Royal Opera Covent Garden

Programme for the "State Performance by Command of His Majesty the King in Honour of the visit of The President of the French Republic and Madame Lebrun. Wednesday March 22nd at nine-thirty. 1939." Elaborate shaped programme, cover and five leaves, all designed as a baroque cartouche. Cover decorated with a very elaborate vignette symbolising the Entente Cordiale, lettered by Whistler, with a wide heavily embossed border also by Whistler, illustrated with various vignettes on an operatic theme also by Whistler; the whole held together with a rope of gold bullion thread terminating in two tassels; newly mounted (within an easily opened frame).

A gorgeous and elaborate programme, produced as part of the formal celebrations of this important state visit. Earlier on the afternoon of the 22nd March the French President, Albert Lebrun and his Foreign Minister George Bonnet had a two hour meeting in Chamberlain's rooms at the House of Commons, in which (largely due to Chamberlain's distrust of Russia) they moved away from the "Four Power Declaration" by which France, Russia, Britain and Poland would publicly declare their determination to defend Poland, towards a more limited plan in which France and Britain would declare support for a Polish-Rumanian alliance.This change of plan obviously came too late for Covent Garden, which still danced to Tchaikovsky and Debussy.

Stock Code: 111266