Camille SAINT-SAËNS (1835-1921). 12 L.A.S., 1898-1913, to Caroline de Serres; 50 pages in-8 or in-4, 4 on hotel letterheads (slight traces of rust on some letters). Beautiful correspondence to his great pianist friend, in which Saint-Saëns talks about his work and makes rare confidences about his private life and the failure of his marriage. [Caroline de Serres (1842-1913), née Rémaury, was a remarkable pianist and pupil of Liszt. Widowed to the journalist Léon Montigny, she remarried Auguste de Serres in 1886, and Saint-Saëns composed his Wedding Cake as a wedding gift. After injuring her right hand, she ended her career, and Saint-Saëns wrote for her, dedicating his Études pour la main gauche op.135 to her in 1912. She was a dear friend to the composer, who called her his "dear Caro", and who, as we shall see, had thought of marrying her]. Paris September 7, 1898 (letter adorned with a decorative pen-and-ink frieze). He won't do in Bayonne what he did in Béziers. "Besides, you can't improvise! The Erinnyes (by Massenet) can be performed there... He can't join her in Matignon: "I have too much work to do. I have to prepare a new instrumentation for Déjanire for the Odéon and make the piano reduction. And I'm in a hurry"... Paris, July 7, 1900. He can't write her anything funny after Jules Delsart's funeral: "I don't feel funny at all; on the contrary, I feel even dumber than usual". His daughter (Alice Montigny) "is determined to get me to write the music for a ballet. [...] She's delightful, your daughter, delightful to a fault". He was "forced to write a work in three acts for the Opéra [Les Barbares]. I'm afraid the result will be very bad. Why insist on it being me, who'd rather be doing something else, when there are so many others who just want to do it!... I don't have a moment left to work on my piano, my poor fingers are getting rustier and rustier; the time of the old ganache has come"... Paris, July 22, 1901. "Between the Opéra, the Institut competitions I have to chair and those at the Conservatoire [...] I don't have the time to do the work I have on the board, and the heat doesn't encourage me to be active". For the tenor of Les Barbares, he decided on Albert Vaguet, "who, if he lacks panache, will at least have a pretty voice and talent". He is due to go to Dieppe, then to Valence to inaugurate the monument to Louis Gallet, and finally "to Béziers, where there will be nothing from me this year, but where I must hover like a guardian angel; an angel with slightly scorched wings"... Pallanza, Lake Maggiore September 13, 1906. You should never believe what theater directors say: "assuming that he [Pedro Gailhard, director of the Opéra] was telling the truth - which I don't believe - the result would be that he has agreed to pay 1000 f. for Tannhäuser but that he does not agree to perform my works for a much lower price; and Tannhäuser is not an indispensable thing, it's over one's head". He rests for a few days in Italy before spending 15 days in Paris, then moving on to Prague, Berlin, "and then I'll set sail for America. That will be the end. I have already turned down several engagements for next year"... Paris, November 9, 1908, recalling a concert: "The musicians did their duty in good conscience, but they carefully refrained from applauding me, and more than one had hatred painted on his face. The audience was friendly, but nothing more. It's likely that the great honor I'd been given on the program had offended some sensibilities". Sardou's death broke him... - November 16, 1908. "This exquisite box will always remind me of my last appearance at the Conservatoire. It would have been a joy had it not been for the stage fright that held me the whole time and spoiled my pleasure. I wouldn't have had it anywhere else, but here, it's unavoidable. You see too many eyes around you, you're too much in the audience. You have to be a little isolated to feel at ease"... He received a dispatch "telling me that Samson had just triumphed in New York. 20 encores! Let's not complain"... For the end of the card, see the PDF of the catalog.