A small collection of engraved portraits depicting important European singers of the nineteenth century, published by Aubert as part of a series for the "Galerie de la Presse, de la Littérature et des Beaux Arts." The twelve singers shown are Giovanni Battista Rubini, Anna Thillon, Giovanna Rossi-Caccia ("Mlle. Rossi"), Fanny Tacchinardi Persiani, Luigi Lablache, Pauline Viardot ("Pauline Garcia"), Giulia Grisi, Julie Dorus-Gras, Laure Cinti-Damoreau, Cornélie Falcon, Mécène Marié de l'Isle ("Marié"), and Adolphe Nourrit. Notes about each singer have been made in pencil on the verso of each. Each measuring 8 x 10.75 inches (20.4 x 27.3 cm); three trimmed to 7 x 10 inches (17.5 x 25 cm) and reinforced with mounting tape on the verso. Some foxing and toning and some irregularly trimmed edges; otherwise overall in very good condition.
Show all available items in this catalogue matching:ArtOpera
Rare autograph letter from the German music historian and musicologist best known for his 1873 biography of Johann Sebastian Bach and as the founder, in 1874, of the Leipzig Bach-Verein. Dated January 24, 1876. Writing to Leipzig music publisher Edmund Astor (son-in-law of Jakov Rieter-Biedermann and director of the Rieder-Biedermann Verlag's Leipzig office), Spitta acknowledges the receipt of a payment and clarifies the terms of an agreement about the publication of an article about the Leipzig Bach-Verein. He details the changes which will need to be made to his introduction to a volume of Bach cantatas which will be published by Rieter-Biedermann, and finishes by mentioning Heinrich von Herzogenberg, his co-founder of the Bach-Verein, who has recently stepped in for Alfred Volkland to conduct a concert. Full translation below. 2 pp. on a bifolium, with one area of light smudging but overall in fine condition. 5.5 x 8.5 inches (14 x 21.7 cm). Read More...
Original program from a performance of the Russian Ballet (Ballet Russe) at Covent Garden on June 24, 1912. The program starred Tamar Karsavina and Nijinsky in L'Oiseau du Feu, as well as Thamar and Les Sylphides. 4 pp. One heavy vertical folding crease; otherwise in fine condition. 7.25 x 9.75 inches (18.5 x 24.5 cm). Read More...
Original program for a farewell concert given by the important Italian soprano in London on November 6, 1919. Tetrazzini, about to sail for the United States, performed at the Royal Albert Hall with Lenghi Cellini, Albert Sammons, PEter Dawson, and Pietro Cimara. The attractive Art Nouveau program includes stylized engraved and woodcut portraits of the singers. 12 pp. Overall toning and light creasing, edge wear, and some wear to the spine, but overall in very good condition. Read More...
127.
[Josephine Baker]
[Baker, Josephine. (1906–1975)]. 1926 Issue of "Paris Plaisirs" - WITH AN EARLY PHOTOGRAPHIC SPREAD OF JOSEPHINE BAKER
Fantastic 1926 issue of the Art Deco magazine Paris Plaisirs, stunningly designed, including an early two-page spread of the legendary "Black Venus." Baker is shown in several different exotic topless outfits and poses, as she appeared in the Folies Bergère. The issue also includes a similarly titillating spread of dancer Jacquy Fragsy, a pink-boa-draped Maria Ley on the cover, as well as several further beautiful portraits of showgirls and dozens of sexy drawings. Nº 50, August 1926. 20 pp. Damage to the spine, with some internal tape repairs, and light wear to the edges; overall in fine condition. 9.75 x 12.5 inches (31 x 23 cm). Read More...
Show all available items in this catalogue matching:BookDance
Original flyer and program from a 1934 recital of the great pianist in Haifa, Israel. The flyer, in bold Hebrew and English type, advertises the recital on April 11 in Haifa's Maccabee Hall. Rubinstein's ambitious program included works by Bach-Busoni, Chopin, Debussy, Ravel, Prokofiev, Scriabin, and Stravinsky. The program, in English and Hebrew, features a half-tone photograph of Rubinstein on the Hebrew cover. Hole-punched, with some light folding creases and wear; flyer with heavy toning; overall in very good condition. Flyer 9.5 x 6.25 inches (24.4 x 15.8 cm); program, 4 pp., 5 x 9 inches (12.4 x 23.2 cm).
An interesting and attractive album of warm personal inscriptions and autograph signatures assembled in the 1940s by Dick Gilbert, a DJ on Arizona radio station KTYL who hosted on his show a veritable who's-who of popular music of the era. The leather album, embossed with Gilbert's name, contains signatures and personal inscriptions from jazz musicians, bandleaders, singers, actors, and Latin stars including Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Gene Krupa, the Andrews Sisters, Ed Sullivan, Tito Guizar, Cab Calloway, Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, Roy Rogers (and Trigger!) and many more. Most of the stars have written notes of thanks to Gilbert, some even adding sketches (the first page of the album has an amusing self-portrait caricature by Xavier Cugat). Frank Sinatra writes "It's kinda hard to think of the proper words to show my gratitude - so I'll just say thanx Dick - and you'll know what I mean," dated January 1943, and Krupa inscribes "To Dick - Thankz Ten Million For All The Fine Plugs." Included with the album in its original box are four brightly colored posters from Gilbert's show, each advertising a new record of the late 1940's and featuring a great caricature of Gilbert with a pile of records. Also included is a further unidentified signature on a brochure from an Arizona golf course. Read More...
