Charles-Marie WIDOR (1844-1937). Signed autograph manuscript - Lot 175

Lot n° 175
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Result : 512EUR
Charles-Marie WIDOR (1844-1937). Signed autograph manuscript - Lot 175
Charles-Marie WIDOR (1844-1937). Signed autograph manuscript, Report. Billi-Decker Conflict, [February 1925]; 3 pages in-fol. plus title. Enclosed is an a.s. note giving an appointment at the Institute, February 3, 1925; plus 4 letters (mostly a.s.) by Henry Bauër, Jean Casimir-Périer (l.s.), Georges Hüe and René Waldeck-Rousseau . Widor recalls the origin of sound ("the vibrations of the air shaken by the shock of two bodies"), and the tradition of harmonics known for centuries to organbuilders and organists . "In the present dispute, we first discuss these points: - Can practicing on one instrument what is practiced on another be considered an invention? - Is Mr. Decker the first pioneer of the "ninth", and if it could be proved, would this constitute a property right? On both points, I answer No ... And to cite the case of students at the Conservatory who used in their compositions the characteristic ninth harmonic of the timbre of the bell, the xylophone, the harmonica, etc., and who were unaware ("like myself", he adds) of Mr. Decker's piece? He quickly rejects Decker's claim of analogies between Decker's Wester Chimes and Vincenzo Billi's Campane a sera, and states: "The resources of art belong to all artists. Whenever in the theater, in the orchestra, on the piano one wants to reproduce a timbre, one will use the same means".
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