BERLIOZ (Hector).

Autograph letter signed to his sister Nanci Pal, dated Paris June 29 [1846], 4 p. in-8, autograph address and postmarks. Letter on The Damnation of Faust. Berlioz has just spent a week in Lille, where his cantata Chant des chemins de fer, specially composed for the inauguration ceremony of the Northern Railway, was performed on June 14, 1846. He was very well received: ... "I had to endure four serenades, three of them instrumental and one vocal. (...) In short, the apotheosis worked well and the 250 military musicians did their duty bravely. The cantata was sung with an unusual verve and fresh voices that we cannot find in Paris for our choirs." But a mishap happened to him: ... "while I was chatting in the neighboring salon [sic] with the Dukes of Nemours and Montpensier (...), my hat was stolen, first, and then all the music of the cantata, orchestra parts, chorus parts and my score. So that here is a lost work (...). This is all I got from this amazing party whose patron was Mr. Rothschild and for which they came to get me in Paris"... The mayor of Lille sent him a commemorative gold medal, but: "One cannot get an idea of this crowd. Jules Janin [author of the lyrics of the cantata] lost at the ball his Turkish diamond decoration which was worth 800 fr. We were dying of thirst, the lodgings were missing for the Parisians and the Belgians who had disembarked the same day" ... He then left for Rouen to see his son Louis... "who has just made his first communion. He is well trained and very reasonable" ... Then he stayed at the castle of his friend the Baron de Montville, where he worked: "The Damnation of Faust is progressing, but it is an immense score and I will have finished it just in time for November, when I must have it performed" [the premiere will take place, but without great success, on December 6, 1846]. He explains to his sister: "It is not what you think, there is only a hellish scene at the end, the denouement on the contrary is done in the sky. If you do not believe me I will tell you the final chorus, it will be an occasion to make you admire my verses of which you never had the happiness to see the least sample" (...). He writes then: "Chœur d'ange" [Chorus of angels of the apotheosis of Marguerite], then changes his mind: "Well no, I reserve my verses for another occasion. I will have a lot of trouble getting the singers I need; I am completely at odds with Pillet [Léon Pillet, director of the Opéra], because of my articles on the Opéra. My patience ran out in the end; there was no way I could stand it; it is a shameful theater" ... Correspondance générale, ed. by P. Citron, t. III, letter 1045, p. 346.