Winnaretta Singer
Encyclopedia
Winnaretta Singer, Princesse Edmond de Polignac (8 January 1865 – 26 November 1943) was an American musical patron
and heir to the Singer sewing machine
fortune.
, who was possibly the model for Bartholdi
's Statue of Liberty
. Winnaretta was born in Yonkers, New York
. After the outbreak of American Civil War
, the Singer family moved to Paris
, where they remained until the Franco-Prussian War
. The family then settled in England, first in London
, and then Paignton, Devon
; there, Isaac Singer built Oldway Mansion
, a 115-room palace modeled on the Petit Trianon
at Versailles
, which he named "The Wigwam."
, was raised by Winnaretta after Isabelle-Blanche's death and became a noted socialite, magazine editor, and fashion trendsetter in her own right. Winnaretta's younger brother, Paris Singer, was one of the architects and financiers of the resort of Palm Beach
, Florida
; he had a child by Isadora Duncan
. Another brother, Washington Singer
, became a substantial donor to the University College of the southwest of England, which later became the University of Exeter
; one of the university's buildings is named in his honor.
, Winnaretta married at the age of 22 to Prince Louis de Scey-Montbéliard. The marriage was annulled in 1892 by the Catholic church, five years after a wedding night
that reportedly included the bride's climbing atop an armoire and threatening to kill the groom if he came near her.
In 1893, at the age of 29, she stepped companionably into an equally chaste marriage with the 59-year-old Prince Edmond de Polignac
(1834-1901), a homosexual amateur composer. Although it was a mariage blanc
(unconsummated marriage), or indeed a lavender marriage
(a union between a gay man and a lesbian), it was based on profound love, mutual respect, understanding, and artistic friendship, expressed especially through their love of music.
Polignac had a relationship with painter Romaine Brooks
, which had begun in 1905, and which effectively ended her affair with Olga de Meyer
, who was married at the time and whose godfather
(and purported biological father) was Edward VII. Composer and conductor Ethel Smyth
fell deeply in love with her during their affair. In the early 1920s Polignac became involved with pianist
Renata Borgatti
. From 1923 to 1933 her partner was the British socialite and novelist Violet Trefusis
, with whom she had a loving but often turbulent relationship. Alvilde Chaplin
, future wife of the author James Lees-Milne
, was involved with Singer from 1938 to 1943; the two women were living together in London at the time of Winnaretta's death.
in Paris in the music room of their mansion on Avenue Henri-Martin (today, Avenue Georges-Mandel). The Polignac salon came to be known as a haven for avant-garde music
. First performances of Chabrier
, d'Indy
, Debussy
, Fauré
, and Ravel
took place in the Polignac salon. The young Ravel dedicated his piano work, "Pavane pour une infante défunte
", to the Princesse de Polignac. Many of Marcel Proust
's evocations of salon culture were born during his attendance at concerts in the Polignac drawing room.
After her husband's death, Winnaretta Singer-Polignac used her fortune to benefit the arts, sciences, and letters. She decided to honor his memory by commissioning several works of the young composers of her time, amongst others Igor Stravinsky
's Renard
, Erik Satie
's Socrate
(by her intercession Satie was kept out of jail when he was composing this work), Darius Milhaud
's Les Malheurs d'Orphée, Francis Poulenc
's Concerto for two pianos
and Organ Concerto
, Jean Françaix
's Le Diable boîteux and Sérénade pour douze instruments, Kurt Weill
's Second Symphony, and Germaine Tailleferre
's First Concerto for Piano and Orchestra. Manuel de Falla
's El retablo de Maese Pedro was premiered there, with the harpsichord
part performed by Wanda Landowska
.
In addition to Proust and Antonio de La Gandara
, the Princesse de Polignac's salon was frequented by Isadora Duncan
, Jean Cocteau
, Claude Monet
, Serge Diaghilev, and Colette
. She was also patron
to many others, including Nadia Boulanger
, Clara Haskil
, Arthur Rubinstein
, Vladimir Horowitz
, Armande de Polignac
, Ethel Smyth
, Adela Maddison
, the Ballets Russes
, l'Opéra de Paris, and l'Orchestre Symphonique de Paris
. In addition to performing as pianist and organist in her own salon, she was an accomplished painter who exhibited in the Académie des Beaux-Arts
. One canvas eventually appeared in the showcase of an art gallery, advertised as being a Manet.
in Paris. Her 1911 building of a housing project for the working poor at Rue de la Colonie, 13th arrondissement, was considered to be a model for future projects. In the 1920s and 1930s, Singer commissioned the architect Le Corbusier
to rebuild or construct several public shelters for Paris's Salvation Army
.
