Manuel ROSENTHAL (1904-2003). Autograph music... Lot 339

Manuel ROSENTHAL (1904-2003). Autograph music manuscript signed, First Symphony in C major, 1949; 206 leaves 35.5 x 27 cm (marginal cuts for clichage). Orchestral score of this Symphony, composed from May to December 1949, and given its first performance by the Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française, conducted by the composer, on 12 June 1950. It is in three movements: I Allegretto pastorale (pp. 1-66); II Thème & variations (pp. 67-138); III Rondeau (pp. 139-206). The orchestra includes 3 flutes (and piccolo), 2 oboes, English horn (and 3rd oboe), 2 clarinets, bass clarinet (and 3rd clarinet), 3 bassoons (and contrabassoon), 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, harp, timpani, percussion (3 or 4), and strings. Duration 29 minutes. Let us quote the typed text of presentation attached to the manuscript. "Composed in 1949 during a long stay of the composer in the United States, this work is impregnated with the nostalgia of the native country which obsessed the composer: this explains the names of cities which form the epigraph of the score, names of cities which are at the same time the words of a famous carillon in the country of the Loire: Orléans, Beaugency, Notre-Dame de Cléry and Vendôme. This carillon is itself used thematically in the first and last movements of this symphony. The first piece is a free-form Pastorale with, in its middle part, a Fugue known as the "farmyard Fugue", its various episodes recounting the cries of farm animals. The "stretto" of this Fugue leads to a vehement reminder of the carillon clamored by the brass. Then a fading memory of the melancholy pastoral at the beginning of this piece closes the first part of the symphony, whose harmonic language often breaks the mold of traditional "tonality. The second piece, by far the most important in terms of length and construction, is a "Theme and Variations". No descriptive feeling, even remotely, has dictated this serious, even pathetic, often harsh music. The third and final movement of this symphony is a French-style "Rondeau," elegant, nervous and brilliant." The manuscript is carefully noted in Indian ink on 30-line tracing paper.