GOUNOD Charles.

Lot 268
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GOUNOD Charles.
MUSICAL MANUSCRIPT autographed by "Ch. Gounod", La Colombe, comic opera in two acts, (1860); ca. 460 pages in-fol. (35.5 x 27.5 cm, small marginal tears on 1st leaf), contemporary binding in black half-chagrin. Orchestral score of La Colombe, comic opera in two acts. The comic opera La Colombe [CG 6; Condé p. 383-390], on a libretto by Barbier and Carré after the tale Le Faucon et le Chapon by La Fontaine, was composed at the request of the impresario Édouard Bénazet for the theatre of the Casino de Bade (Baden), where it was premiered on 3 August 1860, with great success. Revived at the Opéra-Comique in June 1866, this "short but delightful" (Stravinsky) work was remounted in 1924 for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, with recitatives composed by Francis Poulenc. A young Florentine lord, Horace, in love with the Countess Sylvie, has only a dove, to which he is very attached. He refuses to sell it to the Countess, who invites him to lunch. To feed the Countess, he agrees to roast his dear dove... Sylvie is touched by this proof of love. Mazet, Horace's valet, reveals that the roast was in fact a parrot, which he had been lucky enough to catch in his nets. La Colombe features four characters (we give the names of the creators to Bade): Sylvie (soprano, Caroline Miolan-Carvalho), Horace (tenor, Gustave Roger), Mazet, Horace's valet (soprano, Amélie Faivre), and Maître Jean, Sylvie's butler (bass, Emile Balanqué). The manuscript, in brown ink on Lard-Esnault paper with 22 or 26 staves, contains numerous corrections (in ink or black pencil), scratches, crossed-out bars, reworkings on the collettes, as well as a "new ending to the Quartet which ended the first act. The number of bars is indicated at the end of each piece (and sometimes also in the course of the piece), usually in blue pencil. This manuscript was used as a conductor (in Baden under the direction of Miloslaw Koennemann), with a few annotations in blue or black pencil, and the indication of cuts to be made during the performance (for example, for No. 8, 11 pages had been partly crossed out and sewn in). The manuscript includes the following numbers: Orchestra introduction (17 p.). Act I. - N° 1. Couplets by Mazet: " Apaisez, blanche colombe "... (16 p., 64 bars). - N° 2. Terzetto, Mazet, Horace, Maître Jean : " Qu'il garde son argent "... (23 p., 93 bars). - N° 3. Arietta by Maître Jean : " Les amoureux "... (26 p. by a copyist). - N° 4. Air de Sylvie : " Je veux interroger ce jeune homme "... (35 p., 153 bars). - N° 4 bis. Couplets by Mazet : " Ah ?!! les femmes ? "... (22 p., 138 bars). - N° 5. Terzetto, Sylvie, Mazet, Horace : " Vision enchanteresse "... (23 p., 139 bars). - N° 6. Quatuor final, Sylvie, Mazet, Horace, Maître Jean : " Ô douce joie ? "... (32 p., the last one crossed out), then the " nouvelle fin " (15 p., 191 bars in all). Entr'acte (19 p., 77 bars). Act II. - N° 7. Air de Maître Jean : " Le grand art de cuisine "... (29 p., 115 bars). - N° 8. Duo Mazet-Horace : " Il faut d'abord dresser la table "... (70 p., 317 bars). - N° 8 bis. Melodrama (4 p., 19 bars). - N° 9. Romance de Sylvie : " Que de rêves charmants "... (7 p., 24 bars). - No. 9 bis. Madrigal d'Horace : " Ces attraits que chacun admirer "... (7 p., 48 bars). - N° 10. Final, Sylvie, Mazet, Horace, Maître Jean : " Déjà son cœur "... (99 p., 410 bars). A manuscript of the libretto of La Colombe by a copyist (notebook of 73 pages small in-4, brown paper cover), abundantly corrected and annotated in pencil by Gounod, who has put in the margin the tonalities of the arias and sketched many musical themes, is attached. Discography: J. Micheau, J. Peyron, L. Lovano, R. Lenoty, Orchestre Radio-Lyrique, dir. Tony Aubin (1947; Malibran Music).
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