George T. Ferris - Great Singers, Second Series

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The talent of Pauline Garcia for the piano was so remarkable that it was
for some time the purpose of her father to devote her to this musical
specialty. She was barely more than seven on the return of the Garcias
to Europe, and she was placed, without delay, under the care of a
celebrated teacher, Meysenberg of Paris. Three years later she was
transferred to the instruction of Franz Liszt, of whom she became one of
the most distinguished pupils. Liszt believed that his young scholar had
the ability to become one of the greatest pianists of the age, and was
urgent that she should devote herself to this branch of the musical
art. Her health, however, was not equal to the unremitting sedentary
confinement of piano practice, though she attained a degree of skill
which enabled her to play with much success as a solo performer at the
concerts of her sister Maria. Her voice had also developed remarkable
quality during the time when she was devoting her energies in another
direction, and her proud father was wont to say, whenever a buzz of
ecstatic pleasure over the singing of Mme. Malibran met his ear, "There
is a younger sister who is a greater genius than she." It is more than
probable that Pauline Garcia, as a singer, owed an inestimable debt
to Pauline Garcia as a player, and that her accuracy and brilliancy of
musical method were, in large measure, the outcome of her training under
the king of modern pianists.

Manuel Garcia died when Pauline was but eleven years old, and the
question of her daughter's further musical education was left to Mme.
Garcia. The celebrated tenor singer, Adolphe Nourrit, one of the famous
lights of the French stage, who had been a favorite pupil of Garcia,
showed great kindness to the widow and her daughter. Anxious to promote
the interests of the young girl, he proposed that she should take
lessons from Eossini, and that great _maestro_ consented. Nourrit's
delight at this piece of good luck, however, was quickly checked. Mme.
Garcia firmly declined, and said that if her son Manuel could not
come to her from Rome for the purpose of training Pauline's voice,
she herself was equal to the task, knowing the principles on which
the Garcia school of the voice was founded. The systems of Rossini and
Garcia were radically different, the one stopping at florid grace of
vocalization, while the other aimed at a radical and profound culture of
all the resources of the voice.

It may be said, however, that Pauline Garcia was self-educated as a
vocalist. Her mother's removal to Brussels, her brother's absence in
Italy, and the wandering life of Mme. Malibran practically threw her on
her own resources. She was admirably fitted for self-culture. Ardent,
resolute, industrious, thoroughly grounded in the soundest of art
methods, and marvelously gifted in musical intelligence, she applied
herself to her vocal studies with abounding enthusiasm, without
instruction other than the judicious counsels of her mother. She had her
eyes fixed on a great goal, and this she pursued without rest or turning
from her path. She exhausted the _solfeggi_ which her father had written
out for her sister Maria, and when this laborious discipline was done
she determined to compose others for herself. She had already learned
harmony and counterpoint from Reicha at the Paris Conservatoire, and
these she now found occasion to put in practice. She copied all the
melodies of Schubert, of whom she was a passionate admirer, and thought
no toil too great which promoted her musical growth. Her labor was a
labor of love, and all the ardor of her nature was poured into it. Music
was not the sole accomplishment in which she became skilled. Unassisted
by teaching, she, like Malibran, learned to sketch and paint in oil and
water-colors, and found many spare moments in the midst of an incessant
art-training, which looked to the lyric stage, to devote to literature.
All this denotes a remarkable nature, fit to overcome every difficulty
and rise to the topmost shining peaks of artistic greatness. What she
did our sketch will further relate.

II.

Pauline Garcia was just sixteen when, panting with an irrepressible
sense of her own powers, she exclaimed, "_Ed io anclu son cantatrice_."
Her first public appearance was worthy of the great name she afterward
won. It was at a concert given in Brussels, on December 15, 1837, for
the benefit of a charity, and De Beriot made his first appearance on
this occasion after the death of Mme. Malibran. The court and most
distinguished people of Belgium were present on this occasion, and so
great was the impression made on musicians that the Philharmonic Society
caused two medals to be struck for De Beriot and Mlle. Garcia, the mold
of which was broken immediately. Pauline Garcia, in company with De
Beriot, gave a series of concerts through Belgium and Germany, and it
soon became evident that a new star of the first magnitude was rising in
the musical firmament. In Germany many splendid gifts were showered on
her. The Queen of Prussia sent her a superb suite of emeralds, and Mme.
Sontag, with whom she sang at Frankfort, gave the young cantatrice a
valuable testimonial, which was alike an expression of her admiration
of Pauline Garcia and a memento of her regard for the name of the great
Malibran, whose passionate strains had hardly ceased lingering in the
ears of Europe. Paris first gathered its musical forces to hear the new
singer at the Theatre de la Renaissance, December 15, 1838, eager to
compare her with Malibran. Among other numbers on the concert programme,
she gave a very difficult air by Costa, which had been a favorite song
of her sister's, an _aria bravura_ by De Beriot, and the "Cadence du
Diable," imitated from "Tartini's Dream," which she accompanied with
marvelous skill and delicacy. She shortly appeared again, and she
was supported by Rubini, Lablache, and Ivanhoff. The Parisian critics
recognized the precision, boldness, and brilliancy of her musical style
in the most unstinted expressions of praise. But England was the country
selected by her for the theatrical _debut_ toward which her ambition
burned--England, which dearly loved the name of Garcia, so resplendent
in the art-career of Mme. Malibran.

