HAHN Reynaldo (1874-1947). Lot n° 216

autograph musical manuscript, La Fête chez Thérèse, (1910); 200 and 387 pages in-fol. (36 x 27.5 cm). Important orchestral score of Reynaldo Hahn's first ballet music for the Hahn, for the Paris Opera. La Fête chez Thérèse, a ballet-pantomime in two acts with a libretto by Catulle Mendès, was commissioned from Reynaldo Hahn by the directors of the Opéra in July 1907; the score was completed by June 1909, and rehearsals began in October. The work was premiered at the Paris Opera on February 16, 1910, with staging and choreography by Thérèse Stichel, sets by Landrin and René Rochette, costumes by Joseph Pinchon, and starring Carlotta Zambelli (Mimi Pinson) and Aïda Boni (the duchess Thérèse) in the main roles. The orchestra was conducted by Paul Vidal. The work, very well edited, was a great success. The score was published in 1910 by Heugel. Catulle Mendès was inspired by Victor Hugo's famous poem, La Fête chez Thérèse, in Les Contemplations, and superimposed a love story between the grisette Mimi Pinson and the fashionable poet Théodore. The action takes place in 1841, after the success of the ballet Giselle. The first act is set in the salon-workshop of the milliner Mme. The first act is set in the salon-workshop of the milliner Mme Palmyre, where the dancer Carlotta Grisi and the duchess Thérèse, who has come to do her fitting, are parading around; Théodore, who has come to see Mimi Pinson, falls in love with Thérèse. The second act is devoted to the beautiful party at Thérèse's, where an 18th century entertainment inspired by L'Embarquement pour Cythère is given; intrigue between Thérèse and Théodore, who, tired of the Duchess's coquetry, returns to Mimi. Gabriel Fauré, in Le Figaro of 17 February 1910, praised the score: "M. Reynaldo Hahn has treated the first scene of La Fête chez Thérèse with a witty verve that does not waver for a moment. There is nothing more cheerful than this rendition of the 'contredanse' of our fathers, nothing more finely amusing than the dance lesson in which he has so happily exploited the good old waltz of Giselle. This first picture, "Chez Palmyre", is a very joyful parody which, however, never ceases to be musical. As for the second tableau, it is drawn with an artistic skill, a variety and a taste that are quite charming; the pastiches of the time appear only as much as necessary and always keep a very personal physiognomy: they are evocative and not imitative. The score includes the following numbers. - Act I. At Palmyra. Introduction; Dance of the Little Apprentices; The Contredanse of the Grisettes; Entrance of Carlotta Grisi; Waltz of Giselle; Dance Lesson and Waltz ; Entrance of the Duchess Thérèse; Scene of the Fitting; Theodore and Mimi Pinson. - Act II. Fête galante at Duchess Thérèse's house. Prelude; Moving picture; Interlude: Gilles and Arlequine; Gallant dance; Violent dance ; Danse de Mimi Pinson (Danse triste); Tango ; Menuet pompeux ; Nocturne ; La Duchesse Thérèse and Mimi Pinson; Mimed duet; Final. The manuscript, in blue ink on 22-line paper, contains numerous erasures and corrections (some in red ink), pastedowns, scratches, passages crossed out, and annotations in blue or red pencil; it served as a conductor for the performances. The main episodes of the action were written on the manuscript, mainly for the first act: "Curtain. Buzzing, stirring of the seamstresses who are cutting and sewing around the table. The girls come and go, scramble, jostle, fight. Dance of the little apprentices. Mimi Pinson explains to the whole table that: she, Mimi, and Zélia, and Rougette, and Blanchette, have lovers with long hair, thin moustaches, who are students or poets... Young men with whom, on Sundays, they go to pick strawberries in the woods... or to dance a contredanse at the Chaumière... Now, through a little door came in silently Theodore, Rodolphe.., Albert, Roderick... They fell at the knees of the young girls, offering them bunches of two-penny violets. The four girls are afraid that Madame Palmyre will overhear these forbidden visits. They want to send their lovers away. They refuse to leave; so they give pennies to the apprentices who stand by the doors for observation... while the four grisettes return to the young men who embrace them. The Contredanse des Grisettes. But the little apprentices