Lot n° 236
Estimation :
25000 - 30000
EUR
offenbach Jacques (1819-1880).
Autograph musical manuscript signed "J. Offenbach",
Fleurette, [1872] ; 93 oblong pages in-fol. (ca. 27 x 35.5 cm).
Orchestral score for the Viennese performances of the German operetta Fleurette.
Offenbach composed the German operetta Fleurette oder Näherin und Trompeter (Fleurette or Seamstress and Trumpet), [A 573] a one-act "komische Operette", for the Viennese audience, based on a French libretto by Pittaud de Forges and Laurencin, adapted and translated into German by Julius Hopp and F. Zell, which premiered at the Carltheater in Paris. Zell, premiered at the Carltheater in Vienna on March 8, 1872, with Mila Roeder in the title role, alongside Karl Blasel and Josef Matras; it was performed about twenty times. The score (in its voice-piano version) was then published in Vienna by Spina, in German (Fleurette oder Näherin und Trompeter), and in French only in 1891, by Choudens (Fleurette); the orchestral score was not published. Fleurette was never performed in France during the composer's lifetime.
Jean-Claude Yon, in his indispensable work on Offenbach (Gallimard, 2000), summarizes the operetta as follows: "The action is set in a garret of the Palace of Versailles in 1758. The French libretto places the action in the attic of the Château de Choisy where the young
Fleurette Coquenjoie, first maid to Madame Flamboyant, the Court dressmaker, has been brought by force to alter the costume that Madame d'Étoiles is to wear that very evening to play the role of the drummer Laramée in Les Racoleurs by
Vadé, at a performance to be given before Louis XV.
Théophile Binet [Nicodeme, in the German version], the caretaker of the castle, is charged with watching over the work of the pretty seamstress.
But she is soon joined by her lover, Jolicœur, a trumpeter with the Musketeers. An abundant meal taken alone prevents Fleurette from finishing her work. The young woman, who has put on the costume, pretends to be a drummer when Binet returns to get the garment. Because of her tardiness, the performance had to be cancelled. But instead of the announced punishment, the dressmaker is awarded fifty louis by the Duchess of Châteauroux. The king's mistress was delighted to have taken away the opportunity for Mme d'Étoiles to seduce the king. With the money as her dowry, Fleurette decides to marry Jolicœur the next day. Binet will be her best man? The piece is written for three singers: Fleurette (soprano), Jolicœur (tenor) and Binet, in German Nicodeme (trial). The orchestra includes: flute and piccolo, oboe, clarinet, horns, bassoons, piston, trombones, timpani, drum, bass drum, violins I and II, violas, cello, double bass. The orchestral manuscript is written in brown ink on 24-line oblong Lard-Esnault paper bifeuillets, filed in folders (bifeuillets of music paper). It does not include the Ouverture. According to his habit, Offenbach first wrote down the vocal line with piano accompaniment and then completed the various orchestral parts. The lyrics, in German, were sometimes revised by another hand. There are numerous erasures and corrections, with some pen-and-ink sketches in the margins. The score includes the following numbers: 1. Nicodeme: "Nicht nur die goldene Jugend kennet den Liebesschmerz", in F major (4 p., plus 1 1/2 instrumental pages). 2. Fleurette: " Wie bewegt vom Zephirwinden pocht der Herz mir der Brust ", in A flat major (8 pages). 3. Fleurette: "Aber was soll das Träumen ich darf mit Arbeit nicht säumen," in E major, leading to the aria in G major: "Was ist das Ach was hör' ich?" (16 p.), in a folder signed "J. 4. duet of Fleurette and Jolicœur: " Mir ist zu Muth gar jämmerlich ", in E flat major (28 p.) [with the amusing " air du Menu "]. 5 [Couplets] Jolicœur, Nicodeme: "Ich bin die kleiner Näherin", in G major (4 p.). 6. [Trio] Fleurette, Nicodeme and Jolicœur: "Halt nicht von der Stelle - Himmel ha"..., in A flat major, then G major with the air: "Ein Mädchen"... (23 p. with an instrumental suite (2 p.). 7). "Nro 7 Schluss" Fleurette, Nicodeme and Jolicœur: "In unser Hochzeit schon feiern morgen"... (4 p.). A period copy of the orchestral score¸ probably made in Vienna, including the Overture (242 pages in-fol.), and presenting some variations from the autograph, is attached. Provenance: Richard Bonynge; Sotheby's London sale, 27 November 2013, lot 214.
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