Description

SIGNED AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIT, unpublished preparatory state, a speech written in honour of the visit of the President of the Republic, Raymond Poincaré, to Limoges.
Violet ink, four quarto pages, 104 verses.

After his election as President of the Republic in February 1913, Raymond Poincaré accepted a proposal from Henry de Jouvenel - then President of the Syndicats d'initiative du Limousin-Périgord-Quercy and Colette's recent husband - for an official visit to the region. From 8 to 14 September 1913, he visited the five departments of Limousin, Lot and Dordogne. "From the Limousin to the Bordeaux region, the sound of cheering is still vibrating. And from all quarters we are receiving retrospective accounts of the expressions of sympathy, in turn enthusiastic, touching, even naïve, that greeted Mr and Mrs Poincaré as they passed by, whose tireless good grace won all hearts.". The first stop in the city of Limoges was the occasion for major events, tributes and speeches, including one by Gabriel Nigond, who had been commissioned to compose the theme piece. A luxury copy, decorated with charming sketches by Fernand Maillaud, was presented to the President.

The present manuscript - which contains erasures and corrections - is a preparatory version written in August 1913; it is very different from the speech given on 9 September, extracts of which appeared in the press.

"Dear doubly elected host
Through the soul and spirit of grace
A leader whose trail the country follows,
Receive our fervent salute!...

Drawing on its landscape,
Limoges, love in the eyes,
Welcome with a single joyful cry,
Your firm French face!

It makes the summer evening glow,
its purple roofs with hollow tiles
And buzzes with happy voices
Like a beehive of joy!

The air vibrates, the pavement shakes,
His heart of stone swelled,
A breath of fresh air
As far as the porches of the Abbessaille

Where the rusty iron of the knockers
- But lazy water
Carries a laundress song -
Tremble at the clatter of the beaters!...

Limoges! Your past is still very much alive!
Here's the body of your butchers,
Roses, dignified, emblazoned,
In proud medieval garb!
And enamellers, whose law
Initialled by the sun,
Whose godmother is a fairy,
And his ancestor was Saint Éloi!...

[...] Dear guest, abandon your soul
To the sincerity of the fields!
Open your ears to the creaking tunes
The hurdy-gurdy without a bow,
Good old provincial tunes,
Old province in a beard!

[…]"