Volume 14, Number 5 · March 12, 1970
Champions
By Lester Adelsberg, Reply by Virgil Thomson
In response to Berlioz, Boulez, and Piaf
(January 29, 1970)
To the Editors:
No doubt Piaf had prodigious abilities, but Marcel Cerdan was a middleweight and not, as Virgil Thomson reports [NYR, January 29], "heavyweight champion."
Lester Adelsberg
New Orleans, La.
Virgil Thomson replies:
J.R. Pole:
My article was not a review of a book but an evocation of a man and his music as recalled through a series of centenary homages. At that, I did name the translator, and in my lead sentence. As a further compliment for possible use in advertising I here attest that this is the first time I have ever been able to read through those memoirs.
For still further praise of one whose qualifications have never been in dispute, Mr. Pole's letter should suffice.
Lester Adelsberg:
O.K. by me.