During World War I, working with Marie Curie
, Singer-Polignac helped convert private limousines into mobile radiology units to help wounded soldiers at the front.
took over the organization of the concert series.
Patrón
Patrón is a luxury brand of tequila produced in Mexico and sold in hand-blown, individually numbered bottles.Made entirely from Blue Agave "piñas" , Patrón comes in five varieties: Silver, Añejo, Reposado, Gran Patrón Platinum and Gran Patrón Burdeos. Patrón also sells a tequila-coffee blend known...
and heir to the Singer sewing machine
Singer Corporation
Singer Corporation is a manufacturer of sewing machines, first established as I.M. Singer & Co. in 1851 by Isaac Merritt Singer with New York lawyer Edward Clark. Best known for its sewing machines, it was renamed Singer Manufacturing Company in 1865, then The Singer Company in 1963. It is...
fortune.
Early Life and Family
Winnaretta Singer was the twentieth of the 24 children of Isaac Merritt Singer. Her mother was his Parisian-born second wife, Isabella Eugenie BoyerIsabella Eugenie Boyer
Isabella Eugenie Boyer was a French model.-Biography:She was born in Paris to French and English parents. She married Isaac Merritt Singer, the founder of the Singer Sewing Machine Co., in New York, in 1863 when Isaac was 52 and Isabella was only 22...
, who was possibly the model for Bartholdi
Frédéric Bartholdi
Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi was a French sculptor who is best known for designing the Statue of Liberty.-Life and career:...
's Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886...
. Winnaretta was born in Yonkers, New York
Yonkers, New York
Yonkers is the fourth most populous city in the state of New York , and the most populous city in Westchester County, with a population of 195,976...
. After the outbreak of American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, the Singer family moved to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, where they remained until the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
. The family then settled in England, first in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and then Paignton, Devon
Paignton
Paignton is a coastal town in Devon in England. Together with Torquay and Brixham it forms the unitary authority of Torbay which was created in 1998. The Torbay area is a holiday destination known as the English Riviera. Paignton's population in the United Kingdom Census of 2001 was 48,251. It has...
; there, Isaac Singer built Oldway Mansion
Oldway Mansion
Oldway Mansion is a large house and gardens in Paignton, Devon, England. It was built as a private residence for Isaac Merritt Singer , and rebuilt by his third son Paris Singer in the style of the Palace of Versailles.-The mansion and gardens:...
, a 115-room palace modeled on the Petit Trianon
Petit Trianon
The Petit Trianon is a small château located on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles in Versailles, France.-Design and construction:...
at Versailles
Versailles
Versailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...
, which he named "The Wigwam."
The Singer relatives
Winnaretta's older brother, Adam Mortimer Singer, became one of England's landed gentry. Her younger sister, Isabelle-Blanche (1869-1896) married Jean, duc de Decazes. Their daughter, Daisy FellowesDaisy Fellowes
The Hon. Daisy Fellowes The Hon. Daisy Fellowes The Hon. Daisy Fellowes (née Marguerite Séverine Philippine Decazes de Glücksberg, (April 29, 1890 – December 13, 1962), was a celebrated 20th-century society figure, acclaimed beauty, minor novelist and poet, Paris Editor of American Harper's Bazaar,...
, was raised by Winnaretta after Isabelle-Blanche's death and became a noted socialite, magazine editor, and fashion trendsetter in her own right. Winnaretta's younger brother, Paris Singer, was one of the architects and financiers of the resort of Palm Beach
Palm Beach, Florida
The Town of Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The Intracoastal Waterway separates it from the neighboring cities of West Palm Beach and Lake Worth...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
; he had a child by Isadora Duncan
Isadora Duncan
Isadora Duncan was a dancer, considered by many to be the creator of modern dance. Born in the United States, she lived in Western Europe and the Soviet Union from the age of 22 until her death at age 50. In the United States she was popular only in New York, and only later in her life...
