Until recently, the existence of Bohuslav Martinu’s “Romance for Violin and Piano” H 186bis, composed in 1930, was entirely unknown, especially since the composer himself had not mentioned the work in any of his handwritten catalogues of works. In 2022, Natálie Krátká, a musicologist from the Bohuslav Martinu Institute in Prague, discovered the composition by chance in the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem – a truly unique find of a completely unknown work from the estate of the French photographer of Boris Lipnitzky of Ukrainian-Jewish origin, with whom Martinu was friends during his stay in Paris.

The short, delicately melancholy work received its world premiere on 10 January 2023 at the Wigmore Hall in London and was performed by Frank Peter Zimmermann and Martin Helmchen. The “Romance” is now appearing in print for the first time.

With this publication, the violin repertoire is enriched by a further work by Martinu. Due to its short duration (approx. three minutes), it is well-suited as an encore piece and, thanks to its technically not so demanding violin part, it can also be played by the less advanced violinist.

Editor: Natálie Krátká