Jules Massenet | Collection of ten autograph manuscripts of songs and operatic numbers, 1865-1912

Jules Massenet

Collection of ten autograph manuscript scores of songs and operatic numbers

1) ‘Près de vous’ for baritone, signed and dated at the end by the composer ("Jules Massenet / 22 octobre 1865"), UNPUBLISHED, autograph title-page ("Près de Vous / Romance p.^r Baryton / Paroles de M.^r Picard musique de Jules Massenet"), 2 pages, oblong folio (26.8 x 35.4cm), 20-stave paper, pencil dealer inscriptions, unbound, no place, 22 October, 1865, pin holes, vertical crease, splitting along hinge, browning and dust-staining

2) Chant Provençal (‘Mireille ne sait pas encore’) [in F], autograph dedication, signed, at the head of the music ("à Madame Michel Carré Souvenir très respectueux J. Massenet..."), autograph title-page ("Chant Provençal...poésie de Michel Carré"), 2 pages, folio (33 x 23.8cm), a few autograph corrections, unbound, Fontainebleau, 23 July 1871, old tie holes, lower margin cropped without loss

3) Poeme d’amour, no.3 [recte: 2] ("La nuit sans doute était trop belle"), signed, dated and inscribed at the end by the composer ("...Juillet 1879 J. Massenet à Madame Marie Singer - souvenir et hommage"), 2 pages, oblong folio (27.5 x 35cm), autograph title-page ("fragment du: Poëme d'amour / N:^o 3"), unbound, Paris, July, 1879, tie holes at hinge, two vertical creases

4) Chant Provençal (‘Mireille ne sait pas encore’) [in E flat], the printer’s copy, 3 pages, folio (35 x 27cm), dated and signed at the end by the composer ("10h du soir 4 Juin 1880. J. Massenet"), the last page containing a cancelled 3-bar autograph attempt at an orchestration of the song, scored for oboe solo, strings and solo voice, unbound, Passy, 4 June 1880, dust-staining, splitting at hinge

5) ‘Au très aimé’, 5 single leaves, folio (35 x 26.8cm), written on rectos only, the printer's copy, dated by the composer at the end ("...vendredi matin / 14 sept. 1900"), a number of autograph erasures and corrections, two autograph pastedowns on the last page, loose in a folder with autograph title ("au très aimé / poésie de Miss Caroline Duer"), Égreville, 14 September, 1900, browning

6) ‘Au-delà du rêve’, signed on the first page ("...J. Massenet"), 7 pages, folio (35 x 27cm), the printer's copy, dated at the end by the composer, a few autograph erasures and corrections, loose in an autograph wrapper ("à Mademoiselle Pierina Tamburini / Au-dela du Rève. / poésie de Gaston Hirsch"), Égreville, 21 July, 1901, browning to outer pages

7) 'Chanson désespérée’, inscribed and signed on the first page ("Musique de J. Massenet"), the printer’s copy, 5 pages, folio (35 x 27cm), dated and inscribed at the end by the composer ("Monte-Carlo lundi 28 fev. 1910 ...hier matinée de Don Quichotte..."), a few autograph erasures and corrections, with a loose annotated carbon typescript of the text of the song, unbound, Monte Carlo, 28 February 1910, some creasing, light dust-staining and browning to outer pages

8) ‘La Nuit’, inscribed and signed on the first page ("Musique de J. Massenet"), the printer’s copy, 4 pages, folio (34.5 x 26.7cm), autograph inscription to upper inner corner of first page ("N^o I ton original...N^o 2 en fa...N^o 3 en sol..."), large autograph pastedown on final page replacing last 9 bars with 5 new bars, numerous autograph erasures and corrections, unbound, loose wrapper of a bifolium of music paper, 1912?, some creasing and browning

9) Romanza-Serenate from Il roi de Lahore, autograph heading ("no.7bis Il Re di Lahore / atto 2:^o)"), signed and dated at the end ("S.^t Moritz-baden / Samedi 1 7.^bre 1877 J. Massenet"), 4 pages, folio, a few autograph erasures, paginated in red crayon, St. Moritz-Bad, 1 September 1877, horizontal and vertical folds, slight splitting along horizontal fold

10) Autograph extract from Act 1 of Hérodiade ("Mon souvenir le suit!... [for Salomé]"), inscribed, signed and dated at the head by the composer ("...quelques mesures du 1:^er acte d' Hérodiade...Paris, mercredi matin 23 avril 1879. J. Massenet"), autograph title-page ("Hérodiade / opéra en 5 actes..."), 4 pages, oblong 8vo (17.5 x 26cm), unbound, Paris, 23 April 1879, central vertical crease, traces of mount to outer sides, light staining to blank last side

Although best known for his operas Manon (1884), Werther (1892), and Thaïs (1894), Massenet also composed a great number of other vocal works, including over 280 songs, many of which have remained little known, seldom recorded, or even, as in the case of the first song here (although a recording exists), unpublished.

Attractively written for the voice, and with evocative piano accompaniments, these songs are written in a variety of styles, some in strophic form (as in the case of 'Chanson déespéré' and the Chant Provençal, one of Massenet's best-known songs), others recitative-like (as with, for example 'La nuit'). A highlight of the collection here is the exquisite early, and unpublished, song 'Près de vous', written in 1865, and containing examples of Massenet's fully written-out signature ("Jules Massenet").

PROVENANCE:

From the collection of Richard Bonynge

LITERATURE:

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