. Another brother, Washington Singer
Washington Singer
Washington Merritt Grant Singer was an English philanthropist and prominent racehorse owner.Born in Yonkers, New York he was the third child of Isabella Eugenie Boyer and sewing machine magnate, Isaac Singer. The family moved to England when Washington Singer was still a child...
, became a substantial donor to the University College of the southwest of England, which later became the University of Exeter
University of Exeter
The University of Exeter is a public university in South West England. It belongs to the 1994 Group, an association of 19 of the United Kingdom's smaller research-intensive universities....
; one of the university's buildings is named in his honor.
Marriages and relationships
After Isaac Singer's death in 1875, Isabelle and her children moved back to Paris. Although known within private social circles to be lesbianLesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
, Winnaretta married at the age of 22 to Prince Louis de Scey-Montbéliard. The marriage was annulled in 1892 by the Catholic church, five years after a wedding night
Wedding Night
Wedding Night is a 2001 Canadian comedy film.-Plot:After winning a contest Florence and Nicolas set out to get married in Niagara Falls accompanied by their family and friends. No sooner do they arrive than the situation turns sour, and the couple decides to call the whole thing off...
that reportedly included the bride's climbing atop an armoire and threatening to kill the groom if he came near her.
In 1893, at the age of 29, she stepped companionably into an equally chaste marriage with the 59-year-old Prince Edmond de Polignac
Prince Edmond de Polignac
Prince Edmond Melchior Jean Marie de Polignac was a French composer.- Heritage, prison sentence :Edmond was a descendant of one of the more illustrious families of France. His grandmother, the duchesse de Polignac, had been the close friend of Queen Marie-Antoinette...
(1834-1901), a homosexual amateur composer. Although it was a mariage blanc
Mariage blanc
Mariage blanc is a marriage which is without consummation. The persons may have married for a variety of reasons, for example, a marriage of convenience is usually entered into in order to aid or rescue one of the principals of the marriage from persecution or harm; or for economic, social or visa...
(unconsummated marriage), or indeed a lavender marriage
Lavender marriage
Lavender marriage is a type of male-female marriage of convenience in which the couple are not both heterosexual and conceal the homosexual or bisexual orientation of one or both spouses...
(a union between a gay man and a lesbian), it was based on profound love, mutual respect, understanding, and artistic friendship, expressed especially through their love of music.
Lesbian relationships
She had affairs with numerous women, never making attempts to conceal them, and never going for any great length of time without a female lover. She had these affairs during her own marriages and afterwards, and often with other married women. The affronted husband of one of her lovers once stood outside the princess's Venetian palazzo, declaring, "If you are half the man I think you are, you will come out here and fight me."Polignac had a relationship with painter Romaine Brooks
Romaine Brooks
Romaine Brooks, born Beatrice Romaine Goddard , was an American painter who worked mostly in Paris and Capri. She specialized in portraiture and used a subdued palette dominated by the color gray...
, which had begun in 1905, and which effectively ended her affair with Olga de Meyer
Olga de Meyer
Olga, the Baroness de Meyer was a British-born artists' model, socialite, patron of the arts, writer, and fashion figure of the early 20th century. She was best known as the wife of photographer Adolph de Meyer and was rumoured to be the natural daughter of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom...
, who was married at the time and whose godfather
Godparent
A godparent, in many denominations of Christianity, is someone who sponsors a child's baptism. A male godparent is a godfather, and a female godparent is a godmother...
(and purported biological father) was Edward VII. Composer and conductor Ethel Smyth
Ethel Smyth
Dame Ethel Mary Smyth, DBE was an English composer and a leader of the women's suffrage movement.- Early career :...
fell deeply in love with her during their affair. In the early 1920s Polignac became involved with pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
Renata Borgatti
Renata Borgatti
Renata Borgatti was an Italian classical musician, performing in Europe and the United States.-Early life:She was the daughter of the great Wagnerian tenor Giuseppe Borgatti , whose imposing career at Milan's La Scala opera house was ended by blindness...
. From 1923 to 1933 her partner was the British socialite and novelist Violet Trefusis
Violet Trefusis
Violet Trefusis née Keppel was an English writer and socialite. She is most notable for her lesbian affair with Vita Sackville-West, which was featured under disguise in Virginia Woolf's Orlando: A Biography....