Her appearance in the London world was under peculiar conditions, which,
while they would enhance the greatness of success, would be almost
certainly fatal to anything short of the highest order of ability. The
meteoric luster of Mali-bran's dazzling career was still fresh in the
eyes of the public. The Italian stage was filled by Mme. Grisi, who,
in personal beauty and voice, was held nearly matchless, and had
an established hold on the public favor. Another great singer, Mme.
Persiani, reigned through the incomparable finish of her vocalization,
and the musical world of London was full of distinguished artists,
whose names have stood firm as landmarks in the art. The new Garcia,
who dashed so boldly into the lists, was a young, untried, inexperienced
girl, who had never yet appeared in opera. One can fancy the excitement
and curiosity when Pauline stepped before the footlights of the King's
Theatre, May 9, 1839, as _Desdemona_ in "Otello," which had been the
vehicle of Malibran's first introduction to the English public. The
reminiscence of an eminent critic, who was present, will be interesting.
"Nothing stranger, more incomplete in its completeness, more unspeakably
indicating a new and masterful artist can be recorded than that first
appearance. She looked older than her years; her frame (then a mere
reed) quivered this way and that; her character dress seemed to puzzle
her, and the motion of her hands as much. Her voice was hardly settled
even within its own after conditions; and yet, juaradoxical as it may
seem, she was at ease on the stage; because she brought thither instinct
for acting, experience of music, knowledge how to sing, and consummate
intelligence. There could be no doubt, with any one who saw that
_Desdemona_ on that night, that another great career was begun.... All
the Malibran fire, courage, and accomplishment were in it, and (some of
us fancied) something more beside."

Pauline Garcia's voice was a rebel which she had had to subdue, not a
vassal to command, like the glorious organ of Mme. Grisi, but her harsh
and unmanageable notes had been tutored by a despotic drill into great
beauty and pliancy. Like that of her sister in quality, it combined the
two registers of contralto and soprano from low F to C above the lines,
but the upper part of an originally limited mezzo-soprano had been
literally fabricated by an iron discipline, conducted by the girl
herself with all the science of a master. Like Malibran, too, she had in
her voice the soul-stirring tone, the sympathetic and touching character
by which the heart is thrilled. Her singing was expressive, descriptive,
thrilling, full, equal and just, brilliant and vibrating, especially in
the medium and in the lower chords. Capable of every style of art, it
was adapted to all the feelings of nature, but particularly to outbursts
of grief, joy, or despair. "The dramatic coloring which her voice
imparts to the slightest shades of feeling and passion is a real
phenomenon of vocalization which can not be analyzed," says Escudier.
"No singer we ever heard, with the exception of Malibran," says another
critic, "could produce the same effect by means of a few simple notes.
It is neither by the peculiar power, the peculiar depth, nor the
peculiar sweetness of these tones that the sensation is created, but by
something indescribable in the quality which moves you to tears in the
very hearing."

Something of this impression moved the general mind of connoisseurs on
her first dramatic appearance. Her style, execution, voice, expression,
and manner so irresistibly reminded her fellow-performers of the
lamented Malibran, that tears rolled down their cheeks, yet there
was something radically different withal peculiar to the singer. This
singular resemblance led to a curious incident afterward in Paris. A
young lady was taking a music-lesson from Lablache, who had lodgings in
the same house with Mlle. Garcia. The basso was explaining the manner in
which Malibran gave the air they were practicing. Just then a voice was
heard in the adjoining room singing the cavatina--the voice of Mdlle.
Garcia. The young girl was struck with a fit of superstitious terror as
if she had seen a phantom, and fainted away on her seat.

