GOUNOD Charles (1818 - 1893) - Lot 65

Lot 65
Go to lot
Estimation :
800 - 1000 EUR
Result with fees
Result : 1 950EUR
GOUNOD Charles (1818 - 1893) - Lot 65
GOUNOD Charles (1818 - 1893) MUSICAL MANUSCRIPT, Première Messe Solennelle à grand orchestre, 1839; 80 folios (36 x 27.5 cm), in 8 quires in a period hardback folder with green tinted parchment corners. Unpublished mass in memory of his master Lesueur, entirely copied by the mother of Gounod. This very first Mass of Gounod [CG 54] was dedicated to the memory of his master Jean-François LESUEUR, ; the title page specifies that it was "executed for the first time in the church of St Eustache on November 3, 1839 for the Patronal feast" (Condé, p. 547-550). This Mass had been ordered to Gounod by Louis Dietsch, the chapel master of Saint Eustache; it was composed in five months; it is Gounod himself and his mother who took charge of copying the orchestral parts, not having the means to pay a copyist, as Gounod tells it in his Memoirs of an artist, adding: "my Mass was certainly not a remarkable work: it denoted the inexperience that one could expect from a young man still quite novice in the handling of this rich palette of the orchestra, the possession of which requires such a long practice; as for the value of the musical ideas considered in themselves, it was limited to a rather right feeling, a rather true instinct of conformity to the meaning of the sacred text; but the firmness of the drawing, the intention left much to be desired. Whatever the case, this first attempt earned me kind encouragement"... This orchestral score was also carefully copied by Mrs Gounod mother. The composer wrote at the top of the title page this autograph note: "Venerable relic of the patience of my beloved mother". This orchestral score is carefully copied in brown ink on 24-stave paper. The eff ectif requires five soloists (soprano, two tenors, and two basses), a five-voice choir (1st and 2nd Overtures, 1st and 2nd Tenors, Lowers), and the orchestra composed of fl utes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, 2 horns, trumpets, timpani, strings, great organ, and choir organ. It includes the following numbers: N° 1 Kyrie, in G minor in 4/4, Andante con moto (on the last page, Mme Gounod has listed the parts she copied); - N° 2. Gloria in Excelsis Deo in C major in 4/4, beginning Larghetto; - No. 3. Credo in A minor in 4/4, Tempo moderato; - No. 4. Offertory in E major in 3/4, Andante : "Beatus qui intelligit"....(Psalm XL) ; - N° 5. Sanctus in D flat major in 2, Large ; - N° 6. O Salutaris (unaccompanied) with double choir, in B flat minor at 3/2, Moderato ; - N° 7. Agnus Dei in D minor at 2/4, Slow; - No. 8. Domine salvum in D major in 4/4, Large
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue