![Livre E](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Livre_E._Michotte.jpg)
The Edmond Michotte collection is a donation to the
Royal Conservatory of Brussels
The Royal Conservatory of Brussels (french: Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles, nl, Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel) is a historic conservatory in Brussels, Belgium. Starting its activities in 1813, it received its official name in 1832. Provid ...
phased between 1897 and 1913, by the Belgian homonymous composer and musicographer, of an important part of the private library of
Rossini
Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards f ...
with whom he became friendly.
Biography
Born into a wealthy Belgian noble family, Edmond Michotte (1831–1914) was educated in Belgium and Paris. Back in his home country after the 1848 revolution, he chose to start music studies after an aborted bachelorship in Philosophy at the
Free University of Brussels University of Brussels may refer to several institutions in Brussels, Belgium: Current institutions
* Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), a French-speaking university established as a separate entity in 1970
*Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), a D ...
. A pianist and composer, he gained a wide reputation as a performer on the mattauphone virtuoso. From 1854 he lived between Brussels and Paris, where he moved in the celebrity circles of the musical crowd and became acquainted with
Rossini
Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards f ...
– then almost forty years his senior – who considered him as his ''quasi figlio''. After having had the opportunity to attend the meeting of the composer with
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
, he published a short review of the event. Back in Belgium in 1870, he became a member of several associations and presided over the vigilance committee of the
Royal Conservatory of Brussels
The Royal Conservatory of Brussels (french: Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles, nl, Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel) is a historic conservatory in Brussels, Belgium. Starting its activities in 1813, it received its official name in 1832. Provid ...
to which he donated his vast Rossinian collection in subsequent phases. He died in 1914 after a missile hit his house in
Leuven
Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic ...
, without having achieved his ambition to dedicate a museum to his illustrious friend and protector.
The collection
Appreciated by Rossinian scholars for the rarity of certain documents, the Michotte collection essentially contains pieces from Rossini's library: handwritten and printed scores, books, ''libretti'' and various publications, correspondence, iconographic material and various objects.
Autographs and printed scores
The collection contains close to 300 musical manuscripts, amongst which 26 are autograph; the majority of these are works by Rossini, including 180 compositions pertaining to the lyrical repertoire – mostly unedited airs, fragments or variations – written for the soprano
Isabella Colbran
Isabella Angela Colbran (2 February 1785 – 7 October 1845) was a Spanish opera soprano and composer. She was known as the muse and first wife of composer Gioachino Rossini.
Early years
Colbran was born in Madrid, Spain, to Giovanni Colbran ...
(1785–1845), his first wife and creator of major roles, as well as vocal and instrumental music.
The collection includes the handwritten score of ''
Matilde di Shabran
''Matilde di Shabran'' (full title: ''Matilde di Shabran, o sia Bellezza e Cuor di ferro''; English: ''Matilde of Shabran, or Beauty and Ironheart'') is a '' melodramma giocoso'' (''opera semiseria'') in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to a librett ...
'' (1821) – a minor work of the composer, but the only one in Belgium.
[The Italian musicologist Rita Marchetti, having analyzed and compared this manuscript to the edition of the score in Rome in 1821 (also present in the Michotte collection), has ascertained the absence of nine scenes.] which sheds light on the evolution of Rossini's ''bel canto''.
![Cavatine Rossini](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Cavatine_Rossini.jpg)
Among some forty manuscripts from other composers is the autograph version of ''Six Polonaises'' D824, op. 61 from
Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...
although no information is available as to how it became part of Rossini's library.
Books, ''libretti'' and various publications
The Michotte collection also comprises 420 titles of musical editions, of which approximately 120 are by Rossini, and 300 Italian or French publications from the XIX
e century, as well as a complete edition of the works of
J.S. Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suite ...
and of
Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
's symphonies. It is complemented by a precious collection of ''libretti'' of the first performances of Rossini, carefully assembled and bound by his father.
Other publications, many of which contain a dedication to Rossini, are of a different nature, but undoubtedly belonged to the shelves of the musician, such as the 1818 edition of
Dante
Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...
's ''
Divina Commedia
The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and ...
'' and the ''Répertoire général du théâtre français.''
Monographs and press articles concerning Rossini, several printed programmes of the ''Soirées musicales'' – private concerts organised in Paris by the composer and his second wife Olympe Pélissier – give witness to the esthetic taste of the time.
Correspondence
![Caricature de Rossini](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Caricature_de_Rossini.jpg)
The collection includes more than two hundred letters and different handwritten texts – invitations, programs, poetry, furniture inventories, condolences, or the impressive list of celebrities attending the composer's funeral. The correspondence, of which half is autograph, holds some thirty letters from Rossini to his Bolognese secretary, Angelo Mignani, the others being addressed to the composer himself.
Iconographic material and various objects
The iconographic part of the collection, representing some hundred fifty images, covers lithographs of the young Rossini, photos – some by
Nadar
Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (5 April 1820 – 20 March 1910), known by the pseudonym Nadar, was a French photographer, caricaturist, journalist, novelist, balloon (aircraft), balloonist, and proponent of Aircraft#Heavier-than-air – aerodynes, h ...
– of the old artist, his funeral and his exhumation, or of portraits of his parents, as well as some engravings featuring
Colbran.
The personal objects in this section include a fan-formed vase with seven musical quotations from Rossini, representing the allegory of the « swan of Pesaro», next to a miniature biscuit bust, a paper cutter, a
pince-nez and a tie-pin offered by
Bellini.
Bibliography
* Alfred Wotquenne, « Liste des dons faits à la bibliothèque du Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles 1896-1898 », ''Annuaire du Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles 1897-1998'', p. 105.
* Victor Mahillon, « Liste des dons faits au Musée du Conservatoire 1901 », ''Annuaire du Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles 1902'', 26, 1902, pp. 156–157.
* Alfred Wotquenne, ''Catalogue de la bibliothèque du Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles'', voll. 4, Bruxelles, 1912.
* Edouard Grégoir, « Michotte, Edmond », ''Les artistes-musiciens belges au XVIIIe et XIXe siècle'', 3 voll., Bruxelles, 1885–1887, vol. I, pp. 314–315, 485.
* Thierry Levaux, ''Dictionnaire des compositeurs de Belgique du Moyen-Age à nos jours'', Ohain-Lasne, Editions Art in Belgium, 2006.
* Johan Eeckeloo, « Il Musée Rossini », ''Bollettino del Centro Rossiniano di Studi'', Rossini e Michotte, 2004, pp. 7–52.
* Olivia Wahnon de Oliviera, « La collection Rossini de la bibliothèque du Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles augmentée de deux documents autographes », ''Revue Belge de Musicologie'', n
o 67, 2013, pp. 283–290.
* Philip Gossett, « Rossini Autographs in the Fonds Edmond Michotte of the Brussels Conservatory », ''Revue Belge de Musicologie'', n
o 68, 2014, pp. 19–42.
* Edmond Michotte, ''Une soirée chez Rossini à Beau-Séjour (Passy) 1858'', Bruxelles, 1893.
* Edmond Michotte, ''La visite de R. Wagner à Rossini, Paris 1860'', Bruxelles, 1906.
Notes
External links
Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel(English)
Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles(French)
Royal Conservatory of Brussels library catalogRoyal Conservatory of Brussels library catalog - RossiniRoyal Conservatory of Brussels library catalog - ColbranRoyal Conservatory of Brussels library catalog - Olympe PélissierRoyal Conservatory of Brussels library catalog - Edmond Michotte
{{Gioachino Rossini
Royal Conservatory of Brussels
Gioachino Rossini
Academic libraries in Belgium
Writers about music