Appendix A - Musical Performances in the Salon of the Princesse Edmond de Polignac

Summary

The following listing represents but a scant fraction of the musical programs presented in the salons of the Princesse Edmond de Polignac. Regrettably, there are very few printed programs extant in the Polignac archives. The information listed here has been culled from every available source: books, printed programs in public and private archives, letters, diaries, and newspaper reports of the events. Often the data on the event is incomplete; every effort has been made to identify the date, location, composers, works, artists presented, guests, and sources for the information.

Asterisks (*) indicate works dedicated to the Princesse Edmond de Polignac

Date: Tuesday, 22 May 1888

Location: Avenue Henri-Martin, Paris

Composers/Works: Emmanuel Chabrier, Gwendoline, opera; Gabriel Fauré, Clair de lune, voice and piano (orchestrated version); works of Vincent d’Indy and Ernest Chausson

Artists: Thuringer, mezzo-soprano; Edmond Vergnet, tenor; Baldo, voice; Gabriel Fauré, harmonium and conductor; Emmanuel Chabrier, piano and conductor; Georges Marie, conductor; Vincent d’Indy and André Messager, percussion; the choruses and orchestras of Concerts Lamoureux and the Conservatoire

Sources: Figaro, 16 and 24 May 1888; Poulenc, Chabrier, 80–81

Date: mid-July 1889

Location: Avenue Henri-Martin, Paris

Composers/Works: Vincent d’Indy, Piano Trio (first performance)

Source: Vincent d’Indy to WSP, 19 July 1889, Fondation Singer-Polignac, Paris

Date: June 1891

Location: Venice

Composers/Works: Gabriel Fauré, Mandoline,* En Sourdine,* voice and piano (premieres)

Artists: Amélie Duez, soprano; Gabriel Fauré, piano

Source: WSP, “Memoirs of the Late Princesse Edmond de Polignac,” Horizon

Date: September 1892

Location: Avenue Henri-Martin, Paris

Composers/Works: poems of Robert de Montesquiou

Artists: Sarah Bernhardt

Sources: Robert de Montesquiou to WSP, 20 August and September [undated] 1892, Fondation Singer-Polignac, Paris; WSP to Robert de Montesquiou, 28 August 1892, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Nafr 15115

Date: Early 1894

Location: Rue Cortambert atelier, Paris

Composers/Works: works for organ

Artists: various Parisian organists, including Alexandre Guilmant, Eugène Gigout, and Louis Vierne

Source: Figaro, 5 June 1894

Date: Monday, 21 May 1894

Location: Rue Cortambert atelier, Paris

Composers/Works: Gabriel Fauré, songs

Artists: Marguerite de Saint-Marceaux, soprano; Maurice Bagès, tenor

Source: Marguerite de Saint-Marceaux, daily diary, edition forthcoming (Paris: Fayard)

Date: Sunday, 20 January 1895

Location: Rue Cortambert atelier, Paris

Composers/Works: chamber music