Autograph Letter Signed from London, in French, by the composer and conductor Prince Georges Galitzin [George Galitzine; Georges Nicolas Galizine; Galizin] to the Italian tenor 'Mario', about a concert for Garibaldi; with draft reply by Ernest Gye.

Galitzin's letter: 1 p, 4to. 13 lines. Text clear and complete. On lightly-aged paper with a few pinholes to one corner. Signed 'Georges Galitzin'. He writes regarding the course of action to be taken if, 'par un hasard qelconque ou par conviction M. Tey [i.e. Gye] se refusait a me ceder son theatre pour le concert que je veux donner au profit de la souscription Garibaldi'. The draft of Gye's reply is 1 p, 12mo, docketed on the reverse 'Monsieur le Prince Gaelzin [sic] | 52 Porchester Terrace Bayswater' | June 1 1860'. It is written in French in the third person. 11 lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Mario has given him the letter, and he is sorry to state that, 'dans sa position devant le gouvernement et le public il n'ose pas se meler, ou avoir l'air de se meler dans les affaires politiques'. The Gramophone Jubilee Book' reprints an article with a reference to the 'acomplished composer and conductor, Prince Georges Galitzine', who 'made a name for himself and his choir of seventy serfs'. It was Galizin's father, Prince Nikolay Borisovich (1794-1866), who commissioned the celebrated 'Galitzin Quartets' from Beethoven. There is a favourable report of a concert organised by Galizin in 'The Musical World', 9 February 1861, pp. 91-92. A report of Galizin's insolvency appeared in The Times of 15 November 1861, under the heading 'A Noble Insolvent': 'The Prince Galitzin, who has made a favourable impression on the London public by his musical entertainments, appears in the list of insolvent petitioners who have obtained interim orders of protection from process. He is thus described: - George Nicholas Galitzin, formerly of Petite Moiskaia, St. Petersburg, Russia, Chamberlain to the Emperor of Russia, and Marshal of the Government of Tamboo, Russia; then of 52 Porchester-terrace, Bayswater; [...] a Prince of the Russian Empire, composer and professor of music, and director of concerts.'