Salons
Yesterday evening M. Marcel Proust gave a very select but highly elegant tea-party, to which only a score of people had been invited.
Seen there were: Comtesse Aimery de la Rochefoucauld, Duc and Duchesse de Guiche, Comtesse d'Haussonville, Duchesse de Gramont, Comte and Comtesse de Ludre, Mme Madeleine Lemaire, Marquis and Marquise d'Albufera, Princesse de Chimay, Comte and Comtesse Adhéaume de Chevigné, etc.
After the tea-party, which was not followed by a reception, M. Marcel Proust's guests had the pleasure of hearing M. Reynaldo Hahn who sang some of his exquisite melodies at the piano.
Article appeared in Le Figaro, 7 March 1905.
This report may have been written by Marcel
Proust. According to George Painter: "When the guests were gone and the
candles out [...] Proust wrote the report of his party for the next
day's Figaro, choking in a fit of asthma [...] Proust returned
from the Figaro office after midnight ..." This is not
mentioned in any of the other biographies I have seen.
Robert Vigneron, Marcel Proust et Robert de Montesquiou Autour de "Professionelles Béautés", Modern Philology, Nov 1941: "Its style alone is sufficient to suggest that this note came from Proust's pen, as it is not at all like that of the obliging Ferrari, known as Tout intime, the society columnist of Le Figaro. But let us add that had it not been taken to the newspaper's offices it could not have appeared the following morning; because Proust, in letters [...] to Montesquiou says he had gone out after the departure of his guests, and that after Montesquiou's lecture on 2 June [...] it was Proust himself who wrote the notices destined for Le Gaulois and the New York Herald."
Yesterday M. Marcel Proust gave a very elegant daytime
party, during the course of which the guests had the good fortune to hear
and applaud Comtesse de Gerne, who sang, along with M. Reynaldo Hahn, a
Mozart duo and also "Un Coeur qui t'aime" to perfection.
Seen among the very select audience: Princesse de Brancovan,
Duc and Duchesse de Guiche, Comtesse Aimery de la Rochefoucauld, Comte and
Comtesse de Ludre, Comtesse de Briey, Comte and Comtesse Adhéaume de
Chevigné, Marquis and Marquise d'Albuféra, Princesse Alexandre de Chimay,
Mme Madeleine Lemaire and her daughter, Mme Goyeau, Comte Gabriel de La
Rochefoucauld, Comte Ferdinand de Montesquiou, Comte Henri de Ségur, M.
Francis de Croisset, Baron Théodore de Berckheim.
Article appeared in The New York Herald, 7 March 1905, unsigned.
A very select tea-party yesterday, but of a rare elegance at the home of M. Marcel Proust, that brought together:
Duchesse de Gramont, Comtesse Aimery de la Rochefoucauld, Comtesse d'Haussonville, Marquis and Marquise d'Albufera, Comte and Comtesse de Ludre, Princesse de Chimay, Comte and Comtesse Adhéaume de Chevigné, Madame G. Legrande, Comtesse de Briey, MM Verdé Delisle, du Breuil de Saint-German, de Boislisle, Comte Gabriel de La Rochefoucauld, Comte Alexandre de Gabriac, Comte Louis de Lasteyrie, Comte Henri de Ségur, Théodore de Berckheim, Prince Léon Ratziwill, etc.
Article appeared in Le Gaulois, 7 March 1905, unsigned.
A very elegant tea-party, Monday, at the home of M. Marcel Proust, at his apartment in the rue de Courcelles. They had the great pleasure of hearing the Comtesse de Guerne and M. Reynaldo Hahn. Seen in the company: the Duchesse de Gramont, Princesse de Brancovan, Princesse de Chimay, Duc and Duchesse de Guiche, Marquis and Marquise d'Albufera, Comte and Comtesse de Chevigné, Comtesse de Briey, Comte and Comtesse de Ludre, Comtesse de la Rochefoucauld, Mme Alphonse Daudet, Mme Madeleine Lemaire, Comte G. de la Rochefoucauld, Comte F. de Montesquiou, Comte H. de Ségur, M. A. de Fouquières, Baron de Berckheim, Prince L. Ratziwill, etc.
Article appeared in L'Écho de Paris, 8 March 1905, unsigned.