ABSTRACT
Music was pre-eminent in only a minority of salons throughout the institution's history from the early seventeenth century to the middle of the twentieth. 'Salon music' is a cursed phrase, with implications of the sentimental and the second rate. The sophisticated interconnection between salons, journals and music is illuminated by the story of French Wagnerism in the 1880s and 1890s. Three general types of salon fostered music in the Third Republic: first, those run by musicians; second, literary salons, and finally the great salons of the aristocracy and haute bourgeoisie. After Prince Edmond's death in 1901, Winnaretta rebuilt her house on the rue Cortambert. The replacement included a grand salon seating 200, still used for concerts, and a smaller 'atelier' for more intimate recitals which included two pianos and a Cavaille-Coll organ. Gabriel Faure's first sustained contact with salon culture was Pauline Viardot's 'Thursdays', to which he was introduced courtesy of Saint-Saens in 1872.
