G. Bizet, Autograph letter signed, to his librettist Louis Gallet, about his opera "Djamileh", 1871

BIZET, GEORGES

Autograph letter signed ("Georges Bizet"), to [his librettist Louis Gallet] ("Mon cher Collaborateur"), [1871]

discussing his opera Djamileh, noting that his couplets are charming, observing that the duo is too developed, requesting a very short syllabic number, mentioning some of the characters, and asking him repeatedly to come on Saturday as he needs to see him, suggesting various train times

...je voudrais un tout petit morceau, très rapide, très syllabique. Après la convention du déguisement, alors que Namouna a retrouvé l'espérance et que Splendiano voit la réussite de ses projets assurés!...

1 page, 8vo (21 x 13.5cm), integral blank, no place or date [1871]

A letter by the famous opera composer to his librettist. Djamileh is an enchanting one-act opéra comique by Bizet based on Alfred de Musset's oriental tale Namouna. Bizet worked on the opera in the late summer of 1871, although the work was only staged the following year on 22 May at the Paris Opéra-Comique. The autograph manuscript of Bizet's completed score is preserved today in the Stiftelsen Musikkulturens främjande, Stockholm.

LITERATURE:

Hervé Lacombe, Georges Bizet (Paris, 2000), pp.518ff.