C. Gounod. Contemporary manuscript full score of the opera in four acts, "Cinq-Mars", [1877]

Charles Gounod

Contemporary manuscript of the revised version of the opera "Cinq-Mars" [1877]

The full score for voices and orchestra of the grand opera in four acts, with recitatives (No.7bis; No.8bis, No.9 bis, etc.), notated in an elegant scribal hand for voices and orchestra in dark brown ink on up to twenty-four staves per page, marked up for performance by or for the conductor in blue crayon, including apparently for an English production, with an English translation added throughout in another hand, cuts marked in pencil and in blue & red crayon (Nos.10, 16, 20, 21)

c.860 pages, folio (c.35 x 26 x 7cm), 24-stave paper (by Lard-Esnault), the bifolia used sequentially (1-216), both in ink and in pencil, without the 'Ouverture' (the 16-page engraved full score by Léon Grus bound in), modern green half morocco, gilt title to spine, some staining to lower outer corners, a few leaves possibly uncompleted or lacking from No.15 in Act 2  

Cinq-Mars was originally conceived as an opéra comique, like Carmen, with spoken dialogue. It premiered on 5 April 1877. Gounod then revised it as a full-blown grand opera with sung recitatives to replace the dialogue, and extensive ballets (divertissements) in Act scene 2, which is the version contained in this manuscript. It was first given in this form at Lyons on 1 December 1877. The opera, which was revived in 2017 in Leipzig, is based on the failed conspiracy by the court favourite of Louis XIII of France, the Marquis de Cinq-Mars, against Cardinal Richelieu and the king in 1642, leading to the execution of the Cinq-Mars and his co-conspirator François De Thou. The extensive divertissements at the salon of the courtesan Marion Delorme in Act 2 depict the romance between Cinq-Mars and the Spanish princess Marie de Gonzague.

The manuscript diverges considerably from the printed vocal score by Léon Grus, particularly in the divertissements. Nos.14bis and 15 contain a different chorus and additional sections (bifolia 113-119), before the Act 2 finale ('No.16 Final Conjuration'). The manuscript also contains some recitative scenes not found in the published score: No.9bis "Messieurs avez vous vu comme il était joyeux", in Act 2 (bifolia 58-62, 16 pages); No.12bis "Le Roi n'oubliera point", a duet for Cinq-Mars and Fontrailles at the end of Act 2 scene 1 (on an inserted bifolio "80bis"); No.17bis, Du Thou's 'Recit et cantabile' in Act 3; there is sung text added to No.18bis, the 'Mélodrame' and also in English to the orchestral introduction to Act 2 scene 2 (bifolios 81-83). The English translation and marked cuts appear to be early, although there is no recorded production in England during Gounod's lifetime; it was first given in 1900 at Leeds on 26 October and London on 17 November.