Jules Massenet | Collection of nine autograph manuscripts of complete instrumental works, mostly signed, 1880-1894

Jules Massenet

Collection of nine autograph manuscripts of complete instrumental compositions, mostly signed

1) Entr’acte-Berceuse, for piano, from the incidental music to Le crocodile, headed and signed on the first page "Le crocodile... / musique de J. Massenet. / Entr'acte-Berceuse...", signed and dated at end ("J. Massenet / Décembr. / 86."), 3 pages, folio (35 x 27cm), pink cotton tie, unbound, no place, December 1886, chipped at margins, browning

2) ‘Sous bois’, for piano, signed ("Massenet"), with autograph title and dedication ("Sous bois...à mon ami Victor Gille"), UNPUBLISHED, 4 loose leaves, folio (35 x 27.2cm), written on rectos only, unbound, Paris, spring 1894, central horizontal fold

3) Autograph fragment of an arrangement for piano four hands of the overture to Phèdre, comprising the first 43 bars, inscribed at the head ("Ouverture de Phèdre"), 2 pages, oblong 4to (27 x 35cm), 24-stave Lard-Esnault paper, with a 24-bar piece in E flat (for keyboard?) notated by Massenet at the head of a third page, plus 5 blanks, some later pencil annotations, no date [after 1873], outer bifolium splitting at hinge

4) Competition sight-reading piece for oboe, written in mauve ink on five four-stave systems, autograph title ("Hautbois. (morceau à déchiffrer) Concours du Conservatoire"), dated and signed at end ("Passy. dimanche 10 Juillet / 80 / J. Massenet"), 1 page, folio (35 x 26.9cm), some corrections in blue crayon, unbound, Passy, Sunday 10 July 1880

5) Competition sight-reading piece for trombone, signed on the first page ("J. Massenet"), autograph title-page ("Concours (1883) / trombone / (Morceau à déchiffrer)..."), 3 pages, 4to (30.7 x 23cm), unbound, 1883, browning

6) Competition piece for violin (score, including part for "violin accompagnateur"), dated and signed at end ("Paris - 18 Juillet / 84. J. Massenet"), autograph title-page ("Concours de Violon / 1884"), 3 pages in all, some corrections in blue crayon, a few erasures, Paris, 18 July 1884

7) Competition sight-reading piece for harp, signed and dated at end ("28 Juin / 86"), autograph title-page ("Concours de Harpe / 1886 / Morceau à déchiffrer"), signed and dated at the end ("J. Massenet / 28 Juin / 86."), 2 pages, folio (35.5 x 26.9cm), unbound, some additions in blue crayon, 28 June 1886, light creasing

8) Competition sight-reading piece for violin (score, including part for accompanying violin), signed and dated at end ("J. Massenet / Paris. Juillet / 88."), autograph title ("Concours / de Violon / Morceau à déchiffrer"), 2 pages, unbound, a few pencil and blue crayon additions, Paris, July 1888, the two separate leaves affixed to each other with translucent adhesive tape, browning to edges

9) Competition sight-reading piece for violin (score, including part for "violin accompagnateur"), in score, signed and dated at end ("J. Massenet / Paris Juillet 1892."), autograph title ("Concours de Violon (1892) / Morceau à déchiffrer"), 3 pages, folio (35 x 27cm), unbound, Paris, July 1892

together with: a printed document with manuscript entries recording the election of Saint-Saëns to the Académie des Beaux-Arts, and showing the votes cast for all the candidates, including Delibes, signed by Massenet ("J. Massenet"), 1 page, oblong 4to (23.2 x 29.8cm), [Paris,] 19 February 1881

The slight but expertly-crafted sight-reading pieces in this lot, many of them probably unpublished, were intended for instrumental competitions at the Paris Conservatoire. Massenet had been appointed to a professorship there in 1878, where he taught composition for the next eighteen years.

PROVENANCE:

From the collection of Richard Bonynge

LITERATURE:

Jean-Christophe Branger, Jules Massenet (2024), passim