SAINT-SAËNS Camille (1835 - 1921) - Lot 198

Lot 198
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600 - 800 EUR
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Result : 780EUR
SAINT-SAËNS Camille (1835 - 1921) - Lot 198
SAINT-SAËNS Camille (1835 - 1921) L.A.S. "C. Saint-Saëns", November 12, 1921, to a music critic friend; 1 1/2 pages in-4. Interesting letter about Ascanio and the opera. He thanks his friend for having been so kind to him, but is indignant about the treatment of Mlle Demongeot "so perfect in her role. Why do you refuse her to be a Falcon, when we were so happy to find her as Brünehilde in La Valkyrie! Why are you surprised that there are arias, duets, trios, etc. in Ascanio, and do you blame Meyerbeer for this? But all composers, even Wagner, have done the same! The latter did not do so only in his last works, and now the fashion is not to sing in operas. But I have always been indifferent to fashion; I have never done anything but what I wanted to do, and I am still one of those who, when they go to hear singers, like to hear them sing, while at the same time looking for something other than concerts in the theater. The dramatic action and the song go very well together, and The Marriage of Figaro proved once and for all that a play which did not seem to lend itself to music, lent itself perfectly to it when the musician knew how to do it"... Saint-Saëns recalls that he "made legendary opera with Samson", without turning his back on historical opera. He thus demonstrated in an article "how history is not so different from legend"... He thanks however to have been so gracious with Ascanio... Attached is a L.A.S. to Joséphin PÉLADAN, September 5, 1916 (half page in-4), quoting an article from Péladan's Revue hebdomadaire on the genius of the race, but recalling lines from the same article demanding that Wagner's operas be played, "which French musicians will remember".
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