{"product_id":"6695-gounod-charles-francois-all-this-story-about-faust-i-have-been-the-fool-or-victim-autograph-letter-relating-to-gounod-s-difficulties-in-obtaining-his-desired-royalties-from-his-english-publishers","title":"Gounod, Charles-François. (1818–1893) \"All this story about Faust...I have been the fool or victim\" – Autograph letter relating to Gounod's difficulties in obtaining his desired royalties from his English publishers","description":"Autograph Letter from the French composer recently described as “perhaps the central figure in French music in the third quarter of the 19th century,” addressed to his agent, Ernest Gambart (1814–1902).  Dated 29 June, 1872, 4 pp., 8vo, on letterhead of Tavistock House, London, the residence of Georgina Weldon (1837–1914) and her husband. In French. Signed \"Ch. Gounod.\" Usual folds, very fine.\u003cbr style=\"\"\u003e\u003cbr style=\"\"\u003eInitially, Gounod thanks Gambart for providing advice about accommodations in Spa, Belgium, noting that a particular property can be rented for full months only and it is his intention to only stay for three weeks.\u003cdiv style=\"\"\u003e\u003cbr style=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"\"\u003eThe main topic of the letter, however, is Gounod's grievance about \"all this story about \u003ci style=\"\"\u003eFaust\". \u003c\/i\u003eGounod drafts a detailed counter-strategy involving the services of Gombart, a certain Mr. May and Madame Weldon: \"I believe we have to meet before we launch the campaign in this matter: You [Gombart] can hand Madame Weldon a good deal of documents of which you doubtlessly have a clearer memory than I do, and I need to collect all the details and circumstances of which I have been the fool or victim, and which can be grouped under a common heading of what you in your letter called by the two words \u003ci style=\"\"\u003efalse representations\u003c\/i\u003e... Today Madame Weldon will show you even a copy of [the periodical] \u003ci style=\"\"\u003eMusical World \u003c\/i\u003ein which you will find a letter from me responding to a letter from Mr. Boosey that will be sent to you soon – and you all will be up to date about the polemic as it will proceed.\" \u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"\"\u003e\u003cbr style=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"\"\u003eFurther on, Gounod announces that he has arranged a concert (of his music) at St James's Hall for 15 July, with an an aside at the management of Albert Hall, which did him the \"offense and injustice of refusing the hall as a reward for myself [as a conductor] having made the most beautiful music ever heard there.\" He asks Gombart to \"push\" his London friends to attend.\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"\"\u003e\u003cbr style=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"\"\u003eAt the time, Gounod lived in the household of Georgina Weldon, a political activist and amateur soprano whose favorite occupation was fighting law suits, after Gounod's family had returned to France in 1871. He would stay with her and her husband for the next three years. There were rumors at the time that they were lovers, and these rumors are in part what drove him back to France.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"\"\u003e\u003cbr style=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"\"\u003eCuriously, the letter is completely silent about the \"\u003ci style=\"\"\u003eFaust \u003c\/i\u003estory\" itself, that is, the conflict between Gounod and the publisher Stowe about the royalties for the English edition of his opera\u003ci style=\"\"\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e(and other works). As the letter points out, this conflict was borne out publicly in the journal \u003ci style=\"\"\u003eMusical World\u003c\/i\u003e; the issue mentioned in the letter is vol. 50, no. 26, published on 29 June 1872, the same day as the present letter. Gounod's letter (in fact, two) as well as a letter from the other party are on p. 413 of that issue. Gounod's feud with the Royal Albert Hall is also mentioned there. In their passion about litigation, Gounod's present letter and also his letters published in the periodical are testimony to the extent of Madame Weldon's influence on him.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"\"\u003e\u003cbr style=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"\"\u003eAs to the Royal Albert Hall, which had recently opened, Gounod directed a choral society there but was deposed after a few months. \u003cbr style=\"\"\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"\"\u003e\u003cbr style=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"\"\u003eThe Belgian Ernest Gambart was an influential art dealer and print publisher, head of the Goupil \u0026amp; Cie branch in London. It was he who had alerted Gounod in 1863 to the possibility of selling English performing rights to his works and who Gounod promptly appointed to be his agent.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"\"\u003e\u003cbr style=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"\"\u003e\"Mr. Boosey\" refers almost certainly to the music publisher of the same name.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"\"\u003e\u003cbr style=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"\"\u003e\u003cbr style=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Schubertiade Music and Arts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46093301219487,"sku":"6695","price":850.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0512\/4826\/7423\/files\/Gounod_2C_Charles-Francois_Autograph_Letter_Signed_6695a.jpg?v=1722187153","url":"https:\/\/www.schubertiademusic.com\/products\/6695-gounod-charles-francois-all-this-story-about-faust-i-have-been-the-fool-or-victim-autograph-letter-relating-to-gounod-s-difficulties-in-obtaining-his-desired-royalties-from-his-english-publishers","provider":"Schubertiade Music and Arts","version":"1.0","type":"link"}