OVA - MUSIC •FROM JEAN-SÉBASTIEN BACH TO PIERRE BOULEZ (ADER-NORDMANN)
Wednesday 20 June 2018The last day of the sales, 20 June, will be devoted to music. The Ader-Nordmann auction house kicks off at 2pm with the sale entitled “From Johann Sebastian Bach to Pierre Boulez”, mixing musical manuscripts scores, corrected proofs, and musicians’ documents and letters, all illustrating the careers and private lives of composers who left an indelible impression on their times. From Susanna’s aria in Le Nozze di Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART to the monumental manuscript of Des Canyons aux étoiles by Olivier MESSIAEN (1974), most of the geniuses in the history of music are featured in this catalogue, including Mozart, Beethoven, Berlioz, Chopin, Liszt, Gounod, Verdi, Wagner, Massenet, Debussy, Ravel and Messiaen. The sale comprises 151 lots with an overall estimate of €4 million..
The astonishing musical album of Viennese music lover and musicologist Aloys FUCHS (1799-1853) contains 112 musicians’ manuscripts from the first half of the 19th century, providing an amazing overview of the Viennese and European musical output of the time, with works by Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Rossini, Schubert, Schumann and a host of others (estimate: €500,000-700,000).
Aloys Fuchs, born in Moravia, went to Vienna in 1816 to study philosophy and law at University. He got to know a number of composers and artists, including Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Schumann. His position at the Ministry of War, starting in 1823, did not prevent him from devoting all his free time to music: he was a talented cellist, held musical soirées and in 1836, he joined the choir of the imperial court chapel. Above all, he applied himself passionately to musicology, assembling a huge trove of documentation on Viennese musicians, particularly Mozart. Europe’s leading collector in terms of musical autographs, he was keen on founding a universal musical library. Between 1817 and his death, he thus built up the largest private musical collection of his time, containing approximately 1,400 autograph manuscripts, books and prints (extremely rare), and 4,000-odd letters
The album is a unique collection featuring not only the names of the most outstanding German and Austrian composers, but virtually all the lesser-known composers who contributed to the history of German music. He did not neglect key figures from the Classical and Romantic periods in Europe. Fuchs was so determined that when he was unable to acquire the autograph he wanted, he would take the trouble to copy it or have it copied. The collector’s considerable donations to the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, of which he was a member, make up a large part of the treasures now held by the institution. At his death, a large part of his collection was acquired by the Deutsche Staatsbibliothek in Berlin and other institutions.
A six-page index lists the 108 names in the album (after number 98, Fuchs wrote them by hand); the table was completed later in pencil, and lists 115 musicians in all. Virtually all musical forms are represented, with music for the piano (CHOPIN, BOULEZ) and the organ (FRANCK, ALAIN, MESSIAEN); German Lieder (BEETHOVEN, BRAHMS, MENDELSSOHN, SCHUBERT); French melodies (DEBUSSY, DUPARC, POULENC, RAVEL); Italian arias (ROSSINI, PUCCINI, VERDI); choral music (LISZT, GOUNOD, POULENC); chamber music (OFFENBACH, MARTINU, BERNSTEIN, DUTILLEUX); and opera (MOZART’s Le Nozze di Figaro and STRAUSS’s Daphne).
Alongside album pages, final scores and meticulously neat manuscripts, the sale includes sketches and working manuscripts, featuring an extraordinary selection of rough drafts of the “Scenes from Goethe’s Faust” by Robert SCHUMANN (1810-1856), elucidating the nearly decade-long creative process of this immense masterpiece (estimate: €500,000-600,000), from the early drafts to its orchestration, between July 1844 and the summer of 1853. Schumann, like many other composers, took inspiration from Goethe’s masterpiece. But unlike most of them, who focused on the first part of the poem, the “first Faust”, Schumann focused particularly on the “second Faust”: the visionary peak of Romanticism. The composer never heard his work performed: a few months after completing it, he attempted suicide and was confined to an asylum, where he died. The score was published in 1858 by Friedländer in Berlin; the first complete performance took place on 14 January 1862 in Cologne.
“From the canyons to the stars... in other words, rising from the canyons right up to the stars – and higher still, right up to those risen from the dead in Paradise, to glorify God in all his creation: the beauties of the earth (its rocks, its birdsong), the beauties of the material sky, and the beauties of the spiritual sky. And so a religious work first and foremost – one of praise and contemplation; and a geological and astronomical work, too. […]”. This was the description Olivier MESSIAEN (1908-1992) wrote of his orchestral piece, whose complete manuscript will be offered (estimate: €150,000-180,000). “Des canyons aux étoiles” was commissioned in 1969 by the patron Miss Alice TULLY to celebrate the bicentenary of the USA. Between 1971 and 1974, Messiaen drew inspiration for this work from American landscapes like Bryce Canyon, Zion Park and Steller’s Jay.
Another highlight of the sale is the exceptional manuscript of the first version of a scene from the last act of Le Nozze di Figaro (estimate: €400,000-500,000). In four pages, Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791) composes an earlier version of Susanna’s recitative and aria in scene 10 (K.492, no. 27), from the fourth and final act in the garden. Mozart had conceived Susanna’s scene as an accompanied recitative followed by a two-part rondo, but finally rejected the rondo in favour of the enchanting aria “Deh vieni, non tardar”. The recitative was considerably altered and shortened in its final version.
