Lotte Mulligan

bruno’s cousin

Dear Wanda,

I was very sad to hear of the demise of Bruno, my nearest relative whom I dearly loved. You probably know that as children we were good friends – I have some sweet photos of the two of us, and one formal photo of the four cousins – the children of Paul, Grete, Marta and Anton (Tonschi)_ - who all had an only child. And of course Bruno, as a sparkling little boy bringing light to the rather somber gathering of cousins.

Bruno and I were brought up to know one another quite well though we lived for the most of those early years, apart – Prague and Vrchlabi – but we got to see each other at various times and I was quite in love with him! He was such a fire-cracker of a kid – he was so smart and active – I both loved him and feared his cleverness and competitiveness. In the absence of siblings I think both he and I treated one another as such – and though he was almost the same age as me, he was quite definitely the ‘older brother’. I always looked forward to the fierce competitiveness which he instilled into our exchanges and was jealous of his cleverness and – even at that age – knowledge and brains – as well as a huge personality! After his visits I always swore to myself that I would try to emulate his fierce interest in so many aspects of life about which he seemed to know everything!

When we had to emigrate from the ‘Sudetenland’ in 1938 and move to Prague in anticipation of getting out of Czechoslovakia altogether – I was quite excited – but more because it meant that I would be living closer to Bruno! So spending some months there I saw a lot more of him than his occasional visits to Vrchlabi. I think it was with him – and no doubt an adult present – that I saw Smetana’s ‘The Bartered Bride’ sung in Czech, at the famous Prague Opera House, which has stayed with me all these years, laughing at the silly story and no doubt through Bruno, admiring the music. I can still sing some of the silly libretto and still enjoy its humour.

In all the years when we lived half a world away from each other – North America and Australia – we did keep in touch and I continued to be amazed at, and proud of , his success in his field. Most recently my daughter Hilary was speaking at a conference in Scotland when she met some young people who told her their field was musicology. So Hilary told them she had an uncle who was a musicologist – Bruno Nettl – and they couldn’t contain their excitement – calling out to their friends that here was a person who was related to the Great Bruno Nettl! I did write to Bruno about this as I thought it was a great story – his fame amongst these  young scholars in Scotland and the whole episode which I thought was lovely!

So you can see from these disconnected little vignettes that I both cherish his memory and felt involved a little in his life.

I was on the point of writing to congratulate Bruno on turning 90 – having re-read his charming ‘Perverse at Eighty’ book only recently -  only to be shocked that it obviously already ten years old when I got Becky’s sad email telling me of his death. As I am almost the same age as him – I think two months younger – it was even more poignant. Please accept my deepest condolences  - I know what a great sorrow this must be for you – which as I suggest by the above little notes – I can at least partly share. So I hope that the idea of sharing such reminiscences will be both sad but also appropriate in remembering this great sparkling giant of an intellect but also a wonderful man.

My dearest love to you and the family.