Show all available items in this catalogue matching:SignatureSong
Original invitation to a 1956 RCA dinner honoring David Sarnoff, hand-addressed to the great Italian conductor. Together with a telegram dated September 13, 1956 from Toscanini to Sarnoff, sending his regrets and best wishes. "Am deeply sorry that I cannot be with all the other people... but you know that with all my heart I will be near you and I wish you many more years of activity in that industry which you have practically created and brought into splendid blossom." Read More...
Amusing vintage 1959 Agence Dalmas of Paris photograph of the legendary entertainer smiling broadly as she exits from a large transparent orb. Dali can be seen on the far right edge of the image! 7.3 x 9.5 inches (18.4 x 24 cm) and in fine condition. Read More...
An interesting and rare autograph letter from the later years of the jazz legend's life to his friend Jim Butler. In the original envelope postmarked September 20, 1982, the letter details Baker's money woes while on tour in Canada and California, and apologizes for not being able to pay back Butler the money he had lent Baker. Baker mentions his girlfriend Ruth [Young], and an upcoming gig in Calgary organized by "some young guys who were very interested in my playing," and his upcoming tour in Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. In a subtle mention of his ongoing drug problems, Baker writes, "I've been getting by since I last saw you on Tussion X cough syrup and feel as though I've made a lot of progress," and goes on to mention the death of actor Tom Baker from an overdose. (Complete text below.) A fascinating glimpse into Chet's later years, after his return to jazz, and his ongoing struggles with drugs and debt. Read More...
A small collection of hand-colored engraved portraits depicting French opera singers of the mid-nineteenth century in their celebrated roles in operas by Halevy, Auber, Rossini and Niedermeyer. Published by Maison Martinet as part of a series, "Galerie Dramatique," for the Académie Royale de Musique. The singers shown are: Rosine Stoltz as Marie in Rossini and Niedermeyer's Robert Bruce; Achille Riquier as Dominico in Auber's Haydée; Mlle. Darcier as Rose-de-Mai in Halévy's Val D'Andorre; Gustav Louis Esprit Euzet as Mathisen in Meyebeer's Le prophète; Jean-Étienne-Auguste Massol as Ruben in Auber's L'enfant prodigue; Boulo as Constantin in Halevy's La dame de pique; and Luigi Lablache as Caliban in Halevy's La Tempesta.Read More...
Show all available items in this catalogue matching:ArtOpera
A lovely AMQS consisting of a short original composition by the important Italian pianist and composer. On a postcard showing the Island of Marmol in Lake Buenos Aires, Busoni has composed a "musical illustration of this landscape": four measures, lento and pianissimo, with a slow ascending line over shimmering sixteenth notes. He has signed elegantly at the lower right and dated December 12, 1905. On the verso, the Argentinian collector, Ramona Imar Otaño, has addressed the postcard to herself. With original German stamp and postmark. A very special autograph in very fine condition. 5.5 x 3.5 inches (13.8 x 9 cm).
A very interesting collection of letters from the great pianist and composer, written from 1917 to 1931 to his longtime assistant, Maurice Aronson, and his wife Vera Aronson. In the ten autograph letters, five autograph postcards, and one typed letter signed, Godowsky's larger-than-life personality comes through as he writes, often at length, about his busy touring schedule, teaching engagements, compositions and publications, and family news. Sometimes signing benevolently as "Uncle Leo," he encourages the Aronsons in their own musical pursuits. In later letters, during the period after his paralyzing stroke and the deaths of his son and wife, he confesses his depression and ill health to the Aronsons as trusted friends. With only some contemporary marks in colored pencil, the letters are in fine condition and very legible, ranging in size from 5 x 8 to 7 x 11 inches. Also included are two loose pages from incomplete letters, as well as a typed letter to Godowsky's son Leopold Jr. An important and intimate record of the very highly-regarded pianist who, according to Ferruccio Busoni, was one of the only composers to have added anything of significance to keyboard writing since Franz Liszt. Read More...
AMQS from the German composer associated with "musique concrète instrumentale," on an album leaf with a printed photograph at the head. He has penned one measure, identified as his work for piano and orchestra, Ausklang, signed, and dated August 14, 2003. 14 x 21 cm.
