Behind every successful man, as the old saying goes, one finds a woman. But in the story of the marriage of Edmond de Polignac and Winnaretta Singer, the formula worked well in both directions. For while Winnaretta provided support to her husband as a loving, devoted spouse and as the muse and promoter of his music, Edmond, by enabling her to become the Princesse de Polignac, allowed his wife to realize “the life and the work to which she aspired,” as she had said to the Comtesse Greffulhe. What was so fascinating about the Polignac marriage, then as now, was the way that husband and wife transcended the elements of money, power, family prestige, and social ambition that factored into their union. That Edmond profited from the financial benefits of his wife's Singer millions cannot be ignored, nor the fact that Winnaretta Singer reaped the social benefits of becoming the Princesse de Polignac. If these advantages had been the most important factors in this marriage, the story could end here, for it would make this couple not particularly different from the numerous members of the nobility who had married American heiresses. But in Winnaretta and Edmond's case, a deep love of music and of each other also entered into the mix in a way that distinguished this marriage from others in Belle Époque Paris society.

If their union was a mariage blanc, with no sexual component, it nonetheless brought to each of the partners an unhoped-for degree of fulfillment. Much more than a marriage of convenience, the marriage was a celebration of respect and admiration, of intellectual growth and artistic activity, and of mutual understanding. In Edmond, Winnaretta found a man whose creativity, imagination, and childlike sense of wonderment had not been diminished by age; like her adored father, Isaac Singer, her husband energized and stimulated her intellectually. In Winnaretta, Edmond found a companion who not only tolerated but also affectionately accepted his fanciful eccentricities. She genuinely loved his music and truly understood him. She was his muse. And music was the symbol of their bond, their emotional lingua franca. In place of sex, they had a salon.