, with whom she had a loving but often turbulent relationship. Alvilde Chaplin
Alvilde Chaplin
Alvide Bridges Chaplin Lees-Milne, formerly Viscountess Chaplin was a British gardening and landscape expert.-Personal life:Chaplin and James Lees-Milne, who became her second husband, met during World War II, while she was involved in an affair with the arts patron Winnaretta de Polignac, and by...
, future wife of the author James Lees-Milne
James Lees-Milne
James Lees-Milne was an English writer and expert on country houses. He was an architectural historian, novelist, and a biographer. He is also remembered as a diarist.-Biography:...
, was involved with Singer from 1938 to 1943; the two women were living together in London at the time of Winnaretta's death.
Patron of arts
In 1894 the Prince and Princesse de Polignac established a salonSalon (gathering)
A salon is a gathering of people under the roof of an inspiring host, held partly to amuse one another and partly to refine taste and increase their knowledge of the participants through conversation. These gatherings often consciously followed Horace's definition of the aims of poetry, "either to...
in Paris in the music room of their mansion on Avenue Henri-Martin (today, Avenue Georges-Mandel). The Polignac salon came to be known as a haven for avant-garde music
Avant-garde music
Avant-garde music is a term used to characterize music which is thought to be ahead of its time, i.e. containing innovative elements or fusing different genres....
. First performances of Chabrier
Emmanuel Chabrier
Emmanuel Chabrier was a French Romantic composer and pianist. Although known primarily for two of his orchestral works, España and Joyeuse marche, he left an important corpus of operas , songs, and piano music as well...
, d'Indy
Vincent d'Indy
Vincent d'Indy was a French composer and teacher.-Life:Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy was born in Paris into an aristocratic family of royalist and Catholic persuasion. He had piano lessons from an early age from his paternal grandmother, who passed him on to Antoine François Marmontel and...
, Debussy
Claude Debussy
Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
, Fauré
Gabriel Fauré
Gabriel Urbain Fauré was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th century composers...
, and Ravel
Maurice Ravel
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
took place in the Polignac salon. The young Ravel dedicated his piano work, "Pavane pour une infante défunte
Pavane pour une infante défunte
Pavane pour une infante défunte is a well-known piece written for solo piano by the French composer Maurice Ravel in 1899 when he was studying composition at the Conservatoire de Paris under Gabriel Fauré. Ravel also published an orchestrated version of the Pavane in 1910...
", to the Princesse de Polignac. Many 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...
's evocations of salon culture were born during his attendance at concerts in the Polignac drawing room.
After her husband's death, Winnaretta Singer-Polignac used her fortune to benefit the arts, sciences, and letters. She decided to honor his memory by commissioning several works of the young composers of her time, amongst others Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
's Renard
Renard (Stravinsky)
Renard, Histoire burlesque chantée et jouée is a one-act chamber opera-ballet by Igor Stravinsky, written in 1916. The Russian text by the composer was based on Russian folk tales from the collection by Alexander Afanasyev.The full Russian name of the piece is: Ба́йка про лису́, петуха́, кота́, да...
, Erik Satie
Erik Satie
Éric Alfred Leslie Satie was a French composer and pianist. Satie was a colourful figure in the early 20th century Parisian avant-garde...
's Socrate
Socrate
Socrate is a work for voice and piano by Erik Satie. First published in 1919 for voice and piano, in 1920 a different publisher reissued the piece "revised and corrected". A third version of the work exists, for small orchestra and voice, for which the manuscript has disappeared and which is...
(by her intercession Satie was kept out of jail when he was composing this work), Darius Milhaud
Darius Milhaud
Darius Milhaud was a French composer and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as The Group of Six—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions are influenced by jazz and make use of polytonality...
's Les Malheurs d'Orphée, Francis Poulenc
Francis Poulenc
Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc was a French composer and a member of the French group Les six. He composed solo piano music, chamber music, oratorio, choral music, opera, ballet music, and orchestral music...
's Concerto for two pianos
Concerto for two pianos (Poulenc)
Francis Poulenc's Concerto for two pianos in D minor, FP 61, was commissioned by and dedicated to the Princess Edmond de Polignac and composed over the period of three months in the summer of 1932...
and Organ Concerto
Organ Concerto in G minor (Poulenc)
The Concerto for Organ, Timpani and Strings in G minor is a concerto composed by Francis Poulenc for the organ between 1934 and 1938. It has become one of the most frequently performed pieces of the genre not written in the Baroque period....
