Signed autograph letter from Jules Massenet to Mr. Carrand, Villa Medici music

  

Massenet” to Monsieur Carrand, resident of the Académie de France in Rome (Villa Medici). 7 pages written on 8 small quarto leaves, approx. 15 × 10 cm, on laid paper, with autograph envelope enclosed, stamped and dated the same day. In very good condition, with old correspondence folds not affecting the text.

A long and remarkable letter to a young composer staying at the Villa Medici, in which Massenet gives genuine masterly advice and reveals his own inner crisis. He recommends several possible paths of work: “A fine overture perhaps on the subject of Oedipus?

; your lyric ode After the Nights; or a symphonic poem on The Seven Against Thebes, with a final chorus.” He also mentions a project inspired by William Ratcliff and wonders, “Does the regulations not require an orchestral work?

” The tone then becomes deeply personal: “I am gloomier than I have ever been. I have given in to sad discouragements and I am absolutely ill—ah! If only I could never write another note of music!” A moving page by Massenet, a rare testimony to his moral distress at the very moment he was composing Werther (premiered the following year in Vienna), while still showing his kind attention to his former students at the Villa Medici.

A letter of great musical and psychological interest, revealing the duality of the admired master and the tormented man.

“[Paris, July 2, 1891].

My dear friend, I have thought a great deal before answering you and giving you the advice you so kindly ask of me. Your letter is full of sound ideas and I understand your hesitations—I share them as I reply to you. Since you plan to write a stage work for your second submission, could you not first write pure and simple music? I suggest: a fine overture—perhaps on the subject of Aeschylus? And your symphonic ode After the Nights. So keep your project of William Ratcliff, whose libretto has not yet been written, (. Guilhaumain, his gentleness, your delicacy—there is a whole artist you can consult, believe me. I am gloomier than I have ever been. I have given in to sad discouragements and I am absolutely ill—Ah! Your letter reminds me of last year.

I was already worried about the future—today I no longer even have the strength to think! Come now, I do not want to sadden you; you have work to do, life to live, and the only comfort I expect is to know that those who have shown me affection are happy and faithful despite their own happiness.”

(Envelope enclosed, addressed to Monsieur Carrand, Académie de France, Villa Medici, Rome; Paris postmark, July 2, 1891.

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