Yet in person there was but a slight resemblance between the two
sisters. Pauline had a tall, slender figure in her youth, and her
physiognomy, Jewish in its cast, though noble and expressive, was so far
from being handsome that when at rest the features were almost harsh in
their irregularity. But, as in the case of many plain women, emotion and
sensibility would quickly transfigure her face into a marvelous beauty
and fascination, far beyond the loveliness of line and tint. Her
forehead was broad and intellectual, the hair jet-black, the complexion
pale, the large, black eyes ardent and full of fire. Her carriage was
singularly majestic and easy, and a conscious nobility gave her bearing
a loftiness which impressed all beholders.

Her singing and acting in _Desdemona_ made a marked sensation. Though
her powers were still immature, she flooded the house with a stream of
clear, sweet, rich melody, with the apparent ease of a bird. Undismayed
by the traditions of Mali-bran, Pasta, and Sontag in this character,
she gave the part a new reading, in which she put something of her own
intense individuality. "By the firmness of her step, and the general
confidence of her deportment," said a contemporary writer, "we were at
first induced to believe that she was not nervous; but the improvement
of every succeeding song, and the warmth with which she gave the latter
part of the opera, convinced us that her power must have been confined
by something like apprehension." Kubini was the _Otello_, Tamburini,
_Iago_, and Lablache, _Elmiro_. Her performance in "La Cenerentola"
confirmed the good opinion of the public. Her pure taste and perfect
facility of execution were splendidly exhibited. "She has," said a
critic, "more feeling than Mme. Cinti Da-moreau in the part in which
the greater portion of Europe has assigned to her the preeminence, and
execution even now in nearly equal perfection."

M. Viardot, a well-known French _litterateur_, was then director of the
Italian Opera in Paris, and he came to London to hear the new singer--in
whom he naturally felt a warm interest, as he had been an intimate
personal friend of Mme. Malibran. He was so delighted that he offered
her the position of prima donna for the approaching season, but
the timidity of the young girl of eighteen shrank from such a
responsibility, and she would only bind herself to appear for a few
nights. The French public felt a strong curiosity to hear the sister
of Mali-bran, and it was richly rewarded, for the magnificent style
in which she sang her parts in "Otello," "La Cenerentola," and "Il
Barbiere" stamped her position as that not only of a great singer, but a
woman of genius. The audacity and wealth of resource which she displayed
on the first representation of the latter-named opera wore worthy of
the daughter of Garcia and the sister of Malibran, Very imperfectly
acquainted with the music, she forgot an important part of the score.
Without any embarrassment, she instantly improvised not merely the
ornament, but the melody, pouring out a flood of dazzling vocalization
which elicited noisy enthusiasm. It was not Rossini's "Il Barbiere," but
it was successful in arousing a most flattering approbation. It may be
fancied, however, that, when she sang the _role_ of _Rosina_ a second
time, she knew the music as Rossini wrote it.

III.

Mlle. Garcia was now fairly embarked on the hereditary profession of her
family, and with every prospect of a brilliant career, for never had a
singer at the very outset so signally impressed herself on the public
judgment, not only as a thoroughly equipped artist, but as a woman
of original genius. But she temporarily retired from the stage in
consequence of her marriage with M. Viardot, who had fallen deeply in
love with the fascinating cantatrice, shortly after his introduction to
her. The bridegroom resigned his position as manager of the Opera, and
the newly married couple, shortly after their nuptials in the spring of
1840, proceeded to Italy, M. Viardot being intrusted with an important
mission relative to the fine arts. Mme. Viardot did not return to the
stage till the spring of the following year. After a short season in
London, in which she made a deep and abiding impression, in the part of
_Orazia_ ("Gli Orazi ed i Curiazi"), and justified her right to wear the
crown of Pasta and Malibran, she was obliged by considerations of health
to return to the balmier climate of Southern Europe.

While traveling in Spain, the native land of her parents, she was
induced to sing in Madrid, where she was welcomed with all the warmth of
Spanish enthusiasm. Her amiability was displayed during her performance
of _Desdemona_, the second opera presented. Pleased with the
unrestrained expressions of delight by the audience, she voluntarily
sang the _rondo finale_ from "Cenerentola." There was such a magic spell
on the audience that they could not be prevailed upon to leave, though
Mme. Viardot sang again and again for them. At last the curtain fell and
the orchestra departed, but the crowd would not leave the theatre.
The obliging cantatrice, though fatigued, directed a piano-forte to be
wheeled to the front of the stage, and sang, to her own accompaniment,
two Spanish airs and a French romance, a crowning act of grace which
made her audience wild with admiration and pleasure. An immense throng
escorted her carriage from the theatre to the hotel, with a tumult of
_vivas_. During this Spanish tour she appeared in opera in several
towns outside of the capital, in the important pieces of her repertoire,
including "Il Barbiere" and "Norma," operas entirely opposed to each
other in style, but in both of which she was favorably judged in
comparison with the greatest representatives of these characters.