, Jean Françaix
Jean Françaix
Jean René Désiré Françaix was a French neoclassical composer, pianist, and orchestrator, known for his prolific output and vibrant style.-Life:...
's Le Diable boîteux and Sérénade pour douze instruments, Kurt Weill
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht...
's Second Symphony, and Germaine Tailleferre
Germaine Tailleferre
Germaine Tailleferre was a French composer and the only female member of the famous composers' group Les Six.-Biography:...
's First Concerto for Piano and Orchestra. Manuel de Falla
Manuel de Falla
Manuel de Falla y Matheu was a Spanish Andalusian composer of classical music. With Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados and Joaquín Turina he is one of Spain's most important musicians of the first half of the 20th century....
's El retablo de Maese Pedro was premiered there, with the harpsichord
Harpsichord
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
part performed by Wanda Landowska
Wanda Landowska
Wanda Landowska was a Polish harpsichordist whose performances, teaching, recordings and writings played a large role in reviving the popularity of the harpsichord in the early 20th century...
.
In addition to Proust and Antonio de La Gandara
Antonio de La Gandara
Antonio de la Gándara was a French painter, pastellist and draughtsman.-Biography:He was born in Paris, France, but his father was of Spanish ancestry, born in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, and his mother was from England. La Gandara's talent was strongly influenced by both cultures...
, the Princesse de Polignac's salon was frequented by Isadora Duncan
Isadora Duncan
Isadora Duncan was a dancer, considered by many to be the creator of modern dance. Born in the United States, she lived in Western Europe and the Soviet Union from the age of 22 until her death at age 50. In the United States she was popular only in New York, and only later in her life...
, Jean Cocteau
Jean Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Kenneth Anger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Hugo, Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Erik Satie, María...
, Claude Monet
Claude Monet
Claude Monet was a founder of French impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting. . Retrieved 6 January 2007...
, Serge Diaghilev, and Colette
Colette
Colette was the surname of the French novelist and performer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette . She is best known for her novel Gigi, upon which Lerner and Loewe based the stage and film musical comedies of the same title.-Early life and marriage:Colette was born to retired military officer Jules-Joseph...
. She was also patron
Patrón
Patrón is a luxury brand of tequila produced in Mexico and sold in hand-blown, individually numbered bottles.Made entirely from Blue Agave "piñas" , Patrón comes in five varieties: Silver, Añejo, Reposado, Gran Patrón Platinum and Gran Patrón Burdeos. Patrón also sells a tequila-coffee blend known...
to many others, including Nadia Boulanger
Nadia Boulanger
Nadia Boulanger was a French composer, conductor and teacher who taught many composers and performers of the 20th century.From a musical family, she achieved early honours as a student at the Paris Conservatoire, but believing that her talent as a composer was inferior to that of her younger...
, Clara Haskil
Clara Haskil
Clara Haskil was a Romanian classical pianist, renowned as an interpreter of the classical and early romantic repertoire....
, Arthur Rubinstein
Arthur Rubinstein
Arthur Rubinstein KBE was a Polish-American pianist. He received international acclaim for his performances of the music of a variety of composers...
, Vladimir Horowitz
Vladimir Horowitz
Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz was a Russian-American classical virtuoso pianist and minor composer. His technique and use of tone color and the excitement of his playing were legendary. He is widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.-Life and early...
, Armande de Polignac
Armande de Polignac
Armande de Polignac, Comtesse de Chabannes was a French composer, the niece of Prince Edmond de Polignac and Princess Winnaretta de Polignac, the patron of Ravel, Stravinsky and Milhaud...
, Ethel Smyth
Ethel Smyth
Dame Ethel Mary Smyth, DBE was an English composer and a leader of the women's suffrage movement.- Early career :...
, Adela Maddison
Adela Maddison
Katharine Mary Adela Maddison, née Tindal , usually known as Adela Maddison, was a British composer of operas, ballets, instrumental music and songs. She was also a concert producer...
, the Ballets Russes
Ballets Russes
The Ballets Russes was an itinerant ballet company from Russia which performed between 1909 and 1929 in many countries. Directed by Sergei Diaghilev, it is regarded as the greatest ballet company of the 20th century. Many of its dancers originated from the Imperial Ballet of Saint Petersburg...
