BERLIOZ | autograph letter signed to Antoni Deschamps, about the opera "Les Troyens", 1864

BERLIOZ, HECTOR

AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED ("H. BERLIOZ"), TO ANTONI DESCHAMPS, ABOUT A CONCERT PERFORMANCE OF PART OF HIS OPERA LES TROYENS,

addressed to "Mon cher Antoni", presumably the poet Antoni Deschamps, informing him of the forthcoming concert performance of Act II of his opera Les Troyens à Carthage, in a special "out of series" Conservatoire concert on 18 December, asking him to try and attend and to bring along Mr Blanche (presumably his psychiatrist friend Dr Antoine-Émile Blanche), 1 page, 12mo (c.13 x 10.3cm), integral blank, [Paris], 27 November 1864

 "...Je vous informe que la Société des concerts du Conservatoire donnera le second acte des Troyens (airs de danse, quintette, septuor et Duo) à la séance du 18 Décembre en dehors de l'abbonnement. Tachez d’y venir et d’y entraîner Mr Blanche et ses amis..."

Berlioz's opera Les Troyens represented the summit of his aspirations as a composer. It was staged at the Théâtre-Lyrique in a truncated form in November and December 1863, but after that it was not staged again during his lifetime. This concert performance comprised most of Act IV (Act II in the shortened version, Les Troyens à Carthage), but excluding the "Royal Hunt and Storm" music. Here, Berlioz lists the main numbers, including the concluding love-duet for Dido and Aeneas. Antoni Deschamps (1800-1869), like his brother Émile, was a well-known poet, who provided the words for Berlioz's Grande symphonie funèbre et triomphale in 1842.

For autograph letters by other musicians and composers, please see our sale of Music, Continental Books and Medieval Manuscripts (sale L20403), open for bidding from 7 July and accessible at:

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LITERATURE:

Hitherto unpublished: there is only a defective summary of this letter in the Correspondance Générale, volume. VIII (Supplement) p. 535, letter no. 2934bis

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