Charles Gounod | Autograph manuscript full score of the incidental music to "Jeanne d’Arc", 1873

Charles Gounod.

Magnificent autograph manuscript full score of the incidental music to Jeanne d’Arc, signed in many places, NOT LOCATED OR DESCRIBED IN THE 2009 CATALOGUE OF WORKS

essentially a fair-copy manuscript, notated in dark brown ink, mostly on single systems of up to 26 staves, WITH A SIGNED AUTOGRAPH DEDICATORY INSCRIPTION TO TITLE ("Jeanne d'Arc. / Drame en Cinq Actes / et en Vers / par Jules Barbier. / Musique de / Charles Gounod. / Londres. 1873. / Ch. Gounod / J'offre ce manuscrit à mes deux chers et courageux amis / Henry et Georgina Weldon / en mémoire du Bûcher sur lequel la malveillance publique les fait brûler / avec moi, depuis que j'ai le bonheur de les avoir pour amis [I offer this manuscript to my two dear and courageous friends Henry and Georgina Weldon in memory of the pyre on which public malice has made them burn with me, since I have had the good fortune to have them as friends]. / (Tavistock House.) 6, Octobre 1873. Ch. Gounod"), autograph title-pages to the individual numbers of each act, the title-page of the Act I finale containing lengthy, signed, performance instructions for the orchestra ("...Pendant toute cette Scène, l'Orchestre devra jouer aussi piano que possible, de manière à ne jamais couvrir la voix des deux Saintes qui occupent le fond de la Scène, ni les paroles de Jeanne d'Arc qui demandent à être entendues distinctement. Quant aux choeurs et à l'orgue derrière la Scène, le degré de sonorité à leur demander dépendra de la distance à laquelle ils seront placés de l'auditoire...Ch. Gounod"), the numbers of the second act dated by Gounod "9 Mai 1873", nos. 5 and 6 of the third act, respectively, "2 Juin/73" and "16 Mai/73", no. 7 and nos.8/9 of the fourth act, respectively, "7 Juin/73" and "5 Juillet/73", nos. 11 and 12 of the fifth act, respectively "16 Mai/73" and "12 Juillet 1873", with numerous autograph entries and markings, including some dynamic markings and the numbering of the individual numbers in blue crayon, some autograph entries in pencil and mauve ink, and containing a number of autograph erasures and corrections

282 pages of music, plus title-page, 14 separate number titles, and blanks, folio (35.3 x 26.5cm), each leaf with Georgina Weldon's stamp ("Georgina Weldon / for the Orphanage."), 24- and 26-stave papers, pages 6 and 7 of no.2 on the recto and verso, respectively, of two glued-together leaves, original dark maroon binding, with dedicatory title blind-stamped to upper cover ("Jeanne Darc [sic] / Original orchestral score / Charles Gounod / to / Harry & Georgina Weldon."), London, Tavistock House, 6 October 1873, dust-staining to title, creasing to a few leaves, thumbed, a few small marginal tears, some with old repairs

A GOUNOD DISCOVERY: THE AUTOGRAPH IS NEITHER LOCATED NOR DESCRIBED IN THE 2009 CATALOGUE OF WORKS.

THIS IS A STUNNING MANUSCRIPT OF A MAJOR SCORE BY GOUNOD, DEDICATED TO HIS FRIENDS HENRY AND GEORGINA WELDON.

IT IS THE MOST SUBSTANTIAL AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT BY THE COMPOSER TO BE OFFERED AT AUCTION IN THE LAST 30 YEARS.

The incidental music for the drama Jeanne d'Arc by Jules Barbier, the librettist of Gounod's Faust (1859) and Roméo et Juliette (1867), dates from the time of Gounod's extended London exile, brought about initially by the need to flee the dangers of the Franco-Prussian War. Perhaps composed to display Gounod's patriotic credentials from abroad, the work was dedicated to his English friends, the singer (and later avenging fury) Georgina Weldon and her estranged husband Henry, at whose London residence, Tavistock House, the site of Georgina's orphanage-cum-music school, Gounod was living. According to the composer's close friend Oscar Comettant, 'Tavistock House is a temple of music, with Gounod as its god, Mrs Weldon its ardent priestess'. The entanglement with the litigious Georgina Weldon, who advised him in his business dealings, would however be one that Gounod came to regret, his one-time friend initially refusing to return various left-behind manuscripts and personal belongings following his unannounced return to Paris in June 1874. Something no doubt of Georgina's possessiveness can be seen in the presence of her stamp on every leaf of the present autograph: "Georgina Weldon / for the Orphanage".

Gounod's score - equivalent, with no fewer than fifteen numbers, to an opéra comique - presents a subtly-linked succession of marches, choruses, solos and melodramas as the soundtrack to Barbier's affecting dramatization of the tragic story of Joan of Arc. There are many arresting moments: the end of Act I, for instance, recalls in its dramatic effect the church scene in Faust, the appearance of the saints, to peals of bells, commencing in melodrama, with the background of an invisible choir and two floating solo voices. Gounod himself thought very highly of the work, as a passage from a letter to his son (3 February 1874) reveals: 'It moved me, even deeply, because I realized that perhaps never before had my language been a truer expression of what I was thinking'.

Rehearsals of the work in Paris in October 1873, in the absence of the composer, were overseen by Bizet, who also prepared the vocal score (the 5-bar fanfare, number '11ter' in the vocal score, is not contained in the present score). For the required ballet music, the famous Marche funèbre d'une marionette, as well as the 'Danse bohémienne' from La nonne sanglante were pressed into service. The première took place at the Théâtre de la Gaîté, Paris, on 8 November 1873, with Lia Felix in the title role. A full score was published by Choudens in 1885.

The score is comprised of the following numbers:

Introduction, 14 pages

Act 1

No.1 "Choeur des fugitifs", 19 pages

Melodrama "...Sc. X...après: Jeanne, à part: "Dieu clément!", 1 page

No.2 "Final": "Les Voix", 23 pages

Act 2

No.3 "Choeur et Ballade", 25 pages

No.3 bis "Choeur dans la Coulisse...fin de la scène 5me", 1 page

No.3 ter "...fin de la scène XII...Entrée de la Cour", 2 pages

Melodrama "2me Acte. Sc. XIII. Jeanne "ni de vous!" ", 2 pages

No.4 "Final" ("Dieu le veut!"), 23 pages

Act 3

No.5 "Choeur de Soldats - Couplets - et Ronde.", 39 pages

No.6 "Final": "(Prière.)", 18 pages

Act 4

No.7 "Choeur de Femmes", 16 pages

No.8 "Marche du Sacre"; No.9 "Choeur, avec reprise de la Marche", 21 and 12 pages

Act 5

No.10 "(1er Tableau.) 'La Prison.' ", 31 pages

No.11 "Marche funèbre", 27 pages

Nos.12 and 12 bis "Lecture de la Sentence (Mélodrame) et Scène finale.", 3 and 15 pages

LITERATURE:

Gérard Condé, Charles Gounod (2009), pp.494-497 [CG 29]