SAINT-SAËNS, Camille (1835-1921). Set of 4 letters: Cairo, P - Lot 254

Lot n° 254
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Result : 620EUR
SAINT-SAËNS, Camille (1835-1921). Set of 4 letters: Cairo, P - Lot 254
SAINT-SAËNS, Camille (1835-1921). Set of 4 letters: Cairo, Paris, and s.l. 1903 and s.l. 11 pp. large in-4, in-8 or in-12. -L.A.S. to "My dear Pierre". S.l.n.d. 3 pp. large in-4. Funny and virulent letter: Saint-Saëns criticizes with tenderness the comic operas, so fashionable at that time. Taking as an example the libretto of the opera Djamina, he opposes the servitude of the librettist to the unlimited freedom of the composer " You others, you are the slaves of the theater, you are afraid of the public, afraid of the directors, afraid of the actors [...]. We are afraid of only one thing, and that is to be bad [...] What will become of you when the performance comes? You will drop everything, you will find the actresses excellent, even if they are execrable, as long as they are pretty, you will find the music of your collaborator impossible if it does not please the director, and you will add, for the successful tenors, romances in which it will be a question of a flying bird, of these romances which make me want to put the singer in a cage and the author on a spit, but which are smiled at and sell admirably [......] there must be some budding Massé somewhere [...]". -L.A.S. to a lady. Cairo, February 26, 1903. 4 pp. in-8. Beautiful letter full of gratitude. Saint-Saëns defends Sarah Bernhardt's performance as Andromaque [...], evokes La Dame aux Camélias, the death of the composer Augusta Holmès (1847-1903), etc. Fascinating. -L.A.S. Paris, "25 April" n.d. 1 p. in-8. About a tour "from the 15th to the 30th, no more. As I would leave for England on Nov. 15 [...]". -L.A.S. addressed to his "Futile gouape [thug in slang]". S.l.n.d. 3 pp. in-12. Very amusing letter " [...] I am moving to Chatou. I am going to live there as a hermit, watering my music paper with an awful mixture of ink combined with the sweat of my forehead, a mixture that only Flaubert could describe adequately. [...] ". Follows witty verses. Saint-Saëns signs " Je te chatouille la plante des pieds ".
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