Paladilhe, Émile, French composer and pianist (1844-1926). 3 autograph letters signed and 1 autograph lettercard signed.

€ 480.00

A collection of letters spanning at least three decades, with a particularly interesting letter from Paladilhe's stay in Rome following the award of the Prix de Rome in 1860. On 8 November 1862, Paladilhe wrote to one of the six musicians within the Académie des Beaux-Arts, who preselect the candidates of the Prix de Rome for composition and propose a ranking of their entries ahead of the vote by all academy members. Paladilhe invokes the memory of his composition teacher Fromental Halévy, who had died on 17 March 1862, and thanks the recipient for the positive reception of compositions that he had sent to the institute: "Si j'avais encore l'excellent Maître que je regretterai toujours, et qui a laissé dans ma vie d'artiste un deuil inoubliable, c'eût été à lui que je me serais adressé pour le prier d'offrir à M.M.rs les Membres de la section musicale de l'Académie, dont vous faites partie, tous mes remerciements pour l'accueil favorable qu'ils ont bien voulu faire au travail que j'ai envoyé à l'Institut, et pour l'indulgence avec laquelle ils l'ont jugé". Paladilhe also announces that he will ask the minister of culture for permission to return to France in July 1863 and to receive funding for a stay in Germany to finance the extension of his sojourn in Rome, which also needs to be approved by the academy. In a short postscript, he sends regards from Théodore Dubois, the winner of the Prix de Rome of 1861 and later director of the Paris conservatory.

Then 16 years of age, Paladilhe was the youngest composer ever to win the 1er Grand Prix de Rome. His stay in the Villa Medici lasted three years.

The second dated letter in the collection, from 17 March 1892, is addressed to a friend named Ferrier. Paladilhe apologized for not having been able to accept an invitation as he was fully occupied with corrections for a publication: "Je suis dans un travail d'épreuves à corriger que je dois livrer à l'imprimeur samedi soir et qui me force à ne pas bouger de chez moi [...]". Among the three works of Paladilhe published in 1892 is his important oratory Les Saintes Maries de la Mer.

In a letter on mourning paper dated only 23 January, Paladilhe congratulates a friend named René on a recent publication: "Œuvre de grande allure, largement pensée, habilement conduite dans ses nombreux et intéressants développements (voilà ce qui ressort de ma première impression) et qui fait grand honneur à son auteur".

Finally, an undated lettercard is to thank a M. Berly in Boissise-la-Bertrand for sending graftings to the gardener of Paladilhe's father-in-law Louis Émile Lefebzre-Desvallières, the father of the important painter George Desvallières: "Tous nos remerciements les meilleurs pour les greffes que vous avez bien voulu faire parvenir au jardinier de mon beau père, et aussi nos regrets que la réciprocité n'ait pu avoir lieu! [...]".

Well preserved.