Contemporary with our times, the autograph musical manuscript of “Métaboles” (1964) by Henri DUTILLEUX (1916-2013) is estimated at €120,000-150,000. In 1959, Henri Dutilleux, the composer of two much-acclaimed symphonies, received a commission from the conductor George SZELL (1897-1970), the Cleveland Orchestra’s musical director, for the orchestra’s 40th anniversary. In 1964, Dutilleux completed his “Métaboles”, five pieces for orchestra, created in Cleveland on 14 January 1965 under George Szell. The work rapidly made its way, and was played in major US cities before being performed in France at the Festival de Besançon under Charles Münch on 13 September 1966. Dutilleux explained that “Métaboles pleased [George Szell] because it was basically a concerto for orchestra. Each of the five parts focused on a particular family of instruments – woodwind, strings, percussion and brass, finishing up with everybody”. The five pieces – Incantatoire, Linéaire, Obsessionnel, Torpide and Flamboyant – follow on without interruption, like a continuous concerto for orchestra.
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Aloys Fuchs, born in Moravia, went to Vienna in 1816 to study philosophy and law at University. He got to know a number of composers and artists, including Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Schumann. His position at the Ministry of War, starting in 1823, did not prevent him from devoting all his free time to music: he was a talented cellist, held musical soirées and in 1836, he joined the choir of the imperial court chapel. Above all, he applied himself passionately to musicology, assembling a huge trove of documentation on Viennese musicians, particularly Mozart. Europe’s leading collector in terms of musical autographs, he was keen on founding a universal musical library. Between 1817 and his death, he thus built up the largest private musical collection of his time, containing approximately 1,400 autograph manuscripts, books and prints (extremely rare), and 4,000-odd letters
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The album is a unique collection featuring not only the names of the most outstanding German and Austrian composers, but virtually all the lesser-known composers who contributed to the history of German music. He did not neglect key figures from the Classical and Romantic periods in Europe. Fuchs was so determined that when he was unable to acquire the autograph he wanted, he would take the trouble to copy it or have it copied. The collector’s considerable donations to the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, of which he was a member, make up a large part of the treasures now held by the institution. At his death, a large part of his collection was acquired by the Deutsche Staatsbibliothek in Berlin and other institutions.
A six-page index lists the 108 names in the album (after number 98, Fuchs wrote them by hand); the table was completed later in pencil, and lists 115 musicians in all. Virtually all musical forms are represented, with music for the piano (CHOPIN, BOULEZ) and the organ (FRANCK, ALAIN, MESSIAEN); German Lieder (BEETHOVEN, BRAHMS, MENDELSSOHN, SCHUBERT); French melodies (DEBUSSY, DUPARC, POULENC, RAVEL); Italian arias (ROSSINI, PUCCINI, VERDI); choral music (LISZT, GOUNOD, POULENC); chamber music (OFFENBACH, MARTINU, BERNSTEIN, DUTILLEUX); and opera (MOZART’s Le Nozze di Figaro and STRAUSS’s Daphne).
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Alongside album pages, final scores and meticulously neat manuscripts, the sale includes sketches and working manuscripts, featuring an extraordinary selection of rough drafts of the “Scenes from Goethe’s Faust” by Robert SCHUMANN (1810-1856), elucidating the nearly decade-long creative process of this immense masterpiece (estimate: €500,000-600,000), from the early drafts to its orchestration, between July 1844 and the summer of 1853. Schumann, like many other composers, took inspiration from Goethe’s masterpiece. But unlike most of them, who focused on the first part of the poem, the “first Faust”, Schumann focused particularly on the “second Faust”: the visionary peak of Romanticism. The composer never heard his work performed: a few months after completing it, he attempted suicide and was confined to an asylum, where he died. The score was published in 1858 by Friedländer in Berlin; the first complete performance took place on 14 January 1862 in Cologne.
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Another highlight of the sale is the exceptional manuscript of the first version of a scene from the last act of Le Nozze di Figaro (estimate: €400,000-500,000). In four pages, Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791) composes an earlier version of Susanna’s recitative and aria in scene 10 (K.492, no. 27), from the fourth and final act in the garden. Mozart had conceived Susanna’s scene as an accompanied recitative followed by a two-part rondo, but finally rejected the rondo in favour of the enchanting aria “Deh vieni, non tardar”. The recitative was considerably altered and shortened in its final version.
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Contemporary with our times, the autograph musical manuscript of “Métaboles” (1964) by Henri DUTILLEUX (1916-2013) is estimated at €120,000-150,000. In 1959, Henri Dutilleux, the composer of two much-acclaimed symphonies, received a commission from the conductor George SZELL (1897-1970), the Cleveland Orchestra’s musical director, for the orchestra’s 40th anniversary. In 1964, Dutilleux completed his “Métaboles”, five pieces for orchestra, created in Cleveland on 14 January 1965 under George Szell. The work rapidly made its way, and was played in major US cities before being performed in France at the Festival de Besançon under Charles Münch on 13 September 1966. Dutilleux explained that “Métaboles pleased [George Szell] because it was basically a concerto for orchestra. Each of the five parts focused on a particular family of instruments – woodwind, strings, percussion and brass, finishing up with everybody”. The five pieces – Incantatoire, Linéaire, Obsessionnel, Torpide and Flamboyant – follow on without interruption, like a continuous concerto for orchestra.
This sale, n° 7, is organised by Ader-Nordmann
Total number of lots: 151
Global estimate: €4,200,000
Public auction – Drouot – Room 9
Wednesday 20 June 2018 – 2pm
Public exhibition – Drouot – Room 9
Tuesday 12 June – 11am – 6pm
Wednesday 13 June – 11am – 6pm
Thursday 14 June – 11am – 9pm
Friday 15 June – 11am – 6pm
Wednesday 20 June – 11am – 12pm
