BERLIOZ, Hector (1803-1869) - photo 1
BERLIOZ, Hector (1803-1869) - photo 2
BERLIOZ, Hector (1803-1869) - photo 3

BERLIOZ, Hector (1803-1869)

Starting price
£ 1 200
Auction dateClassic
14.12.2022 10:30UTC +01:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
United Kingdom, London
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 870897
Lot 79 | BERLIOZ, Hector (1803-1869)
BERLIOZ, Hector (1803-1869)

Autograph letter signed ('H. Berlioz') to [his son, Louis] ('Cher ami'), n.p., n.d. [c.1854].

In French. Two pages, 204 x 134mm.



An anxious letter to his son, Louis. Berlioz asks affectionately after his son's finances: 'What is urgent is for you to tell me categorically the state of your poor wallet, dear friend. You tell me what the next months are going to cost you without telling me what you owe. Tell me, so that I can be in a position to send you your money promptly. Do not hold anything back ... You scare me with your opium; I wasn't aware of that. You now have stomach pains? I was missing that extra worry! ... / Farewell, I'm in too much pain to write at greater length'.



Louis was the only child, born in 1834, of Berlioz's marriage to the Irish actress, Harriet Smithson, from whom the composer had separated in 1843. Smithson died in 1854, and the present letter was probably written around this time. Berlioz and his son became close in the following years: Louis pursued a career in the merchant navy before dying of yellow fever in Havana in 1867. The pain to which Berlioz refers is probably his long-standing intestinal complaint. Not found in the Correspondance générale.





Special notice


This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
10.12.2022 – 13.12.2022
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
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