BERLIOZ Hector (1803-1869)

Lot 1239
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Estimation :
2000 - 2500 EUR
BERLIOZ Hector (1803-1869)
L.A.S. "H B.", Paris September 26 [1843], to his sister Nanci PAL at the Côte Saint-André; 4 pages in-8 with address (small tear by breaking the stamp). Nice family letter, talking about his music criticism serials. On September 19, his uncle Auguste Berlioz died. During this month of September, Berlioz composes the Ouverture du Carnaval romain, and the Journal des Débats publishes in serial form his musical Voyage en Allemagne]. He was expecting "the sad news [...] our poor uncle was already in a very sad state several days before leaving Paris; when afterwards he found himself unable to leave his bed, he did not want to let this aggravation of his illness be known, and from that moment on we could not see him anymore. ...] I hope that our poor father will have borne this new blow with the resignation he has had to exercise so often over the past few years, and that in any case, you and Camille will have supported him as best you can. Will Adèle [Suat, his other sister] be able to come and spend a few days at least at the Côte? I doubt it. As for me, I'm too far away, too much of a slave and too sad; I'd be a bad company for my father whose philosophy is already very unhappy and doesn't need to be turned to the dark side of things. His wife Henriette [Harriet] is ill "and is very much in torment although her condition is not serious. Then he refutes Adèle's calculation about the proceeds of her articles: "How is it that you do not yet know that I am paid at the Jal des Débats by article and not by lines? A series of 8 (or 12) columns is worth a hundred francs to me, but if it has only 4 columns it is paid only fifty francs. I was once paid by Europe Littéraire 50 c per line; this generous newspaper did not live long. However, the Jal des Débats is the one that pays the best of all such papers; DUMAS may have made some special agreements with the Press, agreements that I cannot and must
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