Autograph letter from the Venezuelan-French composer, conductor, and singer known for his mélodies, apologizing to a male friend for having mislaid a letter and hoping for more news from his correspondent and perhaps a closer musical, or personal, relationship. Beg-Meil [Brittany], n.d. Translated from the French, in part: "[...] Passing through Paris, I looked everywhere for the famous letter which I spoke to you about -- it was impossible to find it. [...] I was negligent for once -- that is the extent of my guilt. Incidentally, in that letter, all I said to you was what I repeated [...] in Dieppe: my desire to be played by you, my boredom with being played by Mr. Carvalho, and the dim hope I still kept hold of to see the horizon brighten on your side. Please forgive me for not having written since then, as I was travelling in this area of Brittany, which has not only furnished me with adventures compared to which Sinbad the Sailor's are nothing, but has also distracted me terribly with its beauties. Can you tell me, as you had made me hope, anything a bit more precise about your projects, or must I wait longer? I am full of patience, if the latter, and if the former, of impatience! [...]" 4 pp. Toning, one slight tear and loss at the lower right corner, and archival tape reinforcements; overall in very good condition. 5.25 x 8 inches (13.1 x 20.3 cm). Read More...
Autograph letter from the important Spanish violinist and composer to a close acquaintance, giving his opinion on a singer and dealing with financial matters. Strasbourg, March 7, [18]78. Translated from the French: "I know Ernst, and I think he knows enough French to sing in that language. In great haste, let me announce that you will receive 20,000 marks (24,000 francs) in a few days, which I will be very grateful if you could invest for me. Thank you again, you will have earned your place in heaven. As for the 100 francs in change which you have of mine, you will do me a favor if you could send them to Doria Francisca Sarasate, Puerta del Sol No. 9-2 Izda. You don't know my little sister, she is my favorite, very intelligent and nice. Faithfully yours, Pablito. Ernst sang with me during the Cologne festival, and at my concert at the Berlin Opera. He is a kind of German Chérie." 2 pp. on a bifolium. Folding creases and light toning; overall in fine condition. 5 x 8 inches (12.6 x 20 cm).
Autograph letter from the important French harpist, teacher and composer, the eldest son of the eighteenth-century harp maker Jean Henri Naderman. Dated January 2, 1835, in the last year of Naderman's life and ten years after he became the first harp professor at the Conservatoire de Paris. Writing to a M. Ferrière, apparently an employee of the Conservatoire, Naderman enquires whether Ferrière has heard from three other musicians in regard to an upcoming project, one of whom will play "the violin solo. I believe that these gentlemen were supposed to send their responses to the Conservatory." 1 p. One small loss at the left and light folding creases; overall in fine condition. 4.75 x 7.5 inches (12.1 x 19.5 cm). Read More...
Autograph letter from the French harpist and composer to the members of the Comité du Théâtre Feydeau, asking for access to the theater in order to be able to complete his own opera. August 12, 1813. Translated from the French, in part: "Mr. Sewrin has asked me to compose the music for a poem in three acts which you received some time ago. I am working on it with great zeal, but to succeed [...] I feel that I need to study the great masters who have illustrated the scene, so I ask for the the favor to have access [to the theater] from now on, although rehearsals for my opera will not begin for several weeks..." He signs, "M. Ch. Bochsa, premier Harpiste de la musique de S. m." The opera mentioned is Bochsa's first work for the Opéra-Comique, L’héritier de Paimpol, with text by the playwright Sewrin, which premiered at the Théâtre Feydeau in December 1813. 1 p. of a bifolium, addressed on the verso. Folding creases and light toning; overall in fine condition. 7.25 x 9.5 inches (18.4 x 24 cm). Read More...
Charming autograph letter from the important nineteenth-century singer to a female friend and pianist, organizing an evening of chamber music and reporting an amusing mistake made by her maid. Dated Thursday, March 29. Translated from the French: "Dear young friend, Will you be so kind as to bring the (simple) quartet version of the Bach Concerto? I cannot find my orchestra parts any more. Don't be late -- I have had a nice Pleyel brought for you. We will play in the Galerie -- it will be charming. [...] We'll begin with the beautiful Schumann string quartet. Can you imagine, my new maid, who brought your answer yesterday evening, said [...] that you would come this evening, but that you were too tired to play... Pantomime!!!! Isn't that lovely?" 3 pp. on a small bifolium with Viardot's monogram. In fine condition. 6 x 4 inches (15.4 x 10 cm). Read More...
Autograph letter from the Venezuelan-French composer, conductor, critic and singer known for his mélodies, thanking his correspondent for his praise of Hahn's new book (perhaps his 1920 collection of lectures, Du Chant) and mentioning a letter from the Italian poet Gabriele D'Annunzio. N.p, n.d. [ca. 1920?]. Translated from the French: "Dear friend, I am on my way back, or rather, I certainly will be next Monday. You may certainly send me the letter from d'Annunzio. The praise which you give my little book make me quite blush with embarrassment. It is such cheek for a musical hack like me to dare to write in prose! When one is used to advancing on five rails, it goes to one's head when one must travel on the rocky terrain of the French language! Yours, Reynaldo Hahn." 2 pp. Folding creases and a strip of mounting tape on the verso; overall in fine condition. 4.75 x 6.5 inches (12.2 x 16.7 cm). Read More...