I wrote the Belgian composer early in January 2009, expressing the hope that he would take a look at his replies of 1983. The letter was returned: the address was apparently incomplete. I then found out his e-mail address and sent the letter again, on January 29. He replied early in February, with his message inserted after my first paragraph. In red letters, it said: “Thank you, dear Mr. Varga. I am very ill, irrevocably. All best wishes, hp.”

Pousseur died a month later, on March 6.

I am deeply moved by the very fact that he took the trouble to reply. We had a friendly relationship even though I achieved precious little for those of his compositions which are part of the UE catalogue. I concentrated my efforts on his pioneering music theater piece Votre Faust (1969) based on a libretto by Michel Butor. It is not easy to realize: the singers and the instrumentalists have to learn the music of several strands of the score and the text because it is for the audience to decide what course the action should take—that is, to choose one from among the possibilities offered by the composer and the librettist. The performers must be able to continue whatever the outcome of the vote was, without a moment’s hesitation. I had hoped that at least Pousseur’s eightieth birthday would break the ice, but projected productions were cancelled. He took it all philosophically.

It was always a great pleasure to talk to Pousseur (mainly on the telephone; we only met once, at the railway station in Waterloo, a small town near Brussels, where he lived). I was struck by his intelligence and immense culture: he was a great man. The future will decide whether he was also a great composer.

I.

I have had no experience comparable to Lutosławski’s, but there is no doubt about it: the impressions we receive from music—particular compositions, musicians, or schools of thought—exert a continuing influence on the creative process and nurture it. We may receive such impressions while studying a score but it is live music that makes the strongest impact. It has happened to me as well that in listening to some compositions, including contemporary pieces, I concentrated on what they might contribute to my own work.