CHHAIKOVSKY Piotr Ilyich (1840-1893). MANUSCRIT MUSICAL autograph, [Dance of Fools and Buffoons, for La Pucelle d'Orléans (Arlieanskaya Dieva)], 1878; 12 pages oblong in-fol. (27 x 35.3 cm) on 6 folios (tears with gaps in 2 folios). Orchestral score of a dance for the opera La Pucelle d'Orléans. Composed in 1878-1879, on a libretto by the composer based on Schiller's tragedy, the opera La Pucelle d'Orléans, in 4 acts and 6 tableaux, was premiered on February 25, 1881 at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg. The present manuscript is located at the beginning of Act II: at the castle of Chinon, King Charles VII is absorbed by his preoccupations and tries to distract himself by listening to the minstrels; three dances follow one another: "Dance of the Gypsies" (Allegro vivace), "Dance of the Pages and the Dwarves" (Allegro moderato), and finally this "Dance of the Fools and the Buffoons" ( Allegro molto). The manuscript is written in black ink on 20-line Parisian paper (D.T. Éditeur, Typ. H. Plon, Paris), for large orchestra, mainly with a page system. It has 12 pages, out of 3 bifolia (only ff. 2-3 are still attached), one bifolium missing after ff. 5 (lacks by tearing at ff. 1 and 5). It is dated at the end of Florence 27 November/9 December 1878 (whereas at the end of the opera manuscript Tchaikovsky noted that he began it in Florence on 23 December). Tchaikovsky's musical manuscripts are extremely rare on