"Don Juan de Mozart ... Transcrite pour Piano Solo par Georges Bizet" - Signed Presentation Copy

Paris: Heugel & Cie. [1866]. The printed first edition score of Bizet's piano reduction of Mozart's "Don Giovanni," inscribed on the half title " À Mademoiselle Christine de Noné / Hommage du transcripteur / Georges Bizet." In fine condition, the initials "C.N." in gilt on the front board. Edges a little rubbed, inner front hinge cracked but binding completely solid otherwise, contained in a custom red leather and cloth box, stamped in gilt at spine.


Autograph material of Bizet is highly uncommon and presentation scores of this kind are among the rarest of all forms.


Bizet's arrangement of Mozart's great opera dates from the composer's late 20's and is especially fascinating in its role as a clear signpost on Bizet's route to composing his own celebrated "Carmen." In the Paris of the 1860s, despite being a Prix de Rome laureate, Bizet struggled to get his stage works performed and though his "Pecheurs de perles" had been performed at the Theatre Lyrique in 1863, it had not enjoyed much success and the composer wrote this 'transcription for hire' for the publisher Heugel. "This story about a manipulative and exploitive woman places Carmen in the category of the classic battle of the sexes. The most formidable other operatic treatment of this battle is Mozart's famous libertine, Don Giovanni. Carmen and Don Giovanni are both operas that take place in Seville and deal with an archetypal main character; both stories center around sex and seduction; both stories were initially considered immoral by their public; both characters exercise their power to manipulate the opposite sex for no apparent reason other than their own pleasure; and both leading characters are finally entrapped by their deeds with their deaths the final consequence of their actions." (Burton D. Fisher, "Bizet's Carmen") (9389)

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Signed Document/Item

Opera

• Sold