Jules MASSENET (1842-1912) Signed autograph musical manuscri - Lot 97

Jules MASSENET (1842-1912) Signed autograph musical manuscript, Rien n'est que de France, [1891]; 2 fol. pages (small marginal split). Attached is a L.A.S., September 24, 1865, warmly recommending Fernand Le Borne to F. Chevassu. - Plus a musical manuscript by George-Martin Witkowski, 1st page of the Prelude from Act IV of La Princesse lointaine for piano (1 p. in-fol.), with a L.A.S. from his widow. And a L.A.S. from Adolphe Boschot. Melody on a poem by Armand Silvestre, written for Silvestre's novel Floréal (Delagrave, 1891), where it is reproduced in facsimile (between pages 176 and 177); the work is illustrated by Georges Cain. Written for song and "harp or harpsichord", the title reads "paroles et musique d'Eurotas" (words and music by Eurotas). Eurotas is the name of the hero of Silvestre's novel. Incipit: "Où sont, sous les matins en pleurs, Les jardins plantés d'églantines"... The melody, in A-flat major at 4/4 time, is notated Andte expressivo: 22 bars. At the bottom of the 1st page, in a speech balloon (not reproduced in the facsimile), Massenet has dated, as is his wont: "1er Brumaire (an 99) à Paris.11 h ½ du matin (temps triste) J. Massenet". In the preface to Floréal, Jules Claretie wrote: "It seems that all the arts wanted to fraternize in these pages and meet again, under the same cover, like the heroes of Floréal under the same spring sky. M. Massenet has set Silvestre's verses to music, just as Georges Cain had sown his original, seductive or dramatic compositions throughout the chapters of the novel. The master of Hérodiade remembered the Paris where Manon lived, and, leaving the harp of Marie-Madeleine, he played for us, as if on the flute, two delicious airs that would have tempted the singer Garat"... Attached is a L.A.S., September 24, 1865, warmly recommending Fernand Le Borne to F. Chevassu. - Plus a musical manuscript by George-Martin Witkowski, 1st page of the Prelude from Act IV of La Princesse lointaine for piano (1 p. in-fol.), with a l.a.s. from his widow. And a L.A.S. from Adolphe Boschot.