Berlioz, Hector. ...

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Berlioz, Hector. Autograph letter signed ("H. Berlioz"), in French, 1 page (5.5 x 3.87 in.; 140 x 98 mm.), [Paris, 1838-1839], to Madame Gras-Dorus with a notation in upper right corner in an unidentified hand ("between the 3rd and the 4th performances of Benvenuto Cellini 1838-39"); tape reinforcement to vertical fold, paper loss on integral address leaf not affecting any characters, mounting remnants on verso. Accompanied by a carte-de-visite photograph of Berlioz, (4 x 2.5 in.; 102 x 64 mm.); mounting remnants on verso. Berlioz requests embellishments to an aria in Benvenuto Cellini. Belioz writes in full: Madame, Would you be so kind as to bring to the opera this evening, the charming point-d'orgues (embellishments) you added to your aria in the first act; I wait for them for the printing of this piece that you have set off so admirably. Your truly devoted H. Berlioz Monday morning P.S. And Dupont, is he getting on? Julie Dorus-Gras was a Belgian operatic soprano and a principal performer at the Paris Opera 1835-1845. She first performed there as the Countess in Rossini's Le comte Ory on 9 November 1830. Later she created roles in the world premieres of several notable operas, including Alice in Giacomo Meyerbeer's Robert le diable on 21 November 1831, Oscar in Daniel Auber's Gustave III, Pauline in Gaetano Donizetti's Les Martyrs (the French version of Poliuto), Princess Eudoxie in Fromental Halévy's La Juive, Ginevra in Halévy's Guido et Ginevra, Marguerite de Valois in Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots, and Teresa in Berlioz's Benvenuto Cellini. Benvenuto Cellini is an opera semiseria in two acts with music by Hector Berlioz and libretto by Léon de Wailly and Henri Auguste Barbier. It was the first of Berlioz's operas, premiered in 1838. The story is inspired by the memoirs of the Florentine sculptor Benvenuto Cellini, although the elements of the plot are largely fictional.