BERLIOZ, Hector.

Lot 10
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Estimation :
2500 - 3000 EUR
BERLIOZ, Hector.
3/4May 1864. Autograph letter signed to his son Louis Berlioz [Paris. 3-4 May 1864). Gp. in-8 (208 x 133 mm). Letter signed H. Berlioz. Trace of tab. Very beautiful and long letter, all musical, in which it is question of the death of Meyerbeer, of Rossini, of Beethoven, etc. Son of Berlioz and Harriet Smithson, Louis Berlioz (1834-1867) had a brilliant career as a long-distance captain. His relationship with his father was often difficult, but by the time of this letter he had come to admire him greatly. Berlioz is deeply saddened: 'Meyerbeer's death [who died on 2 May 1864] has come to finish me off. Such an intelligence does not disappear from the world without the survivors noticing the darkening that is taking place." He advises his son to be discreet and reserved with people and envies his Parisian life: "I will see Iriarte [Charles Yriarte. journalist] tonight and I will talk to him about his blunder on Paganini. I will have dinner on Friday at Legouvé's, if I am able to have dinner. [...] Last Monday I went to our weekly dinner: there was a lot of talk about Meyerbeer and Rossini and we said things about these two men that I believe to be true: one was an artist, an egoist no doubt, the other is an egoist who is not an artist. Fiorentino, though Italian, was the first to support this thesis, and I relieved my heart in developing it." A long and very ironic tirade on Leon Carvalho, director of the Théâtre-Lyrique, who was struck dumb when I quoted Beethoven's words to him: "Oh, I have no worries about my music, I feel well that I am closer to God than the others. "(...) Carvalho is enthusiastic about beauty, but always with the thought that he could, on occasion, perfect beauty. He would not be able to stop himself from correcting Shakespeare and instrumentalizing Beethoven. "After some gossip about Jules Janin and Mme Spontini, he talks about his work: "I have written three times to Mr. Richard Pohl, who had undertaken the German translation of Les Troyens, but I have not been able to obtain an answer: the strongest thing is that the Leipzig publisher of the new edition of my Treatise on Orchestration, which was to have cost me a hundred thalers at Easter, does not want to answer me either, nor consequently pay me. Choudens [Antoine Choudens, music publisher] always announces his visit and does not come, nor does he finish the corrections of Benvenuto [Cellini] nor engrave the Marche troyenne. You know that La Captive by F[élicien] David has been withdrawn by the authors, in agreement with Carvalho: it seemed decidedly too pitiful and they did not dare to risk the performance. It seems that one should not push the platitude too far".
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