Saint-Saëns Violin Sonata No. 1 (Op. 75)
In Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time (À la recherche du temps perdu), the fictional piece of music that becomes the “national anthem” of Swann and Odette’s love affair is known as the Vinteuil Sonata.
Wikipedia
While the sonata itself is imaginary, Proust based its famous “little phrase” (la petite phrase) on several real-life musical compositions that inspired him:
- Camille Saint-Saëns – Violin Sonata No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 75: In a letter to his friend Jacques de Lacretelle, Proust explicitly identified the primary origin of the “little phrase” as a theme from this sonata. Specifically, it stems from the Adagio/Andante section of the first movement, which features a rising, ethereal motif on the violin above a rippling piano accompaniment. Royal Holloway, University of London+ 1
- César Franck – Violin Sonata in A Major: Proust loved how Franck used a recurring cyclic theme throughout his sonata, which heavily influenced the way the Vinteuil Sonata’s motif reappears to trigger involuntary memories throughout the novel. Wikipedia
- Gabriel Fauré – Ballade in F-sharp Major, Op. 19 & Wagner’s Good Friday Music (Parsifal): Proust also mentioned that subtle fragments of these pieces influenced the atmosphere of Vinteuil’s music in his mind.
Though Proust created a composite “ideal” sonata for the page, the Saint-Saëns Violin Sonata No. 1 (Op. 75) is most widely recognized as the direct real-life source of Swann’s beloved motif.
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