[GOUNOD Charles]. MISTRAL Frédéric (1830-1914). 2 L.A.S. "F. Mistral" to Charles GOUNOD, Maillane 1866-1878; plus 2 L.A.S. to Mme Gounod and to Jean Gounod; 5 and a half pages in-8, and 6 pages in-12 (one envelope). Beautiful letters from the poet of Mireille to his musician. 18 December 1866. "With all my heart, with all my soul I authorize you to do with my Communion of Saints whatever you please. Human words are too imperfect, too material (if one may say so), to express the profoundly mystical vision which one day passed before my eyes like a flash of lightning. Music alone, and only your music, can render and reveal the Catholic mystery that I have only glimpsed. .... He will take Calen si dal to her when he goes to Paris.... - 6 May 1878. About his compatriot, the Baron de SaintMarc, author of an oratorio: "You must be used to these offers from poets. One would be happy and triumphant to give you reason for inspiration... but not everyone has the star of your servant". His old mother's health prevents him from going to Paris, "despite the splendours of the Trocadero". A young composer, H. Maréchal, sets Calendal to music.... 20 October 1893, to Mme Gounod. Condolences: "I mourn with all my heart the admirable genius that France has just lost. Since the day of my youth when, in love with Mireille, Gounod came to Maillane to ask the sun and the azure of Provence for the suave interpretation of my Provençal poem, I had felt, loved in him a brother of ideal and, for thirty years my work, glorified by his, has benefited from all the sympathies raised by his music'. He evokes with emotion the stay of Gounod during the composition of Mireille... - 20 November 1906, to Jean Gounod, condolences for the death of his mother .... Two photos are attached, including a postcard with a p.a.s. on the back for the fiftieth anniversary of the opera Mireille (1913); and the poem La Communion des Saints, copied by Jean Gounod. Plus photocopy of letters from Gou- nod to Mistral.