Pauline de Metternich

Pauline Clementine de Metternich, née countess Sándor de Slawnitze, (February 25 1836 in Vienna - September 28 1921 in Vienna) was an eminent Vienesse and Parisien socialite and prime aristocrat of a great spell and elegance, an important promoter of work of German composer Richard Wagner and Czech composer Bed?ich Smetana.

Life

Princess Pauline de Metternich was born in a Hungarian noble family Sándor de Slawnitza. Her father Moritz Sándor was known in the Austrian empire as a passionate horseman, called "a furious rider". Her mother Leontine de Metternich was a daughter of the Austrian chancellor Metternich. It was his house in Vienna where Pauline spent almost her whole childhood.

Related Topics:
Metternich - Vienna

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In 1856 she married prince Richard Metternich, a son of chancellor Metternich so they were a husband and a wife and an uncle and a niece simultaneously. They lived a happy conjugal life (contrary to his frequent love-affairs with actresses as well as opera prima donnas). They had three daughters.

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Princess Pauline accompanied her husband, an Austrian diplomat, on his missions at the royal court in Saxony and imperial court in Paris where they lived for almost eleven years (1859 till 1870).

Related Topics:
Saxony - Paris

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She played an important role in the social and cultural life of Dresden and Paris, and from 1870 of Vienna. The French Empress Eugénie de Montijo got to like her and Princess Metternich became a close friend and confidante of the former. Princess and her husband were dominating personalities of Emperor Napoleon III´s court. There she introduced the fashion designer Charles Frederick Worth to the Empress and so started his career.

Related Topics:
Dresden - Paris - Vienna - Eugénie de Montijo - Napoleon III´s - Charles Frederick Worth

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Princess Metternich was an ardent patron of music and adored to be a paragon of aristocratic society. Staying either in Paris or in Vienna, she always set the most recent vogue and social trends. She taught French and Czech aristocrats to skate or ladies to smoke cigars without being afraid of their reputation. She was acquanted with many music composers (e.g. Richard Wagner, Franz Liszt, Charles Gounod or Charles Saint-Saens) and writers (e.g. Prosper Mérimée or Alexandre Dumas, père) and was in correspondence with them. Furthermore, she tried to popularise the music of Wagner in Paris and that of Czech music composer Bed?ich Smetana in Vienna.

Related Topics:
Paris - Vienna - Richard Wagner - Franz Liszt - Charles Gounod - Charles Saint-Saens - Prosper Mérimée - Alexandre Dumas, père - Bed?ich Smetana

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She organised non-professional home performances of many famous operas, including Wagner´s Der Ring des Nibelungen, abridged of course, where she took part as a stage director and singer.

Related Topics:
Wagner´s - Der Ring des Nibelungen

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As a child, Princess Metternich eye-witnessed the revolution of 1848 in Vienna and later in 1870 she dwelt in Paris during the Franco-Prussian War at the side of Empress Eugénie de Montijo. She even helped her escape from Paris to Great Britain.

Related Topics:
Revolution of 1848 - Vienna - 1870 - Paris - Franco-Prussian War - Eugénie de Montijo - Great Britain

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She died in Vienna in 1921. She lived through the glory and fall of the Austrian and French Empire and was believed to be a living symbol of these two lost worlds.

Related Topics:
Vienna - 1921 - Austrian - French Empire

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Her most famous portrait was painted by French impressionist Edgar Degas In fact, they never met. Degas created it according to a photograph. The portrait is situated in the National Gallery, London.

Related Topics:
Impressionist - Edgar Degas - Degas - National Gallery, London

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