Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) - photo 1
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) - photo 2
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) - photo 3
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) - photo 4

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)

Lot 59
11.12.2024 14:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
£ 27 720
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1349698
Lot 59 | Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Estimate value
£ 25 000 – 35 000
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Autograph manuscript, the vocal score of the cantata Alyssa, [Paris, 1903]
In short score, title and 29½ pages, 351 x 273mm, the majority on rectos only, the accompaniment for piano two, three or four hands, heavily revised including extensive cancellations (including 1½ pages), erasures and emendations, one emendation on a pasted slip, a few emendations in blue and lead pencil in another hand.

Ravel's early cantata on an Irish theme. Alyssa was Ravel's third attempt to win the Prix de Rome (out of five in total, all unsuccessful), with a score showing the influence of Rimsky-Korsakov, Fauré and Massenet (according to Arbie Orenstein, Notes, 2nd Series, 48, 3 (March 1992), 1108). The libretto, based on an Irish legend, is by Marguerite Coiffier. The performance of the work on 18 June 1903 would have been accompanied from the vocal score (presumably the present manuscript), while the orchestral score, now in the Bibliothèque nationale de France (MS. 8536), was available for inspection by the jury. The present manuscript was evidently unavailable to Jean Duron in preparing his critical edition of the work (Paris: Arima Ltd and Salabart, 1990). The 1903 Prix de Rome was won by Raoul Laparra (1876-1943).

The score is inscribed 'ouf!!!!!!' by Ravel at the end with a doodle of a native American riding away on a horse in reference to Ravel's adherence to the artistic grouping Les Apaches, formed that year.
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
11.12.2024 – 11.12.2024
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
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Conditions of purchaseConditions of purchase

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