sincerely for the warm words of appreciation which you had the kindness to address to me. They have all the greater value because they come from someone personally unknown to me, and therefore from someone impartial.”) He closes by expressing his pleasure at the correspondent’s letter and offering his thanks and regards, signing boldly at the foot “Ferruccio B. Busoni”. By 1896 Busoni had already established himself as an international concert pianist and had settled in Berlin, which would become the principal centre of his mature artistic life. The letter offers an appealing glimpse of his response to his growing reputation: Busoni explicitly values his correspondent’s praise precisely because it comes from a stranger and therefore carries the weight of impartial judgement. Provenance / Literature: The present manuscript corresponds to the Busoni autograph previously catalogued by Kotte Autographs as a letter from Berlin, January 1896, thanking an unidentified correspondent for his words of appreciation. One item: autograph letter signed, one page on a bifolium, Berlin, 3 or 31 January 1896.