Book Review
Jun. 22nd, 2012 10:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariMusic's Modern Muse: A Life of Winnaretta Singer, Princesse de Polignac
by Sylvia Kahan
This fascinating biography covers the life of Winnaretta Singer, heiress to the Singer sewing machine fortune and one of the most important music patrons of the late nineteenth and early 20th century in France. She commissioned important works from Stravinsky, Poulenc, Ravel, de Falla, Tailleferre, and many others. She also gave many, many composers and performers support through her musical salons which featured opportunities for both performances and for meeting other musicians and potential patrons. Singer was generally quite forward-thinking, often championing and encouraging those who were at the forefront of modernism. She was a strong-willed, intelligent, and intense person who did an enormous amount for music and the arts during her life. She was also an accomplished musician herself, playing both the piano and the organ and thus often taking part in the performances at her salon. The entire history of 20th century music would have been vastly different were it not for the Princess de Polignac.
Kahan's book is an enormous pleasure to read. It is strongly narrative and linear, which gives it the feel of an engrossing novel while still retaining plenty of intellectual rigor. Kahan makes everything about Singer, her life, and her world vivid and immediate. Singer's story also makes for an interesting perspective on how the musical world of her time worked - how performers and composers built careers, how both public and private activity gave rise to concerts and new works, etc.
by Sylvia Kahan
This fascinating biography covers the life of Winnaretta Singer, heiress to the Singer sewing machine fortune and one of the most important music patrons of the late nineteenth and early 20th century in France. She commissioned important works from Stravinsky, Poulenc, Ravel, de Falla, Tailleferre, and many others. She also gave many, many composers and performers support through her musical salons which featured opportunities for both performances and for meeting other musicians and potential patrons. Singer was generally quite forward-thinking, often championing and encouraging those who were at the forefront of modernism. She was a strong-willed, intelligent, and intense person who did an enormous amount for music and the arts during her life. She was also an accomplished musician herself, playing both the piano and the organ and thus often taking part in the performances at her salon. The entire history of 20th century music would have been vastly different were it not for the Princess de Polignac.
Kahan's book is an enormous pleasure to read. It is strongly narrative and linear, which gives it the feel of an engrossing novel while still retaining plenty of intellectual rigor. Kahan makes everything about Singer, her life, and her world vivid and immediate. Singer's story also makes for an interesting perspective on how the musical world of her time worked - how performers and composers built careers, how both public and private activity gave rise to concerts and new works, etc.
