Robert de MONTESQUIOU (1855-1921). Autograph manuscript... Lot 244

Robert de MONTESQUIOU (1855-1921). Autograph manuscript signed, La Délectation Morose, 1921; lined notebook of [2]-17pages small in-4, bradel binding on marbled paper boards, slipcase. Amusing evocation of a worldly concert.Chapter XII, complete, of the collection of "fantasies", Les Délices de Capharnaüm (Émile-Paul frères,1921), dedicated to Mme Émile Straus (née Geneviève Halévy, and widow Bizet), Marcel Proust's great friend.The manuscript is preceded by a dedication to Paul-Louis Couchoud (1879-1959): "à mon cher Couchoud manuscrit original de La Délectation Morose RMontesquiou Juillet 1921 (quelques retouches et variantes)". The manuscript, in black ink, shows erasures and corrections, with some passages crossed out. In pencil, in line spaces, Couchoud has indicated the names of the models for some of the characters: Lady Lilith (the Duchesse de Clermont-Tonnerre), the poetess Nina (Anna de Noailles), the actress Jeannier (Jeanne Granier), Madame Callimaque (Mme Charles Max), Mademoiselle Hermès (Léon Hermant), Atmel de Syringe (Alexandre de Gabriac), caricaturist Japhet (Sem), illuminator Vélin (Charles Chaplin), Madame Giacomella (Jacqueline de Pourtalès comtesse Rehbinder), Aldini (Boldini)...
During a concert given by the Marquise de Saint-Paul that is dragging on, Timon makes a bet with Doctor Huddud to get some of the guests to reveal the signs of their "inner distress". He'll pluck a rose "whenever the ordeal leads to verification". Mme Giacomella, once "like the bacchante of the hop", presents herself considerably slimmed down, and feels obliged to answer a question she is not asked: "It's that I've been very ill"... Mme Callimaque, evoking a visit to a mausoleum, speaks of Death "who will deliver", she says "with a sigh and as if to oneself". The Baron de Noircœur is willing to lend his car to the project, but refuses to be part of it, like "a little child who refuses to play the wolf"... The actress Jeannier, promoted "to the rank of historical monument", wistfully recognizes herself in a youthful portrait by Aldini. Cartoonist Japhet says: "We're in the age of memories", in an "implied lament". The illuminator Vélin, "Fouquet's rival", now only illuminates chocolate advertisements... As for Mademoiselle Hermès, a talented painter: ""You will all still suffer a great deal", she says simply and cheerfully. The two friends realized that she had guessed their cruel game, joined in on her own account and drew the appropriate conclusion. Lady Lilith, "who sees silver threads in the order of her curls", says to Huddud: "Autumn frightens me, the years impoverish me as they add up", and Huddud replies that, in his opinion, the years "accumulate like a Treasure"... The rose is half-thinned and the concert comes to an end.