Proust and Music

The Aspect Foundation is exploring the world of Marcel Proust and the music (both real and imagined) associated with him in a concert in their Words and Music series. On 13 November 2013 at the 20th Century Theatre, 291 Westbourne Grove, London W11 2QA, the Ebene Quartet, Ekaterina Derzhavina (piano), Anton Martynov (violin) and Shani Diluka (piano) will be performing music by Beethoven, Saint-Saens, Faure and Debussy, with a talk by Richard Wigmore. Faure was the model for the composer Vinteuil in Proust's A la recherce du temps perdu whilst the 'petite phrase' associated with Swann's love' for Odette comes from Saint-Saen's Violin Donata in D minor. Late Beethoven was one of Proust's loves as was Debussy's String Quartet in G minor.

The Aspect Foundation was established to promote the idea of concerts which place music in context, fusing various art forms. They return to the 20th Century Theatre, with the Borodin Quartet and clarinettist Alexander Bedenko for a concert in their Music Capitals series. There will be a pre-concert talk by Patrick Bade. The concert is the first of three to be devoted to Vienna and in the first the music of Schubert and Brahms is explored with Schubert's Death and the Maiden Quartet and Brahms's Clarinet Quintet. Further information from the Aspect Foundation website.

If you fancy your music vocal, then it has been pointed out to me that also on 13 November, the London Song Festival is performing music by Proust's friend Reynaldo Hahn. His Portraits du Peintres a recitation for voice and piano is in a programme which includes music by Britten and Finzi at St. Paul's Church, Covent Garden.