Marie d’Agoult

 I’ve been intrigued by Marie d’Agoult.  At the time, I knew only that Chopin had dedicated his second set of Etudes to her, but she was only a name.  Several years ago, I discovered that she studied at the Sacred Heart school in Paris in 1820. Phyllis Stock-Morton’s recent biography recounts the young woman’s general unhappiness with the school (and with Eugénie de Gramont in particular!), but Marie’s own memoirs contain a powerful vignette involving Sophie, whom she loved. As described in the novel (“Heloise and Marie,” Part 6), Marie was allowed to have her own room and a piano, which she apparently played exceedingly well.

Life

Marie was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, as Marie Catherine Sophie de Flavigny, the daughter of Alexander Victor François, Vicomte de Flavigny (1770–1819), a footloose émigré French aristocrat, and his wife Maria Elisabeth Bethmann(1772–1847), a German banker's daughter. The young Marie spent her early years in Germany and completed her education in a French convent after the Bourbon Restoration.

She entered into an early marriage of convenience with Charles Louis Constant d'Agoult, Comte d'Agoult (1790–1875) on 16 May 1827, thereby becoming the Comtesse d'Agoult. They had two daughters, Louise (1828–1834) and Claire (1830–1912). They were divorced on 19 August 1835.

From 1835 to 1839, she lived with virtuoso pianist and composer Franz Liszt, who was six years younger, and was then a rising concert star. She became close to Liszt's circle of friends, including Frédéric Chopin, who dedicated his 12 Études, Op. 25 to her (his earlier set of 12 Études, Op. 10 had been dedicated to Liszt). D'Agoult had three children with Liszt; however, she and Liszt did not marry, maintaining their independent views and other differences while Liszt was busy composing and touring throughout Europe.

The “Grande Valse brillante” in E♭ Major, Opus 18, was composed by Frédéric Chopin in 1833 and published in 1834. This was his first published waltz composition for solo piano, although prior to 1834 he had written at least sixteen waltzes that were either destroyed or eventually published posthumously.

Chopin also gave the title “Grand Valse brillante” to the next three waltzes in the Opus 34 set, published in 1838.