BONDEVILLE Emmanuel [Rouen, 1898 - Paris, 1987], French comp - Lot 210

BONDEVILLE Emmanuel [Rouen, 1898 - Paris, 1987], French composer. Autograph manuscript entitled "Les Grands Musiciens à travers leur correspondance : II. Beethoven". 12 pages in-4°. "Beethoven didn't much like writing letters. He declared this on many occasions: "Writing, you know," he told his youthful friend Wegeler, "has never been my business; the best friends, themselves, have not received a single letter from me for years. [...] His irritable character was not born of legend. He himself portrays it. To a simple copyist, he ends his instructions with this confession: "I spent no less than all morning today and all afternoon the day before yesterday correcting the two pieces, and I'm all hoarse from swearing and stammering." [...] Such brutal frankness and violent irritability can be explained by a state of health that was not long satisfactory. If, at the age of 30, he could exclaim: "My bodily strength has been increasing for some time now more than ever, and with it the strength of my mind", complaints about his condition would fill many a letter. Worries of all kinds overwhelmed him. At the age of 23, his father died. He became head of the family for his two younger brothers, and had to settle unpaid debts. [...] He pursued his ardent course in spite of the hindrances. "It is my only reason for living; for me, there is no greater pleasure than to practice and produce my art."" Attached is the corresponding typescript, with a few autograph corrections, as well as reading notes. This text appears to be unpublished. An interesting study of Beethoven's correspondence.