DELAFOSSE, Leon

Les Chauves-Souris, six mélodies de Léon Delafosse, sur des poésies du Cte Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac. Bound with Poème des mois, calendrier de Robert de Montesquieu, mis en musique par Raoul Brunel (Paris : A. Leduc, [1905]

Paris: Heugel, [1895]. 4to.

Item #8518

Léon Delafosse (1874 – 1951) was a French composer and pianist, generally considered the model for the character of Charles Morel, a violinist portrayed in Marcel Proust's novel In Search of Lost Time. He had been an intimate in the Proust/Montesquiou circle and had his portrait painted by John Singer Sargent in

The charming young pianist was nicknamed "the Angel," and was a favorite attraction at the salons of the most elite patrons of music in both Paris and London until he fell out of favor with Proust and his friends. This musical score was created at the height of his success and friendship with Montesquiou, whose poems include "Mauve" and "Baiser" (dedicated to Proust). Good in original decorative wrappers, small closed tears at edges, foxing throughout. This is the dedication copy, warmly inscribed on endpaper by Delafosse to his patron Montesquiou in December of 1894. Bound with Poème des mois, calendrier de Robert de Montesquieu, mis en musique par Raoul Brunel (Paris : A. Leduc, [1905]. The musical scores are dedicated to a number of Montesquiou's society friends, including the Comtesse Greffulhe and the Comtesse Jean de Castellane and others.

Price: $1,200.00