Gounod's Letters

GOUNOD'S LETTERS Downloaded from By JULEEN TIERSOT UKE the majority of modern musicians, who have received a general education superior to that of their predecessors, L Gounod did not confine himself to composing music; he http://mq.oxfordjournals.org/ also made numerous literary excursions, several of which found their way into print during his lifetime. Before the Academie he read various papers of special interest: "On the Artist in Modern Society," "Nature and Art," etc. He devoted a lengthy article to "Mozart's Don Giovanni" seizing the opportunity to give free rein to his admiration for the master who was his ex- emplar throughout his career. Besides this, he wrote essays on topics of current interest—for example, one on the works of his at University of Iowa Libraries/Serials Acquisitions on June 27, 2015 colleague and worthy continuator, Camille Saint-Sa&is;—and prefaces for works of other authors (a volume of letters by Berlioz, for instance), or for works of his own (Ridemption, etc.). Finally, he left us his Memoires, which were published immediately after his decease; not to speak of a certain compilation of divers articles which, under the somewhat inexact title of "Autobiography," appeared at London at an epoch which is not the most attractive one of his life. Naturally, he revealed himself most frankly in his letters, of which he despatched a flood in every direction. Up to the present time several series of them have been published; the volume begin- ning with his "Memoires d'un Artiste" already contained quite a number. Others are scattered through various biographies; there are many more still imprinted. The selection we have made from such letters affords, in our opinion, a sufficiently faithful characterization of the composer's walk of life. Each was chosen with a view to illumi- nate some important event in his career, and throw it into strong relief. Not a single letter of Gounod's childhood or early youth is now extant—unless we choose to consider as a letter the written declaration which he, at the age of thirteen, addressed to his mother to inform her of his resolution to adopt the career of a musician. M. Camille Bellaigue has given us the text of this letter—at least, the greater part of it—in his work on Gounod, 40 Downloaded from http://mq.oxfordjournals.org/ at University of Iowa Libraries/Serials Acquisitions on June 27, 2015 Charles Gounod (about 1870) Downloaded from http://mq.oxfordjournals.org/ at University of Iowa Libraries/Serials Acquisitions on June 27, 2015 Gounod's Letters 41 published in the collection of "Maltres de la Musique"; we our- selves reproduced a few lines of it in our essay (Musical Quarterly, July, 1918) written for the centenary of the author of Faust. We also mentioned the fact that the letters he wrote to his family Downloaded from from Italy, after winning the Prix de Borne, have disappeared; a regrettable lacuna, covering as it does a momentous period in Gounod's life, a time when he was first subjected to those influences which inspired him to devote himself almost exclusively to religious observances, to the temporary abandonment of his art. http://mq.oxfordjournals.org/ Our sole source of information concerning this first evolution of Gounod's mentality is found in certain letters written to a few friends or comrades; and it is to lay bare the secret of this evolution that we shall begin by reproducing two letters addressed by him to Besozsri, one of his companions in the Villa Medicis. In one of these we shall see what plans he already cherished, when he was only twenty-three years of age, for the restoration of Christian art; in the other we find him immersed yet more at University of Iowa Libraries/Serials Acquisitions on June 27, 2015 deeply in religious practices, for this second letter was penned at the Carmelite monastery whither he had retired to prose- cute the studies which he imagined were to lead him to the priesthood. The next letters will reveal him restored to family life, to an artistic and secular career. In one he expresses his grief at the death of his mother, who had been his first confidante; in another he greets the arrival in the world of a child destined to become a distinguished writer. Now we catch sight of him in the fire of composition, and again in tbe excitements of the theatre or the school. At a solemn and painful epoch in the history of the nation he gives voice to his sorrow and discloses his patriotic anxieties. At the close, ever faithful both to his convictions and his friends, we shall find him always ready to defend the causes that he has at heart. As he was in life, so shall we meet him in this swift sum- mary, set down in his own words. J TIEBSOT. GOUNOD'S LXHXBS: SOTJBCXO.