H. Berlioz. Autograph letter signed to Sophie Dulcken, about "L'enfance du Christ", [5 December 1854]

Hector Berlioz

Autograph letter signed ("Hector Berlioz") to Sophie Dulcken, ABOUT L'ENFANCE DU CHRIST

informing her of a rehearsal next Friday of his 'little oratorio', asking her if she would be so good as to play the melodium part on the piano at the rehearsal, noting that the orchestral rehearsal will take place on Saturday next 

...Nous avons une répétition du choeur de mon petit oratorio...Soyez aussi gracieusement bonne que vous l'avez été, et veuillez venir répéter sur le Piano la partie du melodium...

1 page, 8vo (20.8 x 13.2cm), integral autograph address-panel, a few later pencil annotations, no place, Tuesday morning, [5 December 1854], seal tear and two small tears to one horizontal fold, splitting along folds, some very light spotting

ABOUT ONE OF BERLIOZ'S MOST BELOVED WORKS, THE ORATORIO L'ENFANCE DU CHRIST.

Berlioz had written enthusiastically about the melodium (a proprietary name for the harmonium) in his 1843 treatise on orchestration. The instrument was particularly useful as a support for offstage choruses, and Berlioz uses it in this way at the end of the first part of L'enfance du Christ to accompany the chorus of invisible angels singing in an adjoining room. 

Berlioz's oratorio received its first performance on 10 December 1854 at the Salle Herz, Paris.

LITERATURE

Correspondance générale, iv, p.616 (no.1821); Hugh Macdonald, Berlioz's Orchestration Treatise. A Translation and Commentary (2004), p.314