Winnaretta Singer
Winnaretta Singer (* 8. January 1865 in Yonkers , New York ; † 26. November 1943 in London ) was a music patron and heir of Isaac Merritt Singer , made his fortune with the sewing machine factory I.M. Singer & Company had founded.
Life
She was one of the younger of Isaac Merritt Singer's 20 children. Shortly after her birth, the family moved to Paris, and in 1870 to England . In 1875 the father died and left a huge fortune. The mother moved back to Paris and ran an art salon on Avenue Kléber . Winnaretta trained as a visual artist with Louis-Ernest Barrias and also exhibited in the salons . She was denied the training she wanted to become a musician.
Her mother arranged a marriage with Louis de Scey-Montbéliard against the wishes of the lesbian Winnaretta in 1887 . This marriage was annulled by the Catholic Church in 1891, which can be understood as an indication that the marriage was never consummated. Her homosexuality sparked a short-term scandal in the 1920s.
In 1893, at the age of 29, however, she deliberately entered into a “separate bed” marriage with the homosexual Edmond de Polignac, 30 years her senior . The marriage lasted until his death in 1901. After her sister Isabelle's suicide in 1896, she took over the upbringing of their children, of whom the daughter became one of the most important social figures of the 20th century as a Daisy Fellowes . From 1923 until her death, her partner was Violet Trefusis .
Together with her husband, she founded the influential Salon de Polignac in Paris . As a music patron, she awarded over twenty commissions to composers. These include Igor Stravinski's Renard , Erik Satie's Socrate and the 2nd Symphony by Kurt Weill . Maurice Ravel dedicated her to Pavane pour une infante défunte .
Marcel Proust , Jean Cocteau , Claude Monet , John Singer Sargent , Djagilew and Colette , among others, frequented their house in Saint-Leu-la-Forêt . Manuel de Fallas El retablo de maese Pedro premiered in her house. In 1900 she acquired the Palazzo Contarini in Venice , to which Artur Rubinstein , Enrico Caruso and Nellie Melba were invited, among others .
Singer also supported a number of other artists of her time, including Nadia Boulanger , Clara Haskil , Arthur Rubinstein , Vladimir Horowitz , Ethel Smyth , Adela Maddison , the Ballets Russes , the Paris Opera and the Orchester Symphonique de Paris. Her collection of paintings, which in addition to Edouard Manet's Die Lektüre also included some paintings by Claude Monet, came to the Louvre in 1944 as her bequest .
literature
- Sylvia Kahan: Music's Modern Muse: A Life of Winnaretta Singer, Princesse de Polignac . Eastman Studies in Music, University of Rochester Press 2003, ISBN 1580461336
- Michael de Cossart: Food of Love: Princesse Edmond de Polignac (1865-1943) and her Salon . Hamish Hamilton 1978, ISBN 0241897858
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Franz Zelger: A music salon on the Grand Canal. The Palazzo Contarini and the patron Winnaretta Singer de Polignac , NZZ , May 3, 2014, p. 25f
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Singer, Winnaretta |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American music patron |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 8, 1865 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Yonkers , New York |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 26, 1943 |
| Place of death | London |