Details
Gigi, 1958
LOEWE, Frederick (1901-1988) and LERNER, Alan Jay (1918-1986)
A rare handwritten working manuscript for the piano-vocal score of Gigi, the title song composed by Loewe with lyrics by Lerner for the 1958 M.G.M musical production Gigi, the 18 pages of music with lyrics, together with a later hand-titled cover sheet, all in Loewe's hand in pencil, showing some corrections, deleted bars and revisions by the composer, three lines of music on three bracketed staves, the first page with title GIGI and cue: Upset! Upset indeed! About what?!; accompanied by a document concerning the provenance (2)
Sale room notice
This manuscript is not all in Frederick Loewe's hand, as stated in the catalogue. We believe that the lyrics and vocal lines on pages A1-A12 are in Loewe's hand but that the piano lines and key signatures throughout the manuscript plus the lyrics and vocal lines on pages A13-A18 are in the hand of Trude Rittman. A full assessment is available on request. Christie's would like to thank Dr. Dominic McHugh for his assistance with this lot.

Lot Essay

The collaborative team of lyricist Alan Jay Lerner and composer Frederick Loewe produced some of the most successful and best loved Broadway musicals of all time, including My Fair Lady and Brigadoon. Following the success of My Fair Lady, M.G.M. approached Lerner and Loewe to write a film musical, Gigi, based on the 1944 novella by Collette.

Gigi was released in 1958 and starred Leslie Caron and Maurice Chevalier. The film won a record breaking 9 Academy Awards, including for Best Original Song to Loewe and Lerner for Gigi. The film is justly celebrated as one of the greatest musicals of all time.

Loewe gifted this manuscript to the current owner, his girlfriend of 16 years, in 1987. Other manuscripts written by Loewe were sold through these rooms in 1999, with a collection of scores from Gigi making $134,500.

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