Remarkable collection of 16 ALSs in French from esteemed composer Camille Saint-Saens, signed “C. Saint-Saens” or “C. St. S.,” totaling 40 handwritten pages, dating between 1880 and 1919 (three letters undated), a span of nearly four decades that covers his emergence as an international figure to the very twilight of his career as a stalwart defender of the French tradition. Selected passages are as follows (partially translated):
May 11, 1880: “I told you that Boely was a French organist who died about 20 years ago & I did not know his composition. I also told you that I would direct one of my orchestral works. I will choose Phaeton.”
November 17, 1885, addressed to French classical pianist Caroline Montigny-Rémaury: “As soon as I come back to London I will have a picture of me taken and I will send my portrait to you. By the 8th of December, I will be home and you need an organist, I would be pleased to play for you. I heard ‘Mors et Vita,’ it is very nice and very successful. It made me happy.”
December 26, 1887: “As you may know I have a considerable piece of work to do and I cannot move to do anything else. Moreover, it is probably that after this work I am not going to do another one. So, don’t think of me for any kind of work. I only aspire for rest and silence.”
February 9, 1888, addressed to his old friend Juliette Adam, the editor and publisher of the well-known literary and political periodical La Nouvelle Revue, responding to her request to support her Franco-Russian Literary Association: “You never saw a man so embarrassed. I have been turning my pen in my hand for three days. I cannot refuse you anything else. You know my sympathy for the Russian School, and most particularly for some of its members. I have, however, no enthusiasm. It seems to me that there is in this business something else besides the artistic matter, and I would have liked to discuss it with you before saying yes, but this will not be possible. While we will be working in France for our Russian friends, will they really work for us over there? Oh, I know that the Russian editors are ready to spread French music provided that they drastically change it beforehand…Forgive me for telling you all this, but in the name of the friendship that you give me and that I cherish, I have to be honest with you. Be assured that you may count on me, but be careful.”
April 23, 1892, addressed to Madame Duvernoy, ostensibly singer and painter Marianne Viardot, the wife of French pianist and composer Alphonse Duvernoy: “Bear you a grudge? That would truly be impossible for me; and in any case it wouldn’t be for an epistolary matter, I have too many similar misdemeanors on my conscience. When someone doesn’t write to me, I conclude that he hasn’t had time, and that’s the end of it. I have learned with great pleasure of the performance and the success of a Sardanapale which I suppose must interest you; let’s hope that this won't be the last we hear of it. Today one only arrives in Paris via the provinces and foreign countries, which is deplorable, but it’s something we just have to accept.”
ALS, January 7, 1900, addressed to Le Figaro journalist René Lara: “Give me some news about you and tell me about the Parisian gossip. I cannot promise you the same, the gossip of Las Palmas would not interest you. We are going to have a performance of Garguela. This is the most sensational event for the moment. It is not as palpitating as the news from Africa.”
October 16, 1908: “Yesterday, I was at the Contesse de Bearn’s house, and I played your concerto: the ‘Ut majeur’ of Beethoven. You gave me the desire to play it but I could not express your grace and your feminine qualities which suited it so well. I also played the ‘Ut mineur’ of Mozart, a unique wonder, which is not played very often.”
December 5, 1909, with Saint-Saens writing his version of an announcement for the death of his dog Dalila: “Mr. C. St. S. and his loyal servant G., have the honor to announce the painful death they acknowledge of Mrs. Dalila, killed by a car. / That’s what I would have made, printed and distributed. If there were not people civilized enough to understand that people can love a dog as much as a human being. She died, the poor animal, as her sister Phryne, and as the delightful Blan-Blan, beloved by the Durand couple, all three in the same year. And us, although we are not dogs, we have to be careful.”
November 12, 1910, addressed to “Rathmey,” writing that while he was staying at the Hotel National, he came upon several ideas involving the stage production of one of his operas, ostensibly La jeunesse d'Hercule. Saint-Saens then incorporates a sketch of a pedestal for the recipient’s opinion.
April 15, 1911: “One thing about my illness, it entails no suffering, as as everyone thinks I’m travelling I hear nothing and enjoy the sort of stillness I have not experienced for a long time. I would rather have been enjoying myself in Naples, drinking wine to the health of the volcano, and contemplating the famous mountain…the Gods didn’t wish it so.”
December 2, 1917, addressed to Caroline Montigny-Rémaury: “I wish I had seen ‘La danseuse de Pompei.’ But really after what happened, and after what has been written in the newspaper that it was Mr. Carre who had brought Charpentier to the institute in spite of the musicians, whereas a few years ago Mr. Carre argued violently with me, as I was the president of the academy, because this one didn’t give the prize of ‘Opera Comique’ to ‘Louise,’ I don’t have the courage to go to Mr. Carre’s. It is beyond my control and you must not put the blame on me.”
October 8, 1918: "The composer and orchestra leader whose name I could not find is Pierne. The lady who travelled around France in the costume of the Middle Ages and who said to you so comically Tdieu, Idieu, when leaving you was the Comtesse de Chambrun. They played comedies at her house; a gauze curtain separated the actor from the audience which was not a bad idea. I have seen presented at her home l'Arlesienne and she travestied the role, which was a bad idea; more than that, she had invited the author and that was a still worse idea. It gave him a headache. It is too late; I will not be able to see Ruy Blas.”
March 19, 1919: “I have started working again which caused my correspondence to lapse.” Saint-Saens notes that he has completed a composition for organ and orchestra entitled Cypres and Lauriers, “The title indicates sufficiently its nature. This is scheduled to be performed on July 11 at the Casino of Ostende in the presence of their Majesties, the King and Queen of Belgium.”
July 1st, no year: “I took the opportunity of a moment of tranquility in Vieppre to reset with two hands the Final of the ‘Suite Algerienne.’ I think it will be quite masculine.”
December 11, no year: “I am again on my way to Bruxelles, without having met you. And, since I must play in Amiens the next week and then go to Bordeaux, I do not think I would see you. Nevertheless, I would do everything possible in order to see you and give you a hug. The fact that my mother is better will give me more time for leisure.”
No date: addressed from Weimar and reporting that he has mislaid a letter sent to him and asking his friend to remind him what he still owes Wieniawsky (perhaps Polish composer and violinist Henri Wieniawsky). Includes a photo of Saint-Saens with his friend Sir Henry Heymon, taken in June 1915. In overall fine condition.
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