When this singer first appeared, every throne on the lyric stage seemed
to be filled by those who sat firm, and wore their crowns right regally
by the grace of divine gifts, as well as by the election of the people.
There seemed to be no manifest place for a new aspirant, no niche
unoccupied. But within three years' time Mme. Viardot's exalted rank
among the great singers of the age was no less assured than if she had
queened it over the public heart for a score of seasons, and in her
endowment as an artist was recognized a bounteous wealth of gifts to
which none of her rivals could aspire. Her resources appeared to be
without limit; she knew every language to which music is sung, every
style in which music can be written with equal fluency. All schools,
whether ancient or modern, severe or florid, sacred or profane,
severely composed or gayly fantastic, were easily within her grasp.
Like Malibran, she was a profoundly scientific musician, and possessed
creative genius. Several volumes of songs attest her inventive skill in
composition, and the instances of her musical improvisation on the stage
are alike curious and interesting. Such unique and lavish qualities as
these placed the younger daughter of Garcia apart from all others, even
as the other daughter had achieved a peculiarly original place in her
time. Like Lablache, in his basso _roles_, Mme. Viardot, by her genius
completely revolutionized, both in dramatic conception and musical
rendering, many parts which had almost become stage traditions in
passing through the hands of a series of fine artists. But the fresher
insight of a vital originating imagination breathed a more robust
and subtile life into old forms, and the models thus set appear to be
imperishable. It has been more than hinted by friends of the composer
Meyerbeer, that, when his life is read between the lines, it will be
known that he owes a great debt to Pauline Viardot for suggestions and
criticism in one of his greatest operas, as it is well known that he
does to the tenor, Adolphe Nourrit, for some of the finest features of
"Robert le Diable" and "Les Huguenots."

In October, 1842, Mme. Viardot made her reappearance on the French stage
at the Theatre Italien as _Arsace_ in "Semiramide," supported by Mme.
Grisi and Tamburini. There was at this time such a trio of singers as
is rarely found at any one theatre, Pauline Viardot, Giulia Grisi, and
Fanny Persiani, each one possessing voice and talent of the highest
character in her own peculiar sphere. Not the smallest share of the
honors gathered by these artists came to Mme. Viardot who had for
intelligent and thoughtful connoisseurs a charm more subtile and binding
than that exercised by any of her rivals. At the close of the Paris
season she proceeded to Vienna, where her artistic gifts were highly
appreciated, and thence to Berlin, where Meyerbeer was then engaged in
composing his "Prophete." The dramatic conception of _Fides_, it may
be said in passing, was expressly designed for Pauline Viardot by the
composer, who had the most exalted esteem for her genius, both as a
musician and tragedienne. She was always a great favorite in Germany,
and Berlin and Vienna vied with each other in their admiration of this
gifted woman. In 1844 she stirred the greatest enthusiasm by singing at
Vienna with Ilonconi, a singer afterward frequently associated with her.

Perhaps at no period of her life, though, did Mme. Viardot create a
stronger feeling than when she appeared in Berlin in the spring of 1847
as _Rachel_ in Halevy's "La Juive." It was a German version, but the
singer was perfect mistress of the language, and though the music of
the opera was by no means well suited to the character of her voice,
its power as a dramatic performance and the passion of the singing
established a complete supremacy over all classes of hearers. The
exhibition on the part of this staid and phlegmatic German community was
such as might only be predicated of the volcanic temperament of Rome or
Naples. The roar of the multitude in front of her lodgings continued
all night, and it was dawn before she was able to retire to rest.
The versatility and kind heart of Mme. Viardot were illustrated in an
occurrence during this Berlin engagement. She had been announced as
_Alice_ in "Robert le Diable," when the _Isabella_ of the evening, Mlle.
Tuezck, was taken ill. The _impressario_ tore his hair in despair, for
there was no singer who could be substituted, and a change of opera
seemed to be the only option. Mme. Viardot changed the gloom of the
manager to joy. Rather than disappoint the audience, she would sing
both characters. This she did, changing her costume with each change
of scene, and representing in one opera the opposite _roles_ of princess
and peasant. One can imagine the effect of this great feat on that
crowded Berlin audience, who had already so warmly taken Pauline Viardot
to their hearts. Berlin, Vienna, Hamburg, Dresden, Frankfort, Leipsic,
and other German cities were the scenes of a series of triumphs, and
everywhere there was but one voice as to her greatness as an artist,
an excellence not only great, but unique of its kind. Her repertoire at
this time consisted of _Desdemona, Cenerentola, Rosina, Camilla (in "Gli
Orazi"), Arsace, Norma, Ninetta, Amina, Romeo, Lucia, Maria di Rohan,
Leonora ("La Favorita" ), Zerlina, Donna Anna, Iphigenie (Gluck), the
Rachel of Halevy, and the Alice and Valentine of Meyerbeer_.

