Important Manuscripts, Continental Books and Music

Important Manuscripts, Continental Books and Music

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 91. P. Viardot. Autograph manuscript of the song "La calesera", dedicated to the singer Caroline Unger.

P. Viardot. Autograph manuscript of the song "La calesera", dedicated to the singer Caroline Unger

Auction Closed

June 11, 02:50 PM GMT

Estimate

1,000 - 1,500 GBP

Lot Details

Description

VIARDOT, PAULINE


Autograph manuscript of the song "La calesera", signed ("Pauline")


and inscribed to the singer Caroline Unger ". . .A ce soir, chere Caroline---je compte bien vous embrasser apres la 4me Acte. Pauline"), being a Spanish song setting the words beginning "Ya suenan las campanillas Mi calesero ha Vegas", notated in brown ink on six systems of three staves each, with some alterations and corrections,


2 pages, oblong folio, no place or date, some tears and browning at the margins, repaired on versos with translucent adhesive tape, creasing, no place or date



Pauline Viardot (1821-1910) was arguably the greatest mezzo soprano of the nineteenth century; born in Paris of Spanish extraction, the daughter of Manuel Garcia and the sister of Maria Malibran. One of her greatest roles was that of Fidès in Meyerbeer's five-act opera, Le prophète (1849), which she sang over two hundred times. The dedication inscription to the contralto Caroline Unger (1803-1877; she sang in Beethoven premières), about the "4me Acte", may refer to Meyerbeer's opera. 


LITERATURE:

C. Heitmann, VWV 6257