Geneviève Halévy
Encyclopedia
Geneviève Halévy was a French salonnière. She inspired Marcel Proust
as a model for the Duchesse de Guermantes and Odette de Crécy in À la recherche du temps perdu.
Geneviève Halévy was the daughter of the composer Jacques-Fromental Halévy
, and his spouse, née Léonie Rodrigues-Henriques, both Jewish. Geneviève Halévy's youth was sad: she lost her father when she was 13 years old, her elder sister when she was 15 years old, and her mother suffered from periods of mental instability. She married in 1869 Georges Bizet
, pupil of her father, and gave birth to their son Jacques in 1871, who became a school friend of Marcel Proust
. Georges Bizet died suddenly of a heart attack, in 1875. Geneviève moved to live with her uncle, Léon Halévy
, and opened a salon for her cousin Ludovic Halévy
, where she helped him in receiving the cream of the artistic society of the time. This was known as Ludovic's Thursdays (Les jeudis de Ludovic).
After a few years, she opened her own salon for distinguished society, such as Baron and Baronness Alphonse de Rothschild, Comtesse Potocka, Duchesse de Richelieu, Comtesse de Chevigné, née de Sade (another model for the Duchesse de Guermantes), etc. and also writers such as Guy de Maupassant
, Henri Meilhac
, Georges de Porto-Riche
, Paul Bourget
, Paul Hervieu
, Joseph Reinach
, and of course her cousin Halévy. Her salon was a place where aristocrats could mingle with artists and writers, which they were not accustomed to do in their hôtels particuliers or mansions.
In 1886, she married the lawyer Émile Straus, an acquaintance of the Rothschild family
, and her salon became increasingly fashionable: She received Robert de Montesquiou
and his cousin Comtesse Greffulhe
, painters and journalists. After the Dreyfus Affair
the salon became less prominent. But many supporters of Capitaine Dreyfus
socialized at Mme Straus's salon, amongst them Marcel Proust
who was one of the first intellectuals to sign a petition in L'Aurore
at the time of "the" Affair.
After 1910, she became increasingly depressed, and cut herself off from society. Her son committed suicide in 1922, a few weeks before Proust's own death, and she died in 1926.
Marcel Proust
Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust was a French novelist, critic, and essayist best known for his monumental À la recherche du temps perdu...
as a model for the Duchesse de Guermantes and Odette de Crécy in À la recherche du temps perdu.
Geneviève Halévy was the daughter of the composer Jacques-Fromental Halévy
Fromental Halévy
Jacques-François-Fromental-Élie Halévy, usually known as Fromental Halévy , was a French composer. He is known today largely for his opera La Juive.-Early career:...
, and his spouse, née Léonie Rodrigues-Henriques, both Jewish. Geneviève Halévy's youth was sad: she lost her father when she was 13 years old, her elder sister when she was 15 years old, and her mother suffered from periods of mental instability. She married in 1869 Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet formally Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, was a French composer, mainly of operas. In a career cut short by his early death, he achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, became one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertory.During a...
, pupil of her father, and gave birth to their son Jacques in 1871, who became a school friend of Marcel Proust
Marcel Proust
Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust was a French novelist, critic, and essayist best known for his monumental À la recherche du temps perdu...
. Georges Bizet died suddenly of a heart attack, in 1875. Geneviève moved to live with her uncle, Léon Halévy
Léon Halévy
Léon Halévy , was a French civil servant, historian, and dramatist.Born to a Jewish family, the son of the writer and chazzan Élie Halévy, Léon was the younger brother of the composer Jacques François Fromenthal Halévy.After finishing a course at the Lycée Charlemagne, Halévy became a disciple and...
, and opened a salon for her cousin Ludovic Halévy
Ludovic Halévy
Ludovic Halévy was a French author and playwright. He was half Jewish : his Jewish father had converted to Christianity prior to his birth, to marry his mother, née Alexandrine Lebas.-Biography:Ludovic Halévy was born in Paris...
, where she helped him in receiving the cream of the artistic society of the time. This was known as Ludovic's Thursdays (Les jeudis de Ludovic).
