GOUNOD Charles (1818-1893)

Lot 1292
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Estimation :
300 - 400 EUR
Result with fees
Result : 260EUR
GOUNOD Charles (1818-1893)
L.A.S., Mont-Dore 22 June [1864], to his friend Ernest LEGOUVÉ; 4 pages in-8. Long letter on his lyrical projects. [Legouvé asked Gounod to write chorus and stage music for his play Les Deux Reines, and Jules BARBIER offered him the libretti of Fiesque and Chimène. Gounod came to Auvergne to treat a sprained foot, and had to give up the feast of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, and a trip to London: "Finally, I'm dragging a ball and chain". As for their project, he spoke about it to Barbier who "has given up any kind of collaboration and no longer wants to work, either for himself or for a musician, only alone, absolutely alone", and who therefore refuses to work for Legouvé; Gounod reports his words: "I want my Gounod all alone: I love him, I am jealous of him, and I don't want to share him with anyone". He comments: "I am very proud to provoke such passions, especially in a man like Barbier whom I love with all my heart and whose whole nature is particularly dear and sympathetic to me". He has therefore asked Michel Carré for help and is waiting for his reply: "YES, you must do what you say and what Mrs RISTORI thinks", and he wishes to contribute to the glory of this admirable play. For the time being, he is in no way concerned with Chimène... As for the choirs, "you know what I fear? - the means of execution. Whenever music will be the prop in a work, you will necessarily, fatally, encounter a secondary performance; and this is very easy to understand: you will not be able to bring together on the same day, in a theater, the speaking staff, the singing staff, and the instrumental staff: it is all eggs in the same basket, first of all; then, will the same theater offer us the same degree of value in resources of such a diverse nature? Well, it remains to be seen: but the day you turn it into an opera, I'll hold out! »…
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