The importance and role of correspondence in researching the personality and work of Milenko Paunovic

The correspondence of the composer and writer Milenko Paunovic (1889-1924) has a great role in revealing different aspects of his life, work and mind. Nearly 100 letters are preserved, most of which belong to his correspondence with his family and particularly with his sister Jelena Paunovic, a pianist. One part of Jelena's correspondence with other persons gives us also diverse information about her brother. All the saved letters are kept in the holdings of the Institute of Musicology and the Serbian Archive. Paunovic's correspondence is discussed from several viewpoints. In the introduction of the article is given a brief survey and description of the correspondence (according to the list enclosed at the end of the text). This is followed by analysis of some of Jelena's letters that clarify certain facts about the posthumous fate of Paunovic's works. In the two central parts of the article the correspondence is observed as a source rich with information concerning Paunovic's biography, dating and chronological systematization of his works as well as his (un)realized plans for performance. The concluding discussing is devoted to Paunovic's personality, his ambitions, aspirations, relations to the others: it is possible to determine and explain his artistic creation like a specific autobiography and his correspondence speaks in favor of this thesis.