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Milhaud, Darius. (1892–1974) [Mitropoulos, Dimitri. (1896–1960)]. "Les malheurs d'Orphée" - Inscribed to a noted patron, from the collection of the Greek conductor.. Paris: Au Ménestrel, Heugel. 1926. First Edition.

Les malheurs d'Orphée / Opéra en trois actes / Paroles de Armand Lunel... La partition chant et piano.  Piano-vocal score of the opera by the French composer.  Upright quarto.  Softcover with added boards.  Lithographed after plates engraved by Baudon (footnote to final page of music).  [PN] H. 29,202.  Half title (verso blank); title (verso blank); cast list and details of first performance (verso blank); contents, with copyright notice to verso; 1–79 pp.  The composer has inscribed (translated from the French), "To Madame Rubensohn / Respectful memories / Milhaud" to the half title page.  Extensive plastic tape repairs, amounting to makeshift rebinding; final leaf detached, with some loss; original wrappers lacking and replaced with makeshift boards of a format slightly smaller than the music and wrapped in read and green paper;  lithographic print of a woodcut design affixed to upper wrapper, with "Darius Milhaud / Les malheurs d'Orphée" written in ink in the margin;  halftone photograph of Mitropoulos conducting mounted to the center of the inside upper board; words "Christmas 1951" can be seen just below the edge of the wrapping paper.  In need of rebinding.


"Emmy Rubensohn (1884–1961) was an influential music patron, who helped shape the music and art scenes of Germany and the United States in numerous ways...Highly educated and interested in culture, Rubensohn worked primarily in Germany in the 1920s and 30s, and in the United States in the post-war period.  Musicians and composers such as Dimitri Mitropoulos and Ernst Krenek owe her quite a lot." (Ernst Krenek Institute)

 Milhaud's chamber opera Les malheurs d'Orphée was first performed at the Théâtre de la Monnaie, Brussels, Belgium, 7th May 1926, conducted by Maurice Corneil de Thoran. Milhaud wrote the opera in two months, at the request of the Princesse de Polignac, an American-born heiress. Reviewing the Brussels première, Francis Poulenc (Le Ménestrel, 21 May 1926) thought the emotional and tender, tragic and pastoral score was Milhaud’s best work for the stage.

Dimitri Mitropoulos was Greece’s most prolific conductor and New York Philharmonic Music Director from 1949-1958.  Widely regarded as one of the most significant conductors of the twentieth century, he is best remembered for his significant recorded legacy and for his commitment in bringing new compositions to the stage of major symphony orchestras.  Indeed, it is thanks to his efforts that many of our current symphonic standards made their way into the repertory.  He gave World and American premiers of seminal works such as Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 and Schoenberg’s Erwartung, as well as other major works by Schoenberg, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and many others.  His personal collection has been held in private hands since his death in 1960, when it passed to conductor James Dixon, his student and protégé.  Mitropoulos came to consider Dixon his son, introducing him to conductors and performing arts institutions around the world, jumpstarting his career.  When Mitropoulos died in 1960 he left all his belongings, including his scores, to Dixon.  The bulk of the musical library has been subsequently gifted to the University of Iowa’s music library, but a selection of rare items have been selected to be offered for sale exclusively by Schubertiade Music & Arts.  These examples, many inscribed to the conductor from composers or associates, have only occasional markings from the conductor himself who committed all music to memory before his first rehearsal of the repertoire - a highly unusual method!  Some of these scores, however, were also subsequently used by James Dixon as part of his working reference library for many years and include his occasional markings.

Milhaud, Darius. (1892–1974) [Mitropoulos, Dimitri. (1896–1960)] "Les malheurs d'Orphée" - Inscribed to a noted patron, from the collection of the Greek conductor.

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Milhaud, Darius. (1892–1974) [Mitropoulos, Dimitri. (1896–1960)]. "Les malheurs d'Orphée" - Inscribed to a noted patron, from the collection of the Greek conductor.. Paris: Au Ménestrel, Heugel. 1926. First Edition.

Les malheurs d'Orphée / Opéra en trois actes / Paroles de Armand Lunel... La partition chant et piano.  Piano-vocal score of the opera by the French composer.  Upright quarto.  Softcover with added boards.  Lithographed after plates engraved by Baudon (footnote to final page of music).  [PN] H. 29,202.  Half title (verso blank); title (verso blank); cast list and details of first performance (verso blank); contents, with copyright notice to verso; 1–79 pp.  The composer has inscribed (translated from the French), "To Madame Rubensohn / Respectful memories / Milhaud" to the half title page.  Extensive plastic tape repairs, amounting to makeshift rebinding; final leaf detached, with some loss; original wrappers lacking and replaced with makeshift boards of a format slightly smaller than the music and wrapped in read and green paper;  lithographic print of a woodcut design affixed to upper wrapper, with "Darius Milhaud / Les malheurs d'Orphée" written in ink in the margin;  halftone photograph of Mitropoulos conducting mounted to the center of the inside upper board; words "Christmas 1951" can be seen just below the edge of the wrapping paper.  In need of rebinding.


"Emmy Rubensohn (1884–1961) was an influential music patron, who helped shape the music and art scenes of Germany and the United States in numerous ways...Highly educated and interested in culture, Rubensohn worked primarily in Germany in the 1920s and 30s, and in the United States in the post-war period.  Musicians and composers such as Dimitri Mitropoulos and Ernst Krenek owe her quite a lot." (Ernst Krenek Institute)

 Milhaud's chamber opera Les malheurs d'Orphée was first performed at the Théâtre de la Monnaie, Brussels, Belgium, 7th May 1926, conducted by Maurice Corneil de Thoran. Milhaud wrote the opera in two months, at the request of the Princesse de Polignac, an American-born heiress. Reviewing the Brussels première, Francis Poulenc (Le Ménestrel, 21 May 1926) thought the emotional and tender, tragic and pastoral score was Milhaud’s best work for the stage.

Dimitri Mitropoulos was Greece’s most prolific conductor and New York Philharmonic Music Director from 1949-1958.  Widely regarded as one of the most significant conductors of the twentieth century, he is best remembered for his significant recorded legacy and for his commitment in bringing new compositions to the stage of major symphony orchestras.  Indeed, it is thanks to his efforts that many of our current symphonic standards made their way into the repertory.  He gave World and American premiers of seminal works such as Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 and Schoenberg’s Erwartung, as well as other major works by Schoenberg, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and many others.  His personal collection has been held in private hands since his death in 1960, when it passed to conductor James Dixon, his student and protégé.  Mitropoulos came to consider Dixon his son, introducing him to conductors and performing arts institutions around the world, jumpstarting his career.  When Mitropoulos died in 1960 he left all his belongings, including his scores, to Dixon.  The bulk of the musical library has been subsequently gifted to the University of Iowa’s music library, but a selection of rare items have been selected to be offered for sale exclusively by Schubertiade Music & Arts.  These examples, many inscribed to the conductor from composers or associates, have only occasional markings from the conductor himself who committed all music to memory before his first rehearsal of the repertoire - a highly unusual method!  Some of these scores, however, were also subsequently used by James Dixon as part of his working reference library for many years and include his occasional markings.