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Ambroise Thomas
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TRANSCRIPTION
Mercredi le 11 août 1849
Mon cher ami,
Depuis plusieurs jours, je sors tous
les matins à 9 heures et passe
toutes mes journées au conservatoire pour assister aux examens
comme membre du Comité d’enseignement.
Ce n’est donc que bien au soir en
rentrant que j’ai reçu, trop tard
hélas, le billet m’annonçant l’affreux malheur qui vient de vous frapper!
Ça été pour moi un coup bien inattendu malgré
Page Two
les inquiétudes que je vous voyais
l’autre jour. Dites je vous prie à
Madame Corzus toute la peine que je ressens à sa douleur; dites-lui bien,
jusqu’à ce que j’ose me présenter chez elle, que de tous ses vieux amis,
je suis de ceux qui sentiront le mieux la perte qu’elle vient de faire et qui
lui garderont toujours le meilleur souvenir.
Croyez cher ami à mes sentiments bien affectueux.
Ambroise Thomas
TRANSLATION
Wednesday, April 11, 1849
My Dear Friend,
These past
days, I am out every morning at 9 and spend most of my days
at the Conservatory to assist the exams as a member of the Teaching Committee.
So, it is only late at night that I return
back home, that I have received, unfortunately
too late, the note informing me of the terrible misfortune that just hit you!
It was for
me unexpected even if I had seen you somewhat worried the other
day. Please tell Mrs. Corzus all the sorrow I feel towards her pain; do tell
her,
until I dare call on her, that of all her old friends, I am the one who will
best
feel the loss she is experiencing and that I will always keep her in my best
memories.
Dear friend, please be assured of my affectionate feelings.
Ambroise Thomas
ABOUT THE COMPOSER
Charles Louis Ambroise Thomas was born August 5, 1811 in Metz, France. His father was a musician and so Ambroise learned music in childhood and played the piano and violin. He entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1828. He won the Prix de Rome in 1832 for his cantata, Hermann et Ketty. He had success in the Opéra Comique, he tried the Opera, but there was so much competition from giants such as Halévy, Auber and Meyerbeer, he returned to the Opéra Comique where he continued operatic success. His best known opera is Mignon (1868) that was given its 1,000th performance in 1894. He became a professor at the Conservatoire in 1856 where he taught, among others, Massenet, DuBois and Bourgault-Ducourdray. Thomas succeeded Daniel Auber as director of the Conservatoire in 1871. Thomas died in Paris on February 12 1896.
A student and disciple of Thomas was Jules Massenet. Massenet
recites his own recollection of his master's funeral:
"The third after his death, I delivered his funeral oration
in the name of the Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques. I
began as follows:
"It is said that a king of France in the presence of the body
of a powerful seigneur of his court could not help saying, 'How tall he was!' So
he who rests here before us seemed tall to us, being of those whose height
is only realized after death.
"To see him pass in life so simple and calm, in his dream of
art, who of us, accustomed to feel him kindly and forbearing always at our
sides, has seen that he was so tall that we had to raise our eyes to look him
fairly in the face."
(My Recollections, Jules Massenet, (1919) pp.214-215.)
REV. 2/11/2004
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