Winchester tells Sheridan (a pianist who won't be able to use his right arm any more) about a piece written by Ravel for the left hand. Here is the direct quote from IMDB
Maj. Charles Winchester: It was written for an Austrian concert pianist named Paul Wittgenstein. He lost his right arm during the First World War. He embarked on a long search to commission piano works for the left hand alone. Composer after composer turned him down, but he refused to give up. Finally, he found Ravel who, like him, was willing to accept this great challenge.
But Wikipedia says that Wittgenstein "approached . . . Famous composers, asking them to write material for him to perform. Benjamin Britten, Paul Hindemith, Alexandre Tansman, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Sergei Prokofiev, Karl Weigl, Franz Schmidt, Sergei Bortkiewicz, and Richard Strauss all produced pieces for him."
So it does not seem like he got turned down alot.
Maj. Charles Winchester: It was written for an Austrian concert pianist named Paul Wittgenstein. He lost his right arm during the First World War. He embarked on a long search to commission piano works for the left hand alone. Composer after composer turned him down, but he refused to give up. Finally, he found Ravel who, like him, was willing to accept this great challenge.
But Wikipedia says that Wittgenstein "approached . . . Famous composers, asking them to write material for him to perform. Benjamin Britten, Paul Hindemith, Alexandre Tansman, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Sergei Prokofiev, Karl Weigl, Franz Schmidt, Sergei Bortkiewicz, and Richard Strauss all produced pieces for him."
So it does not seem like he got turned down alot.