Gilbert DUPREZ (1806-1896). Autograph musical manuscript, Samson. Tableaux Bibliques, 1853; title and 208 folio pages (35.5 x 26.5 cm) in a bound volume of garnet half-chagrin, spine decorated (label of H. Lard, papeterie reliure; period binding worn). Working manuscript of this unpublished opera. This opera in 4 acts or tableaux was composed by the great tenor to a libretto by Alexandre Dumas père and Édouard Duprez (Gilbert's brother). The protagonists are Samson, his mother Mehala, Delilah and Sephar, leader of the Philistines. Duprez wrote in his memoirs: "I wrote [...], on the biblical subject of Samson, an oratorio in two parts. I had chosen this form of oratorio, which does not require staging, precisely because I saw that it would never be possible for me to have it performed on a stage; but following the advice of Alexandre Dumas, I converted it into an opera by adding two parts, which became, like the rest, acts. Our witty writer even helped my brother, author of the first lyrics, to develop his subject into a play, and in this way became my collaborator. (Souvenirs d'un chanteur, Calmann Lévy, 1880, p. 215). The first performance was given on March 13, 1855 at the Théâtre d'application de l'École Duprez, with Caroline Duprez (Gilbert's daughter) as Dalila and tenor Louis Gueymard as Samson. A few rare auditions were given later, including one in Berlin in October 1857. The work is divided into 4 tableaux or acts, preceded by an Ouverture et tableau (dated March 24, 1856, 14 p.). I Gaza (33 p.), II La Vallée de Sorec (71 p.), III La Meule (dated May 1853, the Duo des Gardiens from April 1854; 54 p.), IV Le Temple (27 p.). Following this, Scène et Duo de Méhala et Samson, a piece removed from the 1st score (8 p.) [the orchestral score of this first version, from 1847, in 2 parts, is preserved at Harvard's Houghton Library]. The work remains unpublished. This working manuscript, for voice and piano, is notated in brown ink on various papers (14 to 22 lines), with insertions of later sheets in black ink; there are numerous erasures and corrections, scratches, strikethroughs and collettes. German lyrics have been added to the sung parts of the Ouverture-tableau; and Italian lyrics have been added in red ink to the 1st table. At the head of the volume, Duprez has added a signed autograph page of commentary: Occultæ musicæ nullum esse respectum. Samson. This is my greatest sin!.... There are scarcely any days that I do not repent of having committed it, and especially of having had the idea, the talent and the patience to commit it; it is without remission, and I feel all filled with compunction for having offended Apollo for having dared to express my own musical and dramatic ideas, after having been for more than twenty years, the interpreter of the works of others, an interpreter often collaborator, not only by opinions, but also by ideas expressed. So, I am quite punished by the sorrows caused by this useless talent. However, if ever an impartial onlooker were to cast his eyes on this work, I would have a great chance of being absolved by him, as I have been by a good number of people whose competence is not to be doubted, but the coteries, and above all the press, have erected an impenetrable rampart of malice between the public and me, and my Samson has remained stillborn. All music passes away. Yesterday's is no longer today's, and today's will certainly not be tomorrow's. Samson may be out of fashion now; but however old-fashioned it may be in form, its substance is no less valuable, and will remain so for those who understand that dramatic music must proceed melodically above all else, that when the feeling of the situation and the words expressing it are in agreement, and the harmonies and rhythms are distinguished and skilfully expressed, they will be able to convince themselves that this work had a great chance of success. On my great score of Zéphora, which is none other than that of Samson augmented by the demands of a new subject, I would place a letter from Gevaert who gives a serious and reasoned account of it without having been able to suppose that this work was mine. [The orchestral score of Zéphora, in which the subject is transported to the time of the Crusades, is kept at the BnF (2 volumes)].