Hector Berlioz | First edition of the “Grande messe des morts”, signed and inscribed by the composer

Hector Berlioz

Grande Messe des Morts Dédiée à M.^r Le Comte de Gasparin… Op. 5 Pr. 90.^f, Paris: Maurice Schlesinger, [1838]

FIRST EDITION OF THE FULL SCORE, SIGNED AND INSCRIBED ON THE TITLE (“A M.^r J: Maurel / témoinage d’amitié / H. Berlioz”), 1 leaf, 156 pages, folio (372 x 275 mm), engraved title and music, nineteenth-century manuscript annotations (“Index… Personal: 70 Soprane…”) to front free endpaper, later pencil annotation to title (“17.”), contemporary mottled boards, modern red-morocco-backed folding box, without two final blanks, some offsetting and light scattered spotting, light discolouration to some leaves, covers worn 

[together with:]

La Damnation de Faust Légende Dramatique en Quatre Parties… Oeuv: 24 Grande Partition [full score], Paris: Richault [after 1854]

410 pages, folio (334 x 257 mm), engraved music, plate numbers 11605. À 7 R (on title) and 11605. R. (elsewhere), text in French and German, booksellers’ labels to title, black morocco gilt binding by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, lacking preliminaries

The Grande messe des morts, composed in March–June 1837 is one of Berlioz's grandest works. The famous "Rex tremendæ", with its eight pairs of timpani, is engraved on up to 32 staves per page. The vocal score did not appear until 1882. Jules Maurel was a critic and contributor to the Journal des Débats.

LITERATURE:

1): Hopkinson 20 A; 2): Hopkinson 54 A (c); D. Kern Holoman & Jonathan Minnick, Catalogue of the works of Hector Berlioz, second edition, digital, 2018 revision 1 (2021), p.210 

PROVENANCE:

Sale in these rooms, 1 December 1995, lot 88