Darius Milhaud (1892-1974)
Autograph working manuscript for Meurtre d'un grand chef d'état. A la mémoire de John F. Kennedy, op.405, Paris, 24 November 1963
Milhaud's response to the assassination of J.F. Kennedy, composed only two days after the event.

Autograph title in English and French, marked '1^er manuscrit', draft in short score, apparently for the complete work, in 8 systems of two or three staves, 1¼ pages, 330 x 274mm, on a bifolium, 20-stave paper; with three autograph leaves for the preliminary pages of an edition of Pacem in Terris, op.404, comprising title, quotation from the Book of Isaiah and contents list, signed in two places (once with initials); and two related concert programmes.

Provenance:
(1) Sotheby's, 10 June 2009, lot 87.

(2) Schøyen Collection, MS 5427.

Milhaud's orchestral work in response to the assassination of JFK was written with remarkable speed: the present manuscript dates from only two days later, and the work was completed on the following day.