![]() ![]() Les derniers mots que j’avais entendus sortir de sa bouche, il y avait six jours, c’étaient ceux qui commencent un lied de Schumann et que sur mon escalier il me fredonnait, en allemand, si bien qu’à cause des voisins je l’avais fait taire. Here is the brief narrative of the protagonist’s last encounter with Saint-Loup, from the final volume of A la recherche du temps perdu ( In Search of Lost Time, citing from the English translation of Time Regained by Andreas Mayor): If we want to seek a unifying thread, a tempting solution is that suggested by Brigitte Mahuzier, who reads Saint-Loup as akin to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s ‘Little Prince’: blond, aristocratic, charming, and unpredictable. In all these metamorphoses, Saint-Loup demonstrates the instability of identity according to Proust. Saint-Loup assumes a number of disparate roles in Proust’s novel: a new friend for the protagonist while on holiday in the seaside town of Balbec a soldier in training at the barracks in Doncières the lover of the actress Rachel known to the protagonist from her brothel days the husband of Gilberte Swann, daughter of Swann and Odette the lover of the violinist Morel, formerly the baron de Charlus’s protégé a frequenter of Jupien’s male wartime Parisian brothel a noble soldier who dies for his country at the Front. ![]() In looking for songs in Proust’s novel, my attention has been particularly caught by the last meeting between the protagonist and his best friend, Robert de Saint-Loup. This is partly because of my own love of song, partly because of Proust’s relationship with the song composer and singer Reynaldo Hahn, and partly because I think that Proust’s references and aesthetic views are often less purist and less consistent than we tend to allow. Proust’s commitment to absolute music is attested in his novel by the fact that the fictional composer Vinteuil is the author of imaginary instrumental music: on the one hand, the sonata for piano and violin (about which I have written in a previous blog) on the other hand, the septet.ĭespite this professed love of absolute music, I have recently been reading Proust against the grain, in search of songs in his novel. Absolute music was argued to be the best art because it was purportedly beyond language, although as critics have pointed out this assertion relied upon language to be made. In the nineteenth century, such music was often considered ‘absolute’ or ‘pure’, in opposition to so-called programme music (music with a narrative, plot, or words). ?.The French novelist Marcel Proust is famous as a lover of instrumental music, in particular Beethoven’s symphonies and string quartets. Vidic, who was the first translator of the Slovenian esteemed poet France Preseren into German and helped erecting a monument to the poet in the centre of Ljubljana, was shot by the Gestapo in WWII as a sympathiser of the partisan movement. This example was dedicated to Fran Vidic (1872-1944), a translator, editor and a bibliophile. Rudolf von Andrejka (1880-1948) was a Slovenian lawyer, professor and author in Austria-Hungary and later in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. This example is one of the 50, which were printed on hand made paper, signed by the author and dedicated to various esteemed persons. In reality, many Slavic soldiers were hoping to gain an independence from Austro-Hungary and join with other South Slavic nations in a new country, what would in a couple of years become known as Yugoslavia. The patriotic work, illustrated by known artists, was made to show the equality of the Slovenian soldiers with the Austrian ones in Austro-Hungary during the war and to encourage them to fight for the borders of their homeland. The songs translated into German, all with motifs of war and victory, are old national poems without known authors or were written in the 19th century by famous authors. on hand made paper, index, interleaved 17 illustrations, original blue debossed card wrappers, cover with lettering and mounted image, originally bound together with a string, handwritten dedication by the author on the first blank page (light foxing, minor scratches on the back cover, otherwise in a good conditi This unusual collection of Slovenian poems and songs was gathered during WWI, to support the Slovenian soldiers, fighting on the side of the Austrian emperor. Rudolf von Andrejka and given as presents to various important people. A collection of Slovenian national and famous poems was translated into German during WWI, to encourage the Slovenian soldiers, who were fighting for the Austrian emperor against Italians.This is a rare luxury edition, which was issued on hand-made paper in 50 examples only, all of which were signed by the editor and translator Dr. ![]()
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