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Music manuscripts from the collection of Helmut Nanz
César Franck (1822-1890)
Autograph manuscript signed ('C. Franck', at the end of each work), 'Deux Mélodies', two works for piano, [c.1846]
Details
César Franck (1822-1890)
Autograph manuscript signed ('C. Franck', at the end of each work), 'Deux Mélodies', two works for piano, [c.1846]
Notated in six systems of two staves, 13 pages, 335 x 255mm, stitched into a modern album, vellum-backed boards. Provenance: perhaps presented by the composer to his future wife, Félicité Desmousseaux (1825-1918: according to Julien Tiersot); Sotheby's, 22 November 1989, lot 90 (unsold).
Two early works for piano, composed for his fiancée. The 'Two Melodies' comprise an Andantino of 107 bars in D flat major and a 'Poco Lento' of 62 bars in E major. The works were described by Julien Tiersot as follows (in 'Les oeuvres inédites de César Franck', La Revue Musicale, December 1922, 97-123): 'Without doubt belonging to the same period are the Two Melodies for piano, "À Félicité", of which the autograph manuscript, very finely written, signed "C. Franck" at the end of each piece, is the only survival: it is evidently a discreet present offered by the composer to his fiancée, Félicité Desmousseaux, whom he married in February 1848. Their style is excellent, clearly superior to the majority of the piano pieces published by the composer in the preceding years and which are generally pure specimens of virtuosity' (translation). A second autograph of the two works (bearing the dedication 'À Félicité' and likely the manuscript inspected by Tiersot) is preserved in Liège. Published in 2018 (Édition Dohr). CFF 18 in the Fauquet catalogue.
Autograph manuscript signed ('C. Franck', at the end of each work), 'Deux Mélodies', two works for piano, [c.1846]
Notated in six systems of two staves, 13 pages, 335 x 255mm, stitched into a modern album, vellum-backed boards. Provenance: perhaps presented by the composer to his future wife, Félicité Desmousseaux (1825-1918: according to Julien Tiersot); Sotheby's, 22 November 1989, lot 90 (unsold).
Two early works for piano, composed for his fiancée. The 'Two Melodies' comprise an Andantino of 107 bars in D flat major and a 'Poco Lento' of 62 bars in E major. The works were described by Julien Tiersot as follows (in 'Les oeuvres inédites de César Franck', La Revue Musicale, December 1922, 97-123): 'Without doubt belonging to the same period are the Two Melodies for piano, "À Félicité", of which the autograph manuscript, very finely written, signed "C. Franck" at the end of each piece, is the only survival: it is evidently a discreet present offered by the composer to his fiancée, Félicité Desmousseaux, whom he married in February 1848. Their style is excellent, clearly superior to the majority of the piano pieces published by the composer in the preceding years and which are generally pure specimens of virtuosity' (translation). A second autograph of the two works (bearing the dedication 'À Félicité' and likely the manuscript inspected by Tiersot) is preserved in Liège. Published in 2018 (Édition Dohr). CFF 18 in the Fauquet catalogue.
Sale room notice
Please note that these two pieces were published in 2018 by Edition Dohr.
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