GOUNOD Charles.

Lot 301
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GOUNOD Charles.
749 L.A.S. "Charles", 1852-1893, to HIS WIFE and FAMILY; more than 3,000 pages in various formats, several addresses or envelopes (defects in some letters); plus about 135 letters enclosed. Important family correspondence. Gounod's letters are addressed, sometimes collectively, to his wife Anna Zimmerman (married on 31 May 1852), to their son Jean (born in 1856, and his wife Alice), their daughter Jeanne (born in 1863), or to his mother-in-law Hortense Zimmerman, as well as to other family members. We will only give here a brief overview of this enormous collection, of the greatest interest, both biographically and musically. 1852. (5 letters) To his fiancée: he wants to "make of my whole life a continuous work of devotion, I should say of devotion to your happiness, it is such an ardent desire, such a great need of my heart, that God will not refuse me the grace to make it a reality"... One letter to his father-in-law Pierre-Joseph Zimmerman is related to The Bloody Nun; one to his mother-in-law is signed "your son Charles". 1853-1856. Gounod is very busy with the direction of the Orphéon: "He must "run to the opera, to the opéra-comique and to the Théâtre Lyrique, in order to see the three choirmasters of these theatres and to agree with them on urgent points", but he sends tender letters to his "little beloved daughter". He has other obligations: piano lessons for Mlle Jousset, a banquet of choral societies... He has finally received the verses of Ponsard. A letter is signed: "Your ... a lot of things". August 7, 1855, he writes an obituary on his sister-in-law Juliette Dubufe. After the birth of his son Jean (June 8, 1856), he worries about his health and recommends homeopathy, on the advice of Dr Cabarrus; and he sends a curious "Philosophy of the Homœopathic Doctr. Homœopathy". In July 1856, he was in Ghent to preside over a competition: "I heard forty choirs in my day". Then he travels to Switzerland. 5 September 1856: he is in Milan, his impressions of the city (the cathedral, Leonardo da Vinci's fresco, the Basilica of Saint Ambrose, etc.); at La Scala he hears Norma, and Verdi's Traviata, of which the first three acts are unsympathetic to him: "the music, although proceeding from a style that does not suit me, nevertheless contains a good number of touching intentions, and two pieces of a much truer and simpler sensitivity. The whole of Italy is "Verdiist to the core: Verdi, Verdi, and then Verdi; he is played everywhere, he is shouted at when he is not being sung: but he is the god of the moment"; his works "are based on a nervous irritation whose reign is impossible for a long time: they engender in the singing a school of tremolo and perpetual shaking which will exhaust singers and listeners before long"... 1857. In July, he is in Caen for an orphéon competition, and is anxious to return to his family. On November 1, he talks to his mother-in-law about his rehearsals at the Sainte-Chapelle and the Mass he is writing. 1859. Rehearsals for Faust at the Théâtre-Lyrique; he has written a Waltz for Mme Carvalho. 1860. In March, Faust in Strasbourg; in the evening serenade under the windows of his hotel: "the soldiers' choir with a hundred voices and the whole orchestra of the Theatre plus the military band: it made an enormous effect in the open air: there was a huge crowd in the street and they shouted an encore which sounded like a riot". 10 August. End of his stay in Baden-Baden for the premiere of La Colombe, "superbly performed". He is to conduct the third act of Faust after the fourth and last performance; the country is pleasant but it is "only an amateur country: it is very English garden"... Faust in Bordeaux, great success: "Chorus of the soldiers, frenetic encore". 1861. In November, a stay at the palace of Compiègne, with other personalities (Paul de Musset, Delessert, Mérimée, etc.); the party is mourned by the announcement of the death of the King of Portugal; he follows the hunt in the car of the Empress. He takes up the piano and sings for Eugenie, who compliments him and invites him to tea at her house; he has to write a verse for her party. He takes advantage of this to push the case of Le Médecin malgré lui to Count Walewski. 1862. Gounod, with his wife and Jean, leaves on 29 March for Italy, via Marseille; the letters, by Charles and Anna, are addressed to Mme Zimmerman. Night in Marseille and walk on the corniche before embarking on the Pausilippe; the crossing and arrival in Civita-Vecchia; Good Friday service at the Sistine Chapel: " what a decadence of execution for 20 years! "; enthusiastic walks in Rome... 9 August, in Baden-Baden for the first performance of Béatrice et Bénédict by Berlioz, whom he admires. In October, trip to Germany (Cologne, Hamburg, Hanover), in company with Choudens, for Faust; details of the performances and their success (plus 7 letters from CHOUDENS to Ann
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