Autograph letter signed ("Fétis").
8vo. 1 p.
€ 1,000.00
Letter of recommandation for the British pianist and composer Henry Litolff to the music critic and publisher François Dufour at the Revue et Gazette Musicale de Paris. Fétis lauds Litolff in the highest tones, ascribing "veritable originality" to him: "M. Litolff qui vous remettra cette lettre vous est connu de nous comme un grand artiste ; il va à Paris pour y faire connaître des belles compositions dans lesquelles se trouve ce qui est si rare aujourd'hui, la véritable originalité. Je ne doute pas de votre bon vouloir à son égard ni de la sympathie de la rédaction de la Gazette Musicale. Je vous serai très obligé pour ce tout ce qui sera fait en sa faveur".
The Revue et Gazette Musicale de Paris was the result of the merge of François-Joseph Fétis's own Revue musicale (1827-35) and Maurice Schlesinger's Gazette musicale de Paris that had only been founded in 1834, one year before Schlesinger bought Fétis's Revue.
Largely forgotten today, Henry Litolff was admired at his time as a virtuoso and composer by the likes of Franz Liszt, who dedicated his First Piano Concerto to him. He is also remembered as the founder of the Collection Litolff (today part of Edition Peters), a highly regarded publishing imprint of classical music scores.
On stationery of the director of the Conservatory of Brussels.
Minimally creased.
