Lot n° 41
Estimation :
600 - 800
EUR
Result with fees
Result
: 960EUR
Constant COQUELIN elder (1841-1909). 30 L.A.S. "Coq" or "Coq - Lot 41
Constant COQUELIN elder (1841-1909). 30 L.A.S. "Coq" or "Coquelin", 1894-1908, to Louis Nordheim in Hamburg; 50 pages in various formats (many letter-cards with addresses).
Friendly correspondence of the actor.
[Louis Nordheim (1847-1921), the son of a leather merchant, met Félix Faure in 1867, during an apprenticeship trip to Le Havre. They became friends, and Faure introduced Nordheim, who made regular visits to the capital, to the whole of Paris].
The correspondence began with the death of Coquelin's mother in 1894, then stopped and resumed in the years 1903-1908. Coquelin wrote from Paris, but also during his tours in France, in Europe or on his return from America, during his vacations, or his stays in Cambo, at Rostand's house, and in the last years of his life in Couilly-Pont-aux-Dames, in the retirement home for artists that he had founded and where he liked to come to rest. The letters show his intense theatrical activity, evoking tours, performances, rehearsals, successes: La Montansier with Réjane (London 1904) Thermidor, Les Oberlé, L'Avare ("I was not a miser, but Molière's Avare"), the revivals of Cyrano "which always requires a devil's work" (1905)...
During a tour in Germany, he met the Emperor (Guillaume II) at the castle of Neudeck and praised him. He often talks about the "Jubilos" cigars that Nordheim sends him from Hamburg, about his Parisian friends (Faure, Waldeck, Barrère...) and also about buying paintings: "I see the landscape of Diaz, if we could have it for half a thousand it would be good, the Fromentin for about ten thousand would be fine too"...
From 1904 onwards, he awaited with enthusiasm and impatience the play that Rostand wrote for him, Chantecler. From Bordeaux, he wrote: "We read the first act of Chantecler. I cannot express to you the madness, the ecstasy and the admiration of all those who attended the reading. It was a true delirium!... ! I am going to hear the 4th act at Rostand's... and to discuss with him the execution of this incomparable story "... 1905 : " I do not believe that I will have Rostand's play this season " 1908 : " We are rehearsing Chantecler, and it will be a terrible work if we have to rise to the level of all the beauties ". August 13, 1908 : " I am on the second act of Chanteclerc : it is admirable "... In the letters of 1908, he mentions his tiredness and his overwork ; he will not be able to create Chantecler, since he will die on January 27, 1909.
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