Lot 56: FAURÉ, GABRIEL.

TWO FIRST EDITIONS OF THE MUSICAL DRAMA "PROMÉTHÉE" AND THE SEVENTH NOCTURNE FOR PIANO, BOTH SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY FAURÉ TO HIS MISTRESS MARGUERITE HASSELMANS
Prométhée, tragédie lyrique, Paris: Hamelle, [1900], inscribed ("à Madame M. Hasselmans bien affectueux hommage Gabriel Fauré Béziers"); 8vo, contemporary patterned quarter calf, ownership inscription of Marguerite Hasselmans, Nocturnes pour Piano...7me [Nocturne] en Mi majeur (à Madame A. Maddison), Paris: Hamelle, [1899], inscribed ("à Madame M. Hasselmanns [sic]. Hommage d'admiration... GabrielFaure"), folio, repairs and staining to title, slightly affecting Fauré's inscription; together with items signed by Honegger ("Le Roi David"), Schmitt ("Trois préludes") and Granados

It was at the premiere of Prométhée at the open-air theatre at Béziers in August 1900 that the twenty-four year old Marguerite Hasselmans first met Fauré. "The impact of her youth and beauty on Fauré was immediate and total, even if he was, to the year, the same age as her father" (Nectoux, 1991, p.284). She lived thereafter as his mistress (almost his second wife) until his death in 1924.