ALS to Breslau’s Police President Heinke

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Item: 23630

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BERLIOZ, HECTOR. (1803-1869). French composer of Harold in Italy, Symphonie Fantastique and other masterpieces. ALS. (“Hector Berlioz”). 1p. 4to. Breslau, March 13, 1846. To the local police president and university administrator, FERDINAND WILHELM HEINKE (1782-1857) an influential Prussian official, friend of Goethe (whose future daughter-in-law, Ottilie, was close to) and whose diary Thomas Mann used as a historical source for his novel, Lotte in Weimar. In French with translation.

“I propose to give a concert in the great hall of the university on Friday, March 20. Your permission is necessary, and I wish, Mr. President, to ask you to give me your permission and sign the programs I have the honor to send to you. I shall be very grateful for this favor. I have the honor to be, sir, your very humble servant…”

In March 1846, Berlioz traveled from Vienna to the Prussian city of Breslau (modern Wroclaw, Poland) where he spent three weeks, during which time he gave a concert at the University of Breslau, the subject of our letter, which included the second movement from Harold in Italy, the first three movements of the Fantastic Symphony, his 1845 bolero Zaïde, his brief overture Roman Carnival, and Felix Mendelssohn’s Caprice for piano and orchestra.

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Hector Berlioz

In his Memoirs, Berlioz notes that his “stay in the capital city of Silesia was both beneficial and agreeable.” The concert, he noted, garnered “excellent results from every point of view. Listeners had come from the surrounding countryside and towns; the takings [proceeds] greatly exceeded what I normally made in German cities, and the public gave the most splendid welcome to my compositions.”

However, the bulk of Berlioz’s time spent in Breslau was used to compose The Damnation of Faust. In Chapter 54 of his Memoirs, he notes: “It was during this trip to Austria, Hungary, Bohemia and Silesia that I started composing my legend of Faust, the plan of which I had been pondering for a long time… During the journey in the old German stage-coach [between Vienna to Breslau], I therefore tried to write the verses intended for my music. I started with Faust’s invocation to nature, without attempting to translate or even imitate Goethe’s masterpiece, but only to draw inspiration from it and to extract the musical substance that it contained… Once I had started I wrote the remaining verses as the musical ideas came to me, and I composed the score with an ease that I have rarely experienced with my other works. I wrote whenever I was able to, on coaches, on trains, on steamboats, and even during my stay in cities, despite the various obligations which arose from the concerts I was giving… In Breslau I wrote the words and the music of the Latin song of the students: Jam nox stellata velamina pandit [“Now the starry night spreads its veils”]. Berlioz continued composing The Damnation of Faust after leaving Breslau on March 24, and the completed work premiered at the Opéra Comique on December 6, 1846.

Written on the first leaf of a folded sheet with the integral address leaf intact. Folded with creasing and expected wear. In fine condition.

ALS to Breslau’s Police President Heinke