BERLIOZ Hector (1803-1869)

Lot 1243
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Estimation :
1500 - 2000 EUR
Result with fees
Result : 1 950EUR
BERLIOZ Hector (1803-1869)
L.A.S. "H. Berlioz", London March 1 [1848], to his friend the cellist Émile DESMAREST; 4 pages in-8 (a few slight cracks in the folds, the last page a little soiled). Very beautiful letter on his successes in London, while the Revolution rumbles in Paris. He reproaches his friend for his silence. His life in London has so far been rough and "continuously active". Drury-Lane is now closed. He wonders what will come out of "this immense upheaval... From what I see in our papers the new republic looks very different from the old one, and the differences seem to me to be all to its advantage. Let us hope that the arts will not have to complain about it. What has become of our foolish opera? What are our joking directors doing? What has changed in the direction of the fine arts? ...I'm afraid in the fight I'll lose my little place at the Conservatory. That's all I'd need to make me adore our beautiful France. You know that my Drury-Lane concert was a great success. I have never found unanimity in the press as in this circumstance ". He evokes the bankruptcy of his impresario Jullien. "Now I'm going to do my business, if not alone, at least with people who are more secure and more solid than him. I'm putting on a second concert in the Exeter-Hall without risking losses, but it takes a lot of preparation. I am warmly celebrated everywhere; I have speeches to make about everything, to respond to toasts at meetings and dinners of artists and men of letters [...] Really we have on the continent some very mistaken ideas of English politeness. Besides, they are a serious people, and I am cruelly tired of the eternal Parisian joke. ...] I believe that the fires of heaven and hell would come together to melt Paris, that pianists would still find a pretext to try to cool down these poor Parisians. I was horribly bored here in the early days, now I'm acclimatized, I have many pleasant relationships, all I need is news of my real friends in Paris "... Corres
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