The Vinteuil Sonata is a fictional musical work described in the novel sequence In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust.
It was on one of those days that [Odette] happened to play for me the passage in Vinteuil’s sonata that contained the little phrase of which Swann had been so fond.
[2] The Vinteuil Sonata is thus comparable to the celebrated episode of the madeleine earlier in the novel, which triggers memories on the part of the narrator.
Proust was not a musician, but his description of the music is sufficiently detailed for comparisons to be made with various violin sonatas which the author is known to have heard.
[5] Proust took an interest in Franck and in the third part of A la recherche, Sodom et Gomorrhe, we read about his sonata for violin and piano.
[citation needed] Recent research[6] has drawn links between the visual representation of Vinteuil with the similar sounding 'Vétheuil' paintings by Claude Monet in 1879.
[7] In 2021 an album was released on Warner featuring various performers including Pierre Fouchenneret (violin) and Shani Diluka (piano).