95 - DELANNOY (Marcel) (1898–1962)

DELANNOY (Marcel) (1898–1962) French composer and music critic, author of numerous operas, symphonies, and film scores. Autograph manuscript devoted to his work and his musical ideas. No place or date [after 1930]. 2 pp. in-8, in black ink, on sheets of paper with printed borders, with numerous autograph erasures, corrections, and additions. An interesting working manuscript, written in the third person, in which Marcel Delannoy reflects on his major compositions and elaborates on his thoughts regarding contemporary music. Referring in particular to *Le Poirier de Misère*, *Le Fou de la Dame*, and his *Quartet in E Major*, the composer offers an initial assessment of his creative output and highlights the difficulties he encountered in the field of pure symphonic music. He sets forth his conception of musical art, torn between two tendencies: “That which is content with the accurate translation of feelings or things” and the one that is “more hollow and the most pretentious,” which he links to a certain metaphysical quest. “Delannoy is a lyricist who seeks to build.” He also discusses *La Ballade*, recalling the circumstances of its premiere under the direction of Albert Wolff, as well as his music for the film *Figures sonores*, which he presents as an experiment in a new form of musical impressionism. The manuscript concludes with his ambitions in the symphonic realm and the efforts he intends to pursue in chamber music. An interesting insight into Marcel Delannoy’s aesthetic thought and the French musical debates of the interwar period. Numerous autograph corrections, deletions, and revisions. Old creases, foxing, significant stains on the second page, small tears, and marginal losses.