Table of Contents

An International Child
Life with Mother
A Woman of the World
The Sewing Machine and the Lyre
Marriage and Music
La Belle Epoque
Renovations
Modern Times
The Astonishing Years
Shelter from the Storm
The Magic of Everyday Things
Cottages of the Elite, Palaces of the People
A Pride of Protégés
Mademoiselle
All Music is Modern
The Beautiful Kingdom of Sounds

Reviews

This is a book to be referred to again and again...an authoritative study that will give any interested reader an overview of a fascinating artistic epoch with a complex and intriguing survivor at its helm. Underneath the forbidding exterior, "Aunt Winnie" was a sensitive and selfless philanthropist, both acutely perceptive of genuine talent in others and wide-ranging in her patronage. These aspects shine clearly through the mine of detailed information in Sylvia Kahan's important new study. --Robert Orledge, Times Literary Supplement Kahan appears to have gotten as close to Singer-Polignac as any scholar could in the many years she worked on this good book. NOTES, March 2005 This is a compelling portrait of one of the Belle Epoque's most influential musical patrons... Kahan does justice to this inspiring woman's legacy by crafting a biography that is heartfelt and stimulating. FRENCH REVIEW, 2006, Eileen M. Angelini Wonderfully researched... Sensitively sets Singer Polignac's vibrant lesbianism in the context of the times. CLASSICAL MUSIC (Andrew Green)