Vinteuil Sonata
The Vinteuil Sonata is a fictional musical work for violin and piano described in the novel sequence In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust. The piece is heard several times by Charles Swann, a major character. Swann associates a musical phrase with his love for Odette de Crécy whom he marries.
Proust was interested in music's power to trigger involuntary memory, a term which he invented.[1]The sonata is thus comparable to the celebrated episode of the madeleine which triggers memories on the part of the Narrator.[2]
The composer
In the context of the novel, the sonata is a contemporary work. The composer Vinteuil (we do not learn his first name) is one of Proust's characters. He also composes a septet.[2]
Possible models for the sonata
Proust was not a musician, but his description of the sonata is sufficiently detailed for comparisons to be made with various violin sonatas which the author is known to have heard, for example the Violin Sonata in A major by César Franck, which was written in 1886. [3]
Jean Santeuil
The Vinteuil Sonata has a precursor in Proust's unfinished novel Jean Santeuil, written in the 1890s, but not published until after his death. Here the musical composition is not a fictional work, but the Violin Sonata No. 1 in D Minor by Camille Saint-Saëns, which was written in 1885.[3]
Recreations of the sonata
The Chilean composer Jorge Arriagada recreated Vinteuil's violin sonata for Raoul Ruiz's 1999 film Le Temps retrouvé (Time Regained). There is a scene where it is played in a salon.
References
- ↑ Bernstein, A. E. (2005). The contributions of Marcel Proust to psychoanalysis. Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry, 33(1), 137–48.
- 1 2 Ross, Alex (24 August 2009). "Imaginary concerts". New Yorker. Retrieved 2017-06-12.
- 1 2 Matamoro, Blas (2017). "El universo musical de Marcel Proust" [The musical universe of Marcel Proust (programme notes)] (PDF) (in Spanish). Fundación Juan March.