Mecenes et Musiciens: Du salon au concert a Paris sous la IIIe Republique.(Book review)

Mecenes et Musiciens: Du salon au concert a Paris sous la IIIe Republique. By Myriam Chimenes. Paris: Fayard, 2004. [776 p. ISBN 2-213-61696-5. [euro]30.] Illustrations, bibliography, index.

Wealthy patrons have always played an important role in Western musical life, but while the contributions of a Louis XIV or a Count Esterhazy might seem readily apparent, the story of musical patronage in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries has seemed largely peripheral to a historical narrative that has concentrated on composers' increasing individuality and independence. Except for a few obvious exceptions (Wagner and King Ludwig of Bavaria, for example) there has been ...