''Consuelo'' is a novel by

George Sand Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil (; 1 July 1804 – 8 June 1876), best known by her pen name George Sand (), was a French novelist, memoirist and journalist. One of the most popular writers in Europe in her lifetime, bein ...

, first published serially in

1842 Events January–March * January ** Michael Alexander takes office, as the first appointee to the Anglican-German Bishopric in Jerusalem. ** American medical student William E. Clarke of Berkshire Medical College becomes the first pe ...

- 1843 in ''La Revue indépendante'', a

periodical A periodical literature (also called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) is a published work that appears in a new edition on a regular schedule. The most familiar example is a newspaper, but a magazine or a journal are also examples ...

founded in 1841 by Sand,

Pierre Leroux Pierre Henri Leroux (7 April 1797 – 12 April 1871), was a French philosopher and political economist. He was born at Bercy, now a part of Paris, the son of an artisan. Life His education was interrupted by the death of his father, which co ...

and Louis Viardot. According to ''

The Nuttall Encyclopædia ''The Nuttall Encyclopædia: Being a Concise and Comprehensive Dictionary of General Knowledge'' is a late 19th-century encyclopedia, edited by Rev. James Wood, first published in London in 1900 by Frederick Warne & Co Ltd. Editions were rec ...

'', it is " and'smasterpiece; the impersonation of the triumph of moral purity over manifold temptations." The character of Consuelo was supposedly modeled after Louis Viardot's wife, the soprano

Pauline Viardot Pauline Viardot (; 18 July 1821 – 18 May 1910) was a nineteenth-century French mezzo-soprano, pedagogue and composer of Spanish descent. Born Michelle Ferdinande Pauline García, her name appears in various forms. When it is not simply "Pauli ...

. Pauline Viardot was a good friend of both Sand's and of her lover

Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leadin ...

First sentence

«Oui, oui, Mesdemoiselles, hochez la tête tant qu'il vous plaira; la plus sage et la meilleure d'entre vous, c'est ... Mais je ne veux pas le dire; car c'est la seule de ma classe qui ait de la modestie, et je craindrais, en la nommant, de lui faire perdre à l'instant même cette rare vertu que je vous souhaite.... »

"Go on then, young ladies, shake your heads at me, but I'll tell you this... the best behaved and the cleverest girl among you is... — no, I won't tell you who, because she is the only one of my class who has any modesty. I am afraid that if I pointed her out here, she would instantly lose that rare virtue. It is one that I wish the rest of you had more of..." —

Synopsis

Consuelo is a Spanish girl abandoned in Italy whose voice attracts the old maestro Porpora. Through him she is presented to Count Zustiniani. The latter, after her successful début on the stage, falls in love with her, but is repulsed. When her early lover Angoletto forgets her, Consuelo is sent by Porpora to the home of a German family in Bohemia. Her entrance into this household prepares the way for the sequel, ''La Comtesse de Rudolstadt'' (1843).

Theme

Consuelo's adventures continue in ''La comtesse de Rudolstadt'' where they take a more philosophical and esoteric dimension. Through all these adventures, Consuelo becomes an untouchable figure of the European artistic landscape of the eighteenth century thanks to the music and the support of her master, the Porpora. The two volumes, ''Consuelo'' and ''La comtesse de Rudolstadt'' were edited separately but constitute a single work.

Posterity

After the death of George Sand, numerous of her novels disappear into oblivion and her work was quickly reduced to a handful of so-called «country» novels such as La Mare au diable or La Petite Fadette. However, from the 1960s to the 1970s, the rest of Sand's work began to be rediscovered through critical editions, colloquia and scholarly studies. Consuelo is rehabilitated and recognized as one of her masterpieces.Cellier (dir., 1976).

Theatrical treatments

Two operas are based on this novel: * ''Consuelo'' by

Alfonso Rendano Alfonso Rendano (5 April 1853 – 10 September 1931) was an Italian pianist and composer. He is mostly renowned for inventing the "third pedal", which augmented the interpretative resources of the piano. Rendano was born in Cosenza. He was pa ...

(1888) * ''Consuelo'' by

Giacomo Orefice Giacomo Orefice (27 August 1865 – 22 December 1922) was an Italian composer. He was born in Vicenza. He studied under Alessandro Busi and Luigi Mancinelli at the Liceo Musicale di Bologna, and later became professor of composition at the ...

(1895)

References

External links

* The book on

Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a Virtual volunteering, volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the ...

in French: *
''Consuelo'', Tome 1 (1861)
*
''Consuelo'', Tome 2 (1861)
*
''Consuelo'', Tome 3 (1861)

*
''Consuelo''
at the

Open Library Open Library is an online project intended to create "one web page for every book ever published". Created by Aaron Swartz, Brewster Kahle, Alexis Rossi, Anand Chitipothu, and Rebecca Malamud, Open Library is a project of the Internet Archive, ...

. Includes English editions. {{Authority control 1842 French novels Novels adapted into operas Novels by George Sand