It is those hot nights when she cannot find peace. In her bright, loose summer suit, she steps outside into the darkness, where a gentle breeze stirs. The scent of her beloved cultivated rose varieties, which she calls "daughters of God and man," mingles in the dark with other sweet floral fragrances, and she inhales it deeply with her breath. Here on the estate, the night smells completely different than in the big city; here, there is always a hint of the rural animal husbandry around that mixes into the sweet, dark night air.
From one of the open windows, piano music drifts. Melancholic, loving, yearning, the notes float through the night and to the flowers… It is as if her heart is overflowing with love - for F., and at the same time for the many wonderful people who are also here and spend the evenings with stimulating nighttime parties. In addition, she carries the pain of a lost love in her heart - in a letter she had written, "the scent of the soul is memory... The affection of an absent one is just a scent, but how sweet and lovely it is! Do not fear, oh you who have left this balsamic trail on my path, never fear that I will let it fade away. I will hold it in my heart, like an essence in a sealed bottle."
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My impression of "Les Nuits" is that of these dark, nocturnal flowers, with a beautifully resinous dark labdanum right from the start (I am sure, even if it is not listed here), whose animalic facets blend vibrantly with hints of civet and castoreum... sensually-furry purring... The flowers are never greenish or fresh for me; occasionally, a hint of ylang-ylang (or is it jasmine, or both?) wafts by. The rose is not recognizable to me as such, more like a vintage part of the flower bed. The whole is embedded in dark iris and a beautiful powdery-sweet-earthy cinnamon-patchouli base with remnants of labdanum.
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George Sand was a feminist and extraordinarily independent for her time - of course, this was made possible by her wealth. She smoked, wore pantsuits, and was not willing to submit to men. Despite her two children, she separated from her husband, which did not prevent her from occasionally meeting him alongside her numerous love affairs. In 1836, she met Chopin and was with him for nine years. Some of his compositions were created during these years at her estate in Nohant-Vic.
The perfume historian Annick Le Guérer describes on her homepage that Christiane Sand, George Sand's heir, had entrusted her with a small bottle that had remained on George's dressing table. Le Guérer handed it over to Dominique Ropion with the task of analyzing and faithfully reconstructing it. However, the bottle was sealed, which preserved the scent. The technicians at IFF perforated the bottom of the bottle to make the contents as gently accessible as possible. The analysis revealed the following components: rose essence, iris, vetiver, patchouli, labdanum, civet, benzoin, ylang-ylang, cinnamon, bergamot, jasmine, sandalwood, castoreum. It is not known whether Dominique Ropion used exactly these ingredients for the current fragrance, but it explains my scent impression. And I can imagine that George Sand wears this beautiful scent in her garden when night falls, listening to Chopin as he composes a nocturne, smelling her favorite flowers, and the music becomes the perfume in the night air.
With loving thanks to Spatzl!
Annick Le Guérer on the creation of the fragrance and with quotes from George's correspondence:
https://annickleguerer.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Astier-de-Villatte.pdf
Chopin's Nocturne Op. 37 No. 1 in G minor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXvofjPNkCY
Iris
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Eggi37
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FrauKirsche
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ParfumAholic
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