254 - MISTRAL (Frédéric), 1830–1914.

MISTRAL (Frédéric), 1830–1914. Autograph letter signed “F.,” undated, May 3, 1905, on letterhead featuring a color illustration of a cicada and his motto “Lou souleu mi fa canta,” 2½ pages in 12mo format, addressed to his friends. A charming letter about the preparations for the 1905 Sainte-Estelle festival. Mistral finds amusement in a “very funny” rumor circulating in Barbentane regarding the Sainte-Estelle festival: he was told that a local innkeeper had reportedly received an order for “a banquet for 200 guests!” “[...] “I have no idea where this Félibrige hoax could have come from.” The 1905 Sainte-Estelle was to be held in Arles, the annual gathering of the Félibrige traditionally organized around Pentecost. Mistral tells his correspondents that “the Coupe banquet […] will take place in Arles […] on Pentecost Monday.” The “Coupo Santo,” a gift to the Félibres from the Catalans and set to music by Mistral, was traditionally performed during the grand Sainte-Estelle banquet. But the founder of the Félibrige, who had just celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 1904, lets on that he is feeling a touch of amused weariness: “I’m already feeling the strain of it: when it’s been going on for fifty years!” The letter ends on a more lighthearted note. After meeting a young woman along the way whom he finds “charming, looking even younger than her younger sister!”, the poet concludes mischievously: “There are certainly some pretty women in Barbentane! O Saint Magali, pray for me, a poor sinner!” A delightful letter from the “Master of Maillane,” blending memories of the Félibrige, humor, and gallantry, written on the very day following the fiftieth anniversary of the movement he had helped found. Enclosed is a C.P.A.S. “F. Mistral” addressed to Mrs. Roumanille, a bookseller in Avignon, written in Provençal, with a Maillane postmark dated March 17, 1913. Mistral asks the wife of his friend Joseph Roumanille to kindly send him the Provençal edition of his Memoirs and Stories. “[...] E boni fèsto à tout l’oustan[...]”