Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)
Autograph letter signed (‘Hector Berlioz’) to [Carolyne, Princess zu Sayn-Wittgenstein] (‘Princesse’), Paris, 20 February 1858
In French. Eight pages, 208 x 133mm, on two bifolia. Provenance: Christie’s, 29 June 1995, lot 443.

Musical life in the Paris of Napoleon III: Berlioz writes near the completion of Les Troyens, recounting a visit from Wagner and describing recent concerts. Berlioz apologises for the delay in responding to the princess, lamenting his busy life in Paris: ‘In fifteen days I have not found two hours of leisure … all the obligatory dinners, the obligatory balls, then [Henry] Litolff’s arrival […]. Finally, I am the master of my own evening, and I write your response.’ He mentions a performance in Berlin of one of his compositions conducted by von Bülow. The same day, Wagner paid him a visit in Paris and was supposed to arrange a meeting between Berlioz and M. Ollivier, the son-in-law of Franz Liszt, although this fell through. Berlioz reports on the début concert given by the British pianist Henry Litolff: it was a success and featured one of Berlioz’s works, as well as pieces by Haydn, Bruck and Brunot. Berlioz updates the princess on his progress on Les Troyens, which she has been urging him to complete over the last two years. He promises to send her the completed libretto and describes a reading of it in its current state to an audience of members of the Institute, as well as a dinner with the Prince Napoleon. He mentions a dinner with M. Royer, director of the Paris Opera, and the composer Halévy. He tells the Princess where the best concerts are to be found if she visits Paris, and describes a possible missed opportunity to read Les Troyens to the Emperor, to be arranged via Empress Eugénie; in the end, nobody dared to approach Her Majesty to make the request.

This letter is published in Berlioz, Correspondance générale, Paris, 1989, vol. 5, no. 2279.