BERLIOZ (Hector). Autograph handwritten letter... - Lot 70 - Les ventes Damien Voglaire SRL

Lot 70
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Estimation :
500 - 750 EUR
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BERLIOZ (Hector). Autograph handwritten letter... - Lot 70 - Les ventes Damien Voglaire SRL
BERLIOZ (Hector). Autograph handwritten letter to the violinist Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst. 1 sheet, 8°, 4 pages, on laid paper (marginal discharge, some pitting and tears at the folds). This is said to be the last letter written by Hector Berlioz to Ernst. In it, he talks about his health problems "(...) I have just been very ill, I am still only half recovered, and I could really use a stay in Brighton like you (...) ill or not, since I have seen you, I have only one idea, that of my great score. I'm working on it as much as I can, and it's coming along... slowly... but at last we'll see the end of it, if God lends me another 16 or 18 months of existence. I've just finished Act 1 (the biggest of the five) and the finale in Act 4". He also mentions the forthcoming performance of "L'Enfant du Christ" in London, where he speaks of Frederick Beale, the English producer of future performances of his musical piece "(...) as for L'Enfant du Christ, I know that Beale is having it announced in London, as well as my arrival for London in May. Be good enough, my dear Ernst, to see Beale about this as soon as you can, and speak to him seriously about it. Ask him to write me something precise about the time of the 1st concert in the new hall, about the singers he has in mind. About the means he intends to use to ensure faithful performance. I shudder to think of English rehearsal habits (...)". Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst (1814-1865) was a German composer and violin virtuoso, an emulator of Paganini. He met Berlioz in Paris in the mid-1830s, and the two became lifelong friends. "He is one of the men I like best and whose talent is most sympathetic to me," Berlioz wrote to Morris Barnett in April 1849.
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