Jules MASSENET (1842-1912)

Autograph Letter Signed (“Massenet”) to an unidentified correspondent, informing him of a summons from M. Carvalho [Leon Carvalho, director of the Opéra Comique].
2 pages 8vo in French, Dieppe, 26 July n.y.                
Trans: “Monsieur Carvalho has just this moment sent me a telegram asking me to go to lunch at Puys this morning.
I don’t expect that we will talk about La Navarraise, but I am touched by his interest. 
I will let Heugel know about this missive – but . . . to come to Paris . . . to leave Cinderella!
Affectionately in haste –
I will keep you informed.”
Several of Massenet’s operas had their premiere at the Opéra Comique, including his very successful Manon. La Navarraise, however, was premiered at Covent Garden in 1894, and was staged at the Opéra Comique a year later.
Work on Cendrillon started soon after the premiere of La Navarraise, but it was nearly five years before it would have its premiere, this time at the Opéra Comique. Once again, Massenet had composed an immensely successful opera.
Massenet’s prodigious output means that many of his operas, successful or not, are rarely heard today. La Navarraise is one of those less well known, but Cendrillon continues to be a popular favourite, as are Manon and Werther. Having completed Cendrillon, he announced that it would be his last opera. It wasn’t, and he continued to produce several more operas.
Henri Heugel, mentioned at the end of the letter, was the most prominent music publisher in France at the time. He published the score of La Navarraise in 1894. It is impossible to be precise about the year of this letter, but the text might suggest July 1894, a month after the London premiere of La Navarraise, and the early days of work on Cendrillon while Massenet was enjoying a holiday on the Normandy coast.
At the top of the letter Massenet has written in large letters “2nd letter”, suggesting that he had sent this correspondent a previous letter that morning. 
Slight pinhole at the top of the letter, not affecting the text.

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