—Th* Utter* numbered II (to tk* Cowt* de Reynevcl), IV (to Eugen* Tournnx), V (to A. 8imon), VI (to Mm*. E. Tourneux), VII (to Jult* Biehommi), XIII (addr***** unknown). XIV (to Mm*. Lalo), XV and XVI (to A. Viaen- Pro*enfal paper "VAiolS'; number* IX and X (to Mittral and IUit, ruptetiulp) from a* artieU by Abbt Dtlaeroix, "Oounod au pay* d* MirtiB*," which appeared in tit "Rewue de Midi" after hating been tk* rubjtet of a lector* at As Academy of Nlmi; Numbtr XVIII (to "My dtar litO* H*Un") wot printed in a r*e*nt nuwtber of th* ''Annaltt"; finally. Num- ber XX (to M, 8aint-8aliu) wa* found in the necrology penned by him (in "L* JournaT'). 42 The Musical Quarterly I To Besozzi1 ROME, February 25, 1842. My dear Besorri: I take advantage of a letter from Bousquet to send you a few Downloaded from ' lines in token of remembrance, and to thank you for having kept me in mind in your letter to Bonnassieux.' You ask, what is becoming of me, what am I doing? I fancy that I am becoming what pretty much every- body becomes; I am continually seeking, and it always seems to take me a long while to find. I heard that you have written an overture that is something big; according to what little Bousquet told me about http://mq.oxfordjournals.org/ it, I thought it might possibly be a kind of symphony in one movement; I was rejoiced at the birth of this serious composition, for I wanted to have it taken up by our Society; but I stifled my delight on learning that, on account of its length, it had been shamefully mutilated for you (or, perforce, by you); that is still the fashion in Paris, where it would seem to be impossible for them to listen to a conception of any loftiness and, for just that reason, of some length. For, to my mind, when a height is attained, increase of breadth follows naturally. Bousquet informed me of something which I had feared, and which at University of Iowa Libraries/Serials Acquisitions on June 27, 2015 has come to pass—namely, that the Romance Puget, in a word, the Mu- sical Album, has reached the culmination of its brutalizing influence. As you may imagine, this gives me little pleasure; though such epidemics do not succeed in killing art, they nevertheless kill a far too great number of ears which might otherwise be destined to hear the true message. What a pity that one cannot prevent the poison-weed from sprouting! After all, patience is the only cure for a fit of the spleen, and one really ought not to let oneself get so wrought up.—As for myself, my dear Besozzi, I am at present engaged on a work which you will most likely hear on my return to France; it is a symphony with choruses, in four movements: the persecution of Christ, his death, a prophecy against Jerusalem, and the resurrection. I want you to know what I am doing; but I beg you very earnestly not to tell anybody else. You see what confidence I repose in you, by informing you without circumlocution, and I have no doubt that you will exercise the discretion I ask of you in the matter. Adieu, my dear Besozzi; save a modest corner for me in your kind remembrance; I set great store by it, and you may rest assured that I, for my own part, shall be very glad to meet you and be with you again. Adieu! I press your hand, and remain your wholly devoted CH. GOUNOD. The following letter is another of the earliest ones of Gounod's now extant. He wrote it the day after his departure from Rome, at Vienna, where the rule of the Academie prescribed a stay for a certain time before returning to Prance. In it he evokes memories of his sojourn in Rome, writing to a compatriot whose acquaint- ance he had made during the months which he had just passed in JA composer (pris da Bom*), a comrade of Goimod'i at the VUbt Medici*. •Boujqnet (composer), Bonnassieux (sculptor), comrade* of Gounod at Borne. Gounod's Letters 43 the Eternal City, at the same time informing him concerning the prosecution of his musical activities. n Downloaded from To the Comte de ReynevaL1 VIENNA, Sunday, July 17, 1842. Dear Sir: You will readily understand that I cannot allow the time of my visit to Germany to elapse without addressing you a few lines in very sincere and very cordial remembrance, as I can assure you; it is highly http://mq.oxfordjournals.org/ probable that when you receive this letter you would never guess that it was from me, considering that you have many other matters to think about, and that you doubtless frequently get far more interesting ones.

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