| Description |
xxii, 547 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm. |
| Series |
Eastman studies in music,
1071-9989
|
|
Eastman studies in music.
1071-9989
|
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 509-525) and index. |
| Contents |
Prelude -- An international child -- Life with mother -- A woman of the world -- The sewing machine and the lyre -- Marriage and music -- La belle époque -- Renovations -- Modern times -- The astonishing years -- Shelter from the storm -- The magic of everyday things -- Cottages of the elite, palaces of the people -- A pride of protégés -- Mademoiselle -- All music is modern -- The beautiful kingdom of sounds -- Postlude. |
| Summary |
"The American-born Winnaretta Singer (1865-1943) was a millionaire at the age of eighteen, due to her inheriting a substantial part of the Singer Sewing Machine fortune. Living in Paris, she quickly became active in musical life there, holding the premier avant-garde musical salon in her home from 1888 to 1939. Her 1893 marriage to Prince Edmond de Polignac, an amateur composer, brought her into contact with the most elite strata of French society." |
|
"After Edmond's death in 1901, Singer-Polignac used her fortune to benefit the arts, sciences, and letters. Singer-Polignac's most significant contribution was in the musical domain: in addition to subsidizing individual artists (Boulanger, Haskil, Rubinstein, Horowitz) and organizations (the Ballets Russes, l'Opera de Paris, l'Orchestre Symphonique de Paris), she made a lifelong project of commissioning new musical works from composers, many of them unknown and struggling, to be performed in her salon. The list of works created as a result is long and extraordinary, and includes works by Stravinsky, Satie, Falla, and Poulenc. In addition, her salon was a gathering place for luminaries of French culture, among them Proust, Cocteau, Diaghilev, and Colette. Many of Proust's memorable evocations of salon culture were born during his attendance at concerts in the Polignac music room." |
|
"In addition to playing piano and organ, Singer-Polignac enjoyed some success as a painter: a number of her canvases were accepted for annual exhibitions of the Academie des Beaux-Arts. She supported the work of several women composers, including Ethel Smyth and Adela Maddison, using her influence to have their operas mounted in major European theaters. After her death her legacy of enlightened generosity was carried on through the work of the Fondation Singer-Polignac."--Jacket. |
| Subject |
Polignac, Winnaretta, princesse de, 1865-1943.
|
|
Polignac, Winnaretta, princesse de, 1865-1943. |
|
Music patrons -- France -- Biography.
|
|
Music patrons. |
|
France. |
| Genre/Form |
Biographies.
|
|
Biographies.
|
| ISBN |
1580461336 (hardback ; acid-free paper) |
|
9781580461337 (hardback ; acid-free paper) |
|
9781580463331 (paperback ; acid-free paper) |
|
1580463339 (paperback ; acid-free paper) |
|