After a few years, she opened her own salon for distinguished society, such as Baron and Baronness Alphonse de Rothschild, Comtesse Potocka, Duchesse de Richelieu, Comtesse de Chevigné, née de Sade (another model for the Duchesse de Guermantes), etc. and also writers such as Guy de Maupassant
Guy de Maupassant
Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was a popular 19th-century French writer, considered one of the fathers of the modern short story and one of the form's finest exponents....
, Henri Meilhac
Henri Meilhac
Henri Meilhac , was a French dramatist and opera librettist.-Biography:Meilhac was born in Paris in 1831. As a young man, he began writing fanciful articles for Parisian newspapers and vaudevilles, in a vivacious boulevardier spirit which brought him to the forefront...
, Georges de Porto-Riche
Georges de Porto-Riche
Georges de Porto-Riche was a French dramatist and novelist.At the age of twenty, his pieces in verse began to be produced at the Parisian theatres; he also wrote some books of verse which met with a favorable reception, but these early works were not reprinted...
, Paul Bourget
Paul Bourget
Paul Charles Joseph Bourget , was a French novelist and critic.-Biography:He was born in Amiens in the Somme département of Picardie, France. His father, a professor of mathematics, was later appointed to a post in the college at Clermont-Ferrand, where Bourget received his early education...
, Paul Hervieu
Paul Hervieu
Paul Hervieu, full name Paul-Ernest Hervieu , French dramatist and novelist, was born at Neuilly-sur-Seine.-Biography:...
, Joseph Reinach
Joseph Reinach
Joseph Reinach was a French author and politician.He was born in Paris. His two brothers Salomon and Theodore would become well known in the field of archaeology. After studying at the Lycée Condorcet he was called to the bar in 1887...
, and of course her cousin Halévy. Her salon was a place where aristocrats could mingle with artists and writers, which they were not accustomed to do in their hôtels particuliers or mansions.
In 1886, she married the lawyer Émile Straus, an acquaintance of the Rothschild family
Rothschild family
The Rothschild family , known as The House of Rothschild, or more simply as the Rothschilds, is a Jewish-German family that established European banking and finance houses starting in the late 18th century...
, and her salon became increasingly fashionable: She received Robert de Montesquiou
Robert de Montesquiou
Marie Joseph Robert Anatole, comte de Montesquiou-Fézensac , was a French aesthete, Symbolist poet, art collector and dandy....
and his cousin Comtesse Greffulhe
Elisabeth, comtesse Greffulhe
Marie Anatole Louise Élisabeth, Countess Greffulhe , was a renowned beauty, and queen of the salons of the Faubourg Saint-Germain in Paris....
, painters and journalists. After the Dreyfus Affair
Dreyfus Affair
The Dreyfus affair was a political scandal that divided France in the 1890s and the early 1900s. It involved the conviction for treason in November 1894 of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a young French artillery officer of Alsatian Jewish descent...
the salon became less prominent. But many supporters of Capitaine Dreyfus
Alfred Dreyfus
Alfred Dreyfus was a French artillery officer of Jewish background whose trial and conviction in 1894 on charges of treason became one of the most tense political dramas in modern French and European history...
socialized at Mme Straus's salon, amongst them Marcel Proust
Marcel Proust
Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust was a French novelist, critic, and essayist best known for his monumental À la recherche du temps perdu...
who was one of the first intellectuals to sign a petition in L'Aurore
L'Aurore
L’Aurore was a literary, liberal, and socialist newspaper published in Paris, France, from 1897 to 1914. Its most famous headline was Émile Zola’s “J'Accuse”, concerning the Dreyfus Affair. It was published by eventual Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau.- External links:* Digitized issues of...
at the time of "the" Affair.
After 1910, she became increasingly depressed, and cut herself off from society. Her son committed suicide in 1922, a few weeks before Proust's own death, and she died in 1926.
Sources
- Andrée Jacob, Il y a un siècle, quand les dames tenaient salon, Paris, Ed. Arnaud Seydoux, 1991
- Painter, George DuncanGeorge PainterGeorge Duncan Painter, OBE known as George D. Painter, was an English author most famous as a biographer of Marcel Proust....
: Marcel Proust: a biography, London, Chatto & Windus, 1959