ROSSINI GIOACHINO: (1792-1868) ´ Povero Rossini quanto e brutto!´

ROSSINI GIOACHINO: (1792-1868) ´ Povero Rossini quanto e brutto!´

ROSSINI GIOACHINO: (1792-1868) Italian composer of operas. A fine and lengthy A.L.S., Gioachino Rossini, six pages, 4to, Bologna, 6th February 1830, to Alcide de Beauchesne (´Monsieur Le Vicomte´), in French. Rossini commences with an elaborate apology for not having written to his correspondent earlier (´c´est-a-dire: a converser quelques instants avec celui auquel je dois tant de reconnaissance pour les immenses bontes qu´il a daigne sans cesse avoir pour moi´; Translation: ´that is to say, to converse for a few moments with the man to whom I owe so much gratitude for the immense kindnesses he has constantly deigned to show me´) stating ´Vous penserez que votre Rossini est ingrat, ou pour le moins bien negligeant. Vous penserez que les plaisirs seuls occupent tous ses moment; que tout entier occupe de frivoles amusements qui peuvent flatter son amour-propre (quel homme n´en a pas quelque legere dose?) il oublie celui auquel il doit le plus penser! Que je me trouverai malheureux si je ne pouvais a l´instant faire evanouir de vos pensees toutes ces reflexions qui sans doute n´ont pas manque de se presenter a votre esprit lorsque vos nombreuses occupations vous auront permis de penser a votre devoue et affectionne serviteur´ (Translation: ´You will think that your Rossini is ungrateful, or at the very least very negligent. You will think that pleasures alone occupy all his moments; that all occupied with frivolous amusements that can flatter his self-esteem (what man does not have a slight dose of this?) he forgets the one he should be thinking about most! How unhappy I would be if I could not at this moment remove from your thoughts all these reflections which no doubt did not fail to present themselves to your mind when your many occupations allowed you to think of your devoted and affectionate servant´) and further explaining ´Rossini fut malheureux, et souffrant, voila Mons. le Vicomte. les seuls motifs du retard qu´il a ete oblige de mettre a vous donner de ces nouvelles. Maintenant je vais vous detailler en peu de mots ce qui m´est arrive depuis que je suis ici. J´ai trouve tant d´affaires a regler. et je fus assailli d´une si nombreuse quantite de visites a ma campagne ou je m´etais rendu directement qu´il me fut impossible de trouver un quart d´heure de solitude. Je revins en ville, chasse par la neige qui paraissait devoir nous engloutir. Aussitot arrive, ma douce Femme devint tres souffrante et finit par tomber tres serieusement malade. Depuis quelques semaines seulement elle commence a etre un peu mieux, mais son estomac, excessivement affaibli, la rend encore convalescente. Les inquietudes, les apprehensions, la compagnie que j´ai du lui faire auraient ete des excuses plus que suffisantes pour que mon aimable Vicomte, au lieu de me gronder, m´eut plaint de tout son coeur du retard que cet accident apportait a l´informer de ma personne. Le sort n´aurait-il pas du, apres m´avoir tourmente de la sorte, faire treve a sa rigueur? Mais non; pour me faire encore plus regretter le bonheur parfait dont je jouissais lorsque j´etais pres de vous, il m´accabla de toute sa rigueur, et je tombais moi-meme malade.....Ah! Pour le hater que ne pouviez-vous voir votre pauvre Rossini dans le neglige qu´il etait oblige d´adopter dans sa convalescence et qui epouvantait toutes ces belles marquises de Bologne qui venaient le voir et s´en retournaient en s´ecrivant: Povero Rossini quanto e brutto!´ (Translation: ´Rossini was unhappy, and unwell, these, Mons. le Vicomte, are the only reasons for the delay he was obliged to put in giving you this news. Now I am going to detail to you in a few words what has happened to me since I have been here. I found so much business to settle, and I was beset with so many visits to my country where I had gone directly that it was impossible for me to find a quarter of an hour of solitude. I returned to town, driven out by the snow which seemed set to engulf us. As soon as I arrived, my sweet wife became very ill and ended up falling very seriously ill. For only a few weeks now she has been a little better, but her stomach, which is excessively weak, is still making her convalescent. The worries, the apprehensions, the company I had to keep her would have been more than enough excuse for my kind Viscount, instead of scolding me, to have pitied me with all his heart for the delay this accident caused in informing him of me. Should fate not, after tormenting me in this way, have given way to its rigour? But no; to make me regret even more the perfect happiness which I enjoyed when I was near you, it overwhelmed me with all its rigour, and I myself fell ill.......Ah, for the hater, why couldn't you have seen your poor Rossini in the negligee he was obliged to adopt during his convalescence, and who frightened all those beautiful marquises from Bologna who came to see him and went away writing to each other: Povero Rossini quanto e brutto!