Lot n° 237
Estimation :
8000 - 10000
EUR
Result without fees
Result
: 6 000EUR
PIERNE Gabriel (1863-1937).
autograph musical manuscript, Sophie Arnould, lyrical comedy in one act (1924); 1 title page and 164 pages in-fol.
orchestral score of Sophie Arnould, a delightful lyrical comedy.
Gabriel Pierné set to music a one-act play in verse by Gabriel NIGOND (1877-1937), Sophie Arnould, performed in February-March 1921 at the Nouveau-Théâtre and then at the Théâtre de l'Œuvre; he merely removed a few lines to tighten the action. He had already collaborated with the poet and storyteller Gabriel Nigond on his oratorios Les Enfants à Bethléem (1907) and
Saint François d'Assise (1912), and on the libretto of his lyric comedy On ne badine pas avec l'amour after Musset (1910).
He composed Sophie Arnould in Brittany during the summer of 1924, and the lyric comedy was published by Heugel in 1926. The premiere of
Sophie Arnould took place at the Opéra-Comique, on February 21, 1927, with Emma Luart (Sophie
Arnould), Mathilde Calvet (Babet) and Roger
Bourdin (Dorval), under the musical direction of Albert Wolff, in a staging by
Georges Ricou, a set by Raymond
Deshays and costumes by Marcel Multzer
The play depicts an imaginary episode from the end of the life of the singer Sophie
ARNOULD (1740-1802), who retired to her house in Luzarches in the fall of 1798. "While writing to her son - a soldier in the Army of the Rhine -
urging him to beware of women, Sophie is surprised to receive a visit from the Count of
Lauragais who, under the name of Dorval, had once taken her from her parents' home. With an irony that serves to better camouflage the melancholy of the memory, the former lovers will recall their former passion with its procession of jealousies and disputes. Everyone knows that the passage of years is inexorable and, as Sophie says in a magnificent melodic phrase, love appears on the threshold of old age "like a garden of delights at the gate of a prison". Dorval soon realizes that her friend's son is also hers, and one senses that the passion has turned into a tender affection for which the young man is the living link.
However, Sophie knows that the happiness she has suddenly experienced is an illusion, and that once Dorval leaves, she will return to solitude and oblivion. In the last scene, left alone, she takes up the letter she wrote at the beginning of the work and modifies the last paragraph: instead of inciting her son to beware of women, she begs him to take pity on them" (Jacques Tchamkerten).
Sophie Arnould has seven scenes preceded by a brief introduction, for three characters. Gabriel
Pierné's music faithfully follows the verses of
Nigond, and his score is reminiscent of a "conversation in music", with a melancholic and nostalgic feeling of the past. There are also delicate allusions to ancient dances, as well as the use of the harpsichord, especially in Scene 7 with quotations from Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Le Devin du Village. "On Gabriel Nigond's play, Pierné wrote music of melancholic sensitivity and subtle charm" (René Dumesnil).
The manuscript of this orchestral score is neatly written in blue ink on 28-line paper; it is dated three times: "Rosmabhamon-Louannec 12.8.24" (p. 3), "14 August 24" (p. 7), and at the end, with the signature "Rosmabhamon 23/sept/1924".
The manuscript served as a conductor for the performances. At the top, Pierné has listed the "Composition of the orchestra": 3 large flutes (and small flute), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, triangular drums, bass drum, harp, string quintet; in the wings, a harpsichord and 3 tubular bells He listed the characters: Sophie Arnould soprano,
Babet (her maid) mezzo-soprano,
Dorval tenor (or high baritone).
Discography: Sophie Marin-Degor (Sophie), Jean-Sébastien Bou (Dorval), Doris
Lamprecht (Babet), Orchestre philharmonique du Luxembourg, dir. Nicolas Chalvin (Timpani 2008)
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