ALS from the French tenor and composer to an unknown individual, expressing regret for being unable to attend a recent social gathering.  1 March 1854;  2 pp. on embossed personal stationary.  Duprez writes that he would have been happy to attend, but was called away to his home in Valmondois by (translated from the French) "an unpleasant matter of municipal administration."  Expected mailing folds, else in fine condition.  5.5 x 8.25 inches (14 x 21 cm.).

In 1831, in Lucca, Duprez took part in the premiere Italian performance of Guglielmo Tell, singing for the first time (in an opera theatre) a high C sung not in the so-called falsettone register, as other tenors of that time were accustomed to do, but with a full voice, often described as coming "from the chest". He is thus credited with an important shift in vocal technique and tenor performance practice.  After first successes in Italy, Gilbert Duprez had a brilliant but short career as First Tenor at the Paris Opera from 1837 to 1847, when he had to resign because his voice had worn out prematurely.  He created the role of Benvenuto Cellini in Berlioz's opera of the same name and took part in the premieres of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor and La favorita.  His own opera Jeanne d'Arc, one of quite a few, was staged in Paris in 1865 without success.