Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Prelude
- 1 An International Child
- 2 Life with Mother
- 3 A Woman of the World
- 4 The Sewing Machine and the Lyre
- 5 Marriage and Music
- 6 La Belle Époque
- 7 Renovations
- 8 Modern Times
- 9 The Astonishing Years
- 10 Shelter from the Storm
- 11 The Magic of Everyday Things
- 12 Cottages of the Elite, Palaces of the People
- 13 A Pride of Protégés
- 14 Mademoiselle
- 15 All Music is Modern
- 16 The Beautiful Kingdom of Sounds Postlude
- Postlude
- Appendix A Musical Performances in the Salon of the Princesse Edmond de Polignac
- Appendix B Guests in the Salon of the Princesse Edmond de Polignac
- Appendix C Works Commissioned by and Dedicated to the Princesse Edmond de Polignac
- Abbreviations
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Prelude
- 1 An International Child
- 2 Life with Mother
- 3 A Woman of the World
- 4 The Sewing Machine and the Lyre
- 5 Marriage and Music
- 6 La Belle Époque
- 7 Renovations
- 8 Modern Times
- 9 The Astonishing Years
- 10 Shelter from the Storm
- 11 The Magic of Everyday Things
- 12 Cottages of the Elite, Palaces of the People
- 13 A Pride of Protégés
- 14 Mademoiselle
- 15 All Music is Modern
- 16 The Beautiful Kingdom of Sounds Postlude
- Postlude
- Appendix A Musical Performances in the Salon of the Princesse Edmond de Polignac
- Appendix B Guests in the Salon of the Princesse Edmond de Polignac
- Appendix C Works Commissioned by and Dedicated to the Princesse Edmond de Polignac
- Abbreviations
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Some months after Winnaretta's death, Lennox Berkeley wrote to Nadia Boulanger,
I often wonder whether the old patrons had so much taste as people think, apart from a few Razumovskys and Esterhazys… . You will have heard the very sad news of the death of the Princesse de Polignac. It was a real shock to me, as I had come to like and admire her greatly. I know what a blow this news will have been to you. I was just speaking of patrons: was she not the perfect patron?
In December 1944, Le Figaro published a commemorative article, expressing regret that, when she had died a year earlier, “the events and the subjugation that weighed on all free expression in France did not permit us to speak as we would have wished.” The article, praising her lifelong contribution to the arts, concluded that “it will be impossible to write the chronicle of the twentieth century without including the salon on Avenue Henri-Martin and the palazzo on the Grand Canal… . Music has forever inscribed her name at the top of some of the classic works of our time.”
A large memorial gathering in Winnaretta's honor was held in Paris sometime in 1944. Many family members, friends, and distinguished members of the European cultural community celebrated the life of this “eightthousand- volt being,” as Armande de Polignac aptly described her aunt. Shortly thereafter Winnaretta's will was read. In addition to the bequests of money and objects that she had made to various family members and friends, the document testified to her commitment to art, artists, and charitable institutions. Generous legacies were left to Colette, Nadia Boulanger, Clara Haskil, Giorgio Levi, Renata Borgatti, Jacques Février, and Léon- Paul Fargue (Fargue's bequest was the last codicil to be added to the will, in 1939). Institutions such as the Hospice for the Women of Calvary, the Society for the Preservation and Rehabilitation of Young Girls, and the Pasteur Institute (to which she endowed two scholarships) were also beneficiaries of her posthumous largesse. She donated the wainscotting from her library to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs; to the Louvre she left her beloved Manet canvas, La Lecture, as well as the Ingres drawing, the two large Paninis, and the three Monets—including the Champs de tulipes en Hollande that had brought her into competition with Edmond for its purchase.
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- Information
- Music's Modern MuseA Life of Winnaretta Singer, Princesse de Polignac, pp. 367 - 370Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2003