Music

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Lot 35
  • 35

Gluck, Christoph Willibald.

Estimate
50,000 - 70,000 GBP
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Description

  • The remarkable and important autograph manuscript of part of the celebrated air "J'ai perdu mon Euridice" from Orphée et Euridice
a working draft containing differences from the first edition, including to the music and text, commencing with the accompanied recitative for Euridice and Orphée ("[Reçois] donc mes derniers adieux"), including Orphée's fatal glance back and Euridice's death, and concluding with the opening twenty-five bars of Orphée's air (up to the Adagio "C'est ton amant"), in score, for voices and instruments, dark brown ink on three systems per page, each of five staves, some annotations in pencil and red crayon, with deletions, smudging, and alterations, extensively reworked by the composer, including a revision of the passage leading up to Euridice's death notated on a single stave at the foot of the first page, with some earlier passages diverging from the final published versions still legible (including "objet de mes amours")



4 pages, folio (c.29.5 x 23cms), 16-stave paper, [1774], a few minor tears, a little paper loss caused by ink deterioration, some spotting and staining

Condition

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

This is the autograph manuscript of one of the most famous arias in all opera,

This is without doubt the most important manuscript by Gluck to have appeared for sale.  Autograph manuscripts by the chief reformer of eighteenth-century opera are of the greatest rarity. 

This is a working manuscript.  It contains Gluck's working draft of the crucial scene preceding Orphée's celebrated air, where, having been forbidden to look back at Euridice as he leads her out of the underworld, the hero finds he is unable to resist her plaintive cries, glances at her and causes her death.  Gluck has deleted early versions of several passages in Orphée's part and extensively recomposed them, the earlier drafts still visible under his heavy deletions; some of these reveal different words as well as different music from the final versions known today.

The moment of Euridice's death is highlighted by the two voices momentarily singing together (not found in the Italian version), and this too is subject to deletions and revisions.  Gluck deletes the first version of the words and writes the revision in the lower margin ("Eu Orfée o Ciel je meurs").  Even the words of Orphée's "J'ai perdu mon Euridice" are different, the second line "...rien n'égale mon malheur" here given as "...j'ai perdu tout mon bonheur"; similarly the words of the Adagio, "c'est ton Epoux" are given here as "c'est ton amant".

Gluck originally wrote Orfeo ed Euridice as an opera in Italian (Vienna, 1762), with the hero sung by a castrato.  No autograph manuscript survives: the first edition is the primary source for the Vienna version.  Gluck greatly amplified the opera for Paris in 1774, rewriting the hero's part for haute-contre (a high tenor).  There is no complete autograph manuscript of the Paris version, though sections survive in Paris, Berlin and Stanford, amounting to about two-thirds of the score.  In the present manuscript, Orphée's part is notated in the alto clef, although the composer mistakenly began writing part of the opening of the air in the tenor clef. 

This aria became especially famous in the nineteenth century as a vehicle for mezzo sopranos and contraltos from Pauline Viardot to the present.  It was especially beloved in England as "What is life to me without thee", as sung by Kathleen Ferrier.