´). The composer further excuses his French galimatias, and continues in a humourous manner, ´Je vous confie que je soupire, et que je suis amoureux, ne devrai-je pas me trouver honteux de ce nouvel objet d´une si ardente flamme puisque le beau sexe n´y entre pour rien? Un etre du genre masculin.....quelle honte! Quel crime! et pourtant c´est a vous cher Vicomte que je me recommande pour obtenir au plus vite l´objet si desire. A vous je m´ecrire: mon Poeme! de grace envoyez-moi mon cher Poeme! ne s´agit-il pas, en lui donnant tous mes soins de plaire a vous Mons. Vicomte? Quel redoublement d´amour pour lui cette pensee me donne! Je l´attends donc avec la plus grande impatience´ (Translation: ´I confide in you that I am longing, and that I am in love. Should I not be ashamed of this new object of such ardent passion, since the fair sex has nothing to do with it? A male being.....what a shame! What a crime! and yet it is to you, dear Vicomte, that I commend myself in order to obtain the object I so desire as quickly as possible. To you I write: my poem! please send me my dear poem! is it not a question, in giving it all my care to please you Mons. Vicomte? What a redoubling of love for him this thought gives me! I therefore await it with the greatest impatience´) and concludes his letter writing ´Si quelque chose au monde pourra me rendre heureux loin de vous ce sera d´apprendre que votre sante est bonne, et que vous jouissez d´un bonheur sans nuage. J´apprendrai aussi avec une douce satisfaction que notre cher Theatre, auquel je prends tant d´interet, va toujours prosperant. Ma patrie m´est bien chere! ne me donna-t-elle pas le jour? La France, combien je l´aime! ne lui dois-je pas la plus vive reconnaissance? Plein de ces sentiments auxquels je joins la tendre affection que je vous porte, daignez agreer, mon cher Monsieur le Vicomte les respectueux hommages de Votre tres humble tout devoue et reconnaissant serviteur!´ (Translation: ´ If anything in the world can make me happy away from you it will be to learn that your health is good, and that you are enjoying unclouded happiness. I shall also learn with sweet satisfaction that our dear Theatre, in which I take so much interest, is still prospering. My country is very dear to me! did it not give me birth? France, how I love her! do I not owe her the deepest gratitude? Full of these sentiments to which I add my tender affection for you, please accept, my dear Monsieur le Vicomte, the respectful homage of your most humble, devoted and grateful servant!´). In a postscript Rossini asks to be remembered to a mutual female acquaintance, ´Oserais-je vous prier de vouloir bien me rappeler au souvenir de l´aimable Comtesse Duquayla. Si ce nom n´est pas bien ecrit veuillez de grace ne pas lui dire, car ne pas savoir ecrire le nom d´une belle dame comme elle peut s´appeler un peche mortel´ (Translation: ´May I beg you to remember me to the kind Countess Duquayla. If this name is not spelt correctly please do not tell her, because not knowing how to write the name of a beautiful lady like her can be called a mortal sin´). A letter of wonderful content, at time humourous, and written with Rossini´s Mediterranean loquaciousness. Some very light, extremely minor age wear, VG

Alcide de Beauchesne (1800-1873) French nobleman who served as a Gentleman of the King´s Chamber under Louis XVIII and was also chief of staff of the fine arts department 1825-30, before becoming head of the National Archives.

The poem which Rossini was keen to obtain is likely to have been Orage et beau temps (Sur les flots inconstans) by the poet and librettist Ambroise Betourne (1795-1835) which, in 1830, formed the basis of a barcarolle for two voices and piano composed by Rossini.