MASSENET Jules (1842-1912) 7 L.A.S., Pont-de-l'Arche (Eure) and Paris July-Augus…
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MASSENET Jules (1842-1912)

7 L.A.S., Pont-de-l'Arche (Eure) and Paris July-August 1893, [to Louis GALLET]; 37 pages 8, 2 headed Le Mûrier Pont-de-l'Arche, one envelope. Very interesting correspondence to the librettist of Thaïs [based on the novel by Anatole FRANCE, premiered on March 16, 1894 at the Paris Opera]. These letters testify to the extreme attention that the composer paid to the sets and lighting, even as he was finishing the ballets of his work. [Initially intended for the Opéra-Comique, Massenet had to adapt Thaïs to the requirements of the Palais Garnier, after its main performer, Sibyl Sanderson, had left the Opéra-Comique following a dispute with Carvalho over her fees]. We are talking here about Anatole France, the director Alexandre Lapissida, the decorators Marcel Jambon and Eugène Carpezat, and the music publisher Heugel]. Pont-de-l'Arche July 10. "I have been working and soon I will bring back the sketch of the ballets - a sketch that promises a series of very interesting sensations to stage. - We will never have done anything more "found"... He will return to Paris to see the directors; he hopes that the models will be ready. "Ah! the ballet - (better than that!) in the dreamed set!!! - With the end... in dream, finally!. - Provided that this end... is suitable - there is an incredible sensation if it is well in the decor... - I would like you to hear the music!"... Paris July 18. "I "imagine" that you will work on the captions to be placed above the ballet music. [...] I would like to consult you for the placement with the music. - Don't forget to indicate also the indications that could be useful to the ballet master for the accessories...". - He went to the Louvre: " thanks to a walk made in company of the curator of the Egyptian Museum I saw very useful things to use in Thaïs. Ah! if Carpezat could be inspired by it! - His house of Nicias is very pale, very naked... It is little in the character of this time. - Yesterday I saw some "Isis" who are Venuses. - Mask in gold - eyes in precious stones - body painted flesh - cloth draped in the Roman way - hairstyle half Egyptian half Roman - it is from the time of Hadrian (2nd century AD). - And also a lovely Eros - a small terracotta of greatness! - The statuette is painted - like all Greek statues. - It was the Renaissance that invented this colorless sculpture!"... - Tormented for the scenery of the second act, he considers it necessary to make Carpezat aware of the book Anatole France is talking about. "As for Jambon, I don't believe in "just about" because he has taken information and he is a poet and a painter. - But will his décor for the ballet be clear? - Did he think of the series of transparent & invisible veils for the entrance & exit of the ballet? - From the description of the last set I find myself in the "dream" I had. - I think I will be delighted! - 1° Talk with Carpezat. Convince him that we must be picturesque, luminous and polychrome. 2° Show him the Coptic work. And to go to see his drawings again! [...] And France? When will I know him? "... July 28. Long " Note " on the sets, which must agree with the character of the score. "Thus it is well agreed that the austerity, the archaism, the simplicity, the antique color must belong to the 1st decor and especially to the last one! - The 2nd act is for sunshine, gaiety, frivolity, brilliance, local color, amusing details. We must live the life of this period at last! He quotes descriptions from France's "admirable" book about the living environment of the cenobites, especially the light and shade, and details of the convent's courtyard: "I worked while living with Anatole's book France - every word was my food. - If you don't put my poor music in the environment that "helped it to come" it will be sad for all"... He also insists on the "calm, plastic" appearance of Thaïs in the Thébaïde, and on her movements in a luminous and cheerful setting, "a paradise of pleasures in a fairy palace. - I trust you, because there it is an invention"... He underlines other elements of the sets to be revised or to be watched, because he will leave for the countryside in his Thebaid, to finish the ballets, without having seen the finished models... The Mûrier July 31: " Have you thought of speaking to Jambon about the excellent modification brought by you to the Vision (3rd act) golden sky and the nimbed saints around dying Thaïs "... August 21. Lapissida would like to have the complete poem of Thaïs. Massenet lists the costumes, characters, accessories, "special effects" and the material of the ballet; he gives Heugel the orchestral score of the ballet and its piano reduction. He would like the word "ballet" to be neither on the poem nor on the score: it is "the continuation of the piece and not a

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MASSENET Jules (1842-1912)

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