IV.

Mme. Viardot's high position on the operatic stage of course brought her
into intimate association with the leading singers of her age, some of
whom have been mentioned in previous sketches. But there was one great
tenor of the French stage, Nourrit, who, though he died shortly after
Mme. Viardot's entrance on her lyric career, yet bore such relation
to the Garcia family as to make a brief account of this gifted artist
appropriate under this caption. Adolphe Nourrit, of whom the French
stage is deservedly proud, was the pupil of Manuel Garcia, the intimate
friend of Maria Malibran, and the judicious adviser of Pauline Viardot
in her earlier years. The son of a tenor singer, who united the business
of a diamond broker with the profession of music, young Nourrit received
a good classical education, and was then placed in the Conservatoire,
where he received a most thorough training in the science of music, as
well as in the art of singing. It was said of him in after-years that
he was able to write a libretto, compose the music to it, lead the
orchestra, and sing the tenor role in it, with equal facility. His first
appearance was in Gluck's "Iphigenie en Tauride," in 1821, his age then
being nineteen. Gifted with remarkable intelligence and ambition, he
worked indefatigably to overcome his defects of voice, and perfect his
equipment as an artist. Manuel Garcia, the most scientific and exacting
of singing teachers, was the _maestro_ under whom Nourrit acquired
that large and noble style for which he became eminent. He soon became
principal tenor at the Academie, and created all of the leading tenor
roles of the operas produced in France for ten years. Among these may
be mentioned _Neocles_ in "La Siege de Corinthe," _Masaniello_ in "La
Muette de Portici,"_Arnold_ in "Guillaume Tell," _Leonardo da Vinci_
in Ginestell's "Francois I," _Un Lnconnu_ in "Le Dieu et la Bayadere,"
_Robert le Diable, Edmond_ in "La Serment," _Nadir_ in Cherubini's "Ali
Baba," _Eleazar_ in "La Juive," _Raoul_ in "Les Huguenots," _Phobus_ in
Bertini's "La Esmeralda," and _Stradella_ in Niedermeyer's opera.

Nourrit gave a distinct stamp and a flavor to all the parts he created,
and his comedy was no less refined and pleasing than his tragedy
was pathetic and commanding. He was idolized by the public, and his
influence with them and with his brother artists was great. He was
consulted by managers, composers, and authors. He wrote the words for
Eleazar's fine air in "La Juive," and furnished the suggestions on which
Meyerbeer remodeled the second and third acts of "Robert le Diable" and
the last act of "Les Huguenots." The libretti for the ballets of "La
Sylphide," "La Tempete," "L'ile des Pirates," "Le Diable Boiteux," etc.,
as danced by Taglioni and Fanny Elssler, were written by this versatile
man, and he composed many charming songs, which are still favorites
in French drawing-rooms. It was Nourrit who popularized the songs of
Schubert, and otherwise softened the French prejudice against modern
German music. In private life this great artist was so witty, genial,
and refined, that he was a favorite guest in the most distinguished and
exclusive _salons_. When Duprez was engaged at the opera it severely
mortified Nourrit, and, rather than divide the honors with a new singer,
he resigned his position as first tenor at the Academie, where he so
long had been a brilliant light. His farewell to the French public,
April 1, 1837, was the most flattering and enthusiastic ovation ever
accorded to a French artist, but he could not be induced to reconsider
his purpose. He was professor of lyric declamation at the Conservatoire,
but this position, too, he resigned, and went away with the design of
making a musical tour through France, Germany, and Italy. Nourrit, who
was subject to alternate fits of excitement and depression, was maddened
to such a degree by a series of articles praising Duprez at his expense,
that his friends feared for his sanity, a dread which was ominously
realized in Italy two years afterward, where Nourrit was then singing.
Though he was very warmly welcomed by the Italians, his morbid
sensibility took offense at Naples at what he fancied was an unfavorable
opinion of his _Pollio_ in "Norma." His excitement resulted in delirium,
and he threw himself from his bedroom window on the paved court-yard
below, which resulted in instant death. Nourrit was the intimate friend
of many of the most distinguished men of the age in music, literature,
and art, and his sad death caused sincere national grief.

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