H. Berlioz, Autograph letter to Pauline Viardot, about Gluck's "Orphée", with an autograph cadenza [14 September 1859]

BERLIOZ, HECTOR

Autograph letter signed ("H. Berlioz"), to Pauline Viardot, ABOUT GLUCK'S "ORPHÉE", WITH A 22-BAR AUTOGRAPH MUSICAL CADENZA, [14 September 1859]

explaining that for the cadenza for the last aria of the first act one could bring back a theme heard previously, in the manner of concerto virtuosi, [and providing in the letter the music for the cadenza, comprising 22-bars, beginning with the words "Objet de mon amour",] noting that, if necessary, one could say that this was the cadenza Legros provided for Gluck's staging of the opera in Paris, observing that she would exit after that scene with a triple salvo of applause, stating that he awaits her permission for him to see her on Sunday, remarking that he is writing this from his bed, and adding that he would like to be Euridice and to dwell in the Elysian Fields ("...je crois que vous sortiriez de la scène avec une triple salve d'applaudissements, et on éviterait ainsi de finir par ce bête de mot "appas"...Je voudrais bien être Euridice et habiter les Champs-Elysées...")

3 pages, 8vo (c.20 x 13.3cm), blind-stamp to p.3 ("Viardot Collection"), no place or date [Paris, 14 September 1859]

In Pauline Viardot’s repertoire, the music of Gluck occupied a special position, and it was in the version of Gluck’s opera Orphée, arranged by Viardot and Berlioz, and revived in Paris in 1859 (Théâtre Lyrique: 18 November 1859, with Viardot as Orpheus), that Viardot celebrated one of the greatest triumphs of her career.

LITERATURE:

Correspondence Générale 2403; Melanie Stier, '"The power of Gluck, and of his interpreter': Pauline Viardot’s Part in the British Gluck Revival"', in British Postgraduate Musicology, volume 11 (2011). 

PROVENANCE:

Formerly in the collection of Martine Le Cesne, Pauline Viardot's great-great-granddaughter, and her husband André Le Cesne.

For letters by Berlioz, Mendelssohn and Schumann, please see our forthcoming sale of "Autographes et Manuscrits" in Paris on 22 May, and the advertisement at the end of this catalogue.