An autograph Letter of Berlioz
1865
Introduction
This page presents the image of an autograph letter of Berlioz which was acquired by us in December 2011; appended below is also an English translation of the French text. This letter, hitherto unpublished, bears the date 12 May 1865 and is addressed to an official at the Egyptian Institute. In it Berlioz acknowledges receipt of a diploma recording his nomination as corresponding member of the Egyptian Institute. The fact of this nomination was previously unknown, and it appears not to be mentioned otherwise in Berlioz’s extant correspondence.
The establishment of the Egyptian Institute dates back to 1798 when it was founded by Napoleon Bonaparte in Cairo, during the French Expedition, under the title of Institut d’Égypte, on the model of the Institut de France in Paris. In 1801, after the departure of the French, the activities of the Institut d’Égypte ceased, but were resumed in 1836 by French, German and English scholars under the name of The Egyptian Society. In 1859, the Institut Égyptien, a Western-style learned society, was founded in Alexandria by European residents, under the patronage of the Khedive of Egypt. A few years later, it approached Berlioz, and no doubt other eminent cultural figures in Europe, to serve as corresponding member. In 1880, it revised its statutes and moved to Cairo.
An 1885 copy of the constitution of the institute is available in the Bibliothèque nationale de France. According to this document, the Institute would have 50 resident members, up to 100 honorary members, and an unlimited number of corresponding members. The 1866 issue of the Institute’s Bulletin lists the name of Berlioz among its corresponding members and describes him as ‘Membre de l’Institut Impérial de France’ (p. 11). It is not known whether Berlioz maintained any further correspondence with the Institute after his appointment.
The autograph of this letter will in due course be donated by us to the Berlioz Museum at La Côte Saint-André; two other autograph letters of Berlioz, of 16 June 1832 and May 1853 respectively, have previously been donated by us to the Museum.
Sir
I have received the diploma of corresponding member of the Egyptian Institute, which you did the honour of sending me. Please convey to the Institute my deep gratitude and the assurance that I am anxious to demonstrate it.
I am, sir, your devoted
Hector Berlioz
Member of the Institut de France
Bulletin de l’Institut égyptien, Number 9
The following images are courtesy of “Google Books”.
Bulletin’s title page
Page 11 of the Bulletin
The Hector Berlioz Website was created on 18 June 1997 by Monir Tayeb and Michel Austin; this page created on 20 December 2011.
© 2011-2012 Monir Tayeb and Michel Austin. All rights reserved.
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