, l'Opéra de Paris, and l'Orchestre Symphonique de Paris
Orchestre Symphonique de Paris
The Orchestra Symphonique de Paris was an orchestra active in Paris from 1928 to 1939.The orchestra was co-founded by Ernest Ansermet, Louis Fourestier and Alfred Cortot and gave its first concert on 19 October 1928 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.The financial support for the orchestra came...
. In addition to performing as pianist and organist in her own salon, she was an accomplished painter who exhibited in the Académie des Beaux-Arts
Académie des beaux-arts
The Académie des Beaux-Arts is a French learned society. It is one of the five academies of the Institut de France.It was created in 1795 as the merger of the:* Académie de peinture et de sculpture...
. One canvas eventually appeared in the showcase of an art gallery, advertised as being a Manet.
Public service
Winnaretta Singer-Polignac was also an important leader in the development of public housingPublic housing
Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is owned by a government authority, which may be central or local. Social housing is an umbrella term referring to rental housing which may be owned and managed by the state, by non-profit organizations, or by a combination of the...
in Paris. Her 1911 building of a housing project for the working poor at Rue de la Colonie, 13th arrondissement, was considered to be a model for future projects. In the 1920s and 1930s, Singer commissioned the architect Le Corbusier
Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier , was a Swiss-born French architect, designer, urbanist, writer and painter, famous for being one of the pioneers of what now is called modern architecture. He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930...
to rebuild or construct several public shelters for Paris's Salvation Army
Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
.
During World War I, working with Marie Curie
Marie Curie
Marie Skłodowska-Curie was a physicist and chemist famous for her pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first person honored with two Nobel Prizes—in physics and chemistry...
, Singer-Polignac helped convert private limousines into mobile radiology units to help wounded soldiers at the front.
Foundation Singer-Polignac
After Singer-Polignac's death, her legacy of enlightened generosity was carried on through the work of the Fondation Singer-Polignac. Created in 1928, the goals of the foundation are the promotion, through gifts and bourses, of science, literature, the arts, culture, and French philanthropy. The Foundation continued to present concerts and recitals in the Polignac mansion's music room. The performances were first organized by Nadia Boulanger, who presented programs that juxtaposed early music and modern compositions. After Boulanger's death in 1979, the composer Jean FrançaixJean Françaix
Jean René Désiré Françaix was a French neoclassical composer, pianist, and orchestrator, known for his prolific output and vibrant style.-Life:...
took over the organization of the concert series.
Sources
- Kahan, Sylvia. In Search of New Scales: Edmond de Polignac, octatonic explorer. Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 2009. ISBN 1-58046-305-3.
- Kahan, Sylvia. Music's Modern Muse: A Life of Winnaretta Singer, Princesse de Polignac. Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 2003, 2006, 2009. ISBN 1-58046-133-6.
- Kahan, Sylvia. "'Rien de la tonalité usuelle: Edmond de Polignac and the Octatonic Scale in Nineteenth-Century France". 19th-Century Music 29 (2005): 97-120.
- Kahan, Sylvia, and Nathalie Mauriac-Dyer, "Quatre Lettres inédites de Proust au Prince de Polignac", Bulletin Marcel Proust 53 (December 2003): 9-21.
- Michael de Cossart, Food of Love: Princesse Edmond de Polignac (1865-1943) and her Salon, Hamish HamiltonHamish HamiltonHamish Hamilton Limited was a British book publishing house, founded in 1931 eponymously by the half-Scot half-American Jamie Hamilton . Confusingly, Jamie Hamilton was often referred to as Hamish Hamilton...
, 1978. ISBN 0-241-89785-8 - James RossJames Ross (conductor)James Ross MA, MSt, DPhil, is a British conductor and author.-Career:Ross studied at Harrow School, and later at Christ Church, Oxford from where he received an MA in Modern History , an MSt in Music , and a DPhil in French opera...
, ‘Music in the French Salon’; in Caroline Potter and Richard Langham Smith (eds.), French Music Since Berlioz (Ashgate Press, 2006), pp.91–115. ISBN 0-7546-0282-6.
External links
- http://orlando.women.it/les/gallery/win.jpg Picture of Winnaretta Singer
- Singer affairs
