May 04, 2017 - Sale 2446

Sale 2446 - Lot 268

Price Realized: $ 585
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 300 - $ 400
"I WILL SING SEMIRAMIDE OR I WILL NOT SING AT ALL" GRISI, GIULIA. Autograph Letter Signed, to an opera house director ("Sir"), in French, refusing to perform any role other than Semiramide. 3 1/2 pages, 4to, written on a folded sheet; marked bleed-through, folds. (MRS) Np, 14 October 1839
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". . . If you take away from me the role of Desdemona there will then remain for me, according to your intentions, only the old roles of Norma and I Puritani. It is not my fault, sir, if Mademoiselle Garcia cannot, or will not, sing Arsace and Malcolm; that in no way concerns me. . . .
". . . I am unwilling to cut the poor figure that certain people seem interested in picturing. By my contract I have the right to choose the opera in which I open. . . . I believe it my duty to warn you and to declare formally for the last time that I will not yield my right and that I will sing Semiramide or I will not sing at all. . . . I am sorry if this annoys you but I cannot and will not change or sacrifice myself for no matter who."