The Life and Work of Pauline Viardot Garcia: The years of fame, 1836-1863
- ISBN-10
- 1904303277
- ISBN-13
- 9781904303275
- Category
- Compact discs
- Pages
- 494
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2003-01-01
- Publisher
- Cambridge Scholars Press
- Author
- Barbara Kendall-Davies
Description
The name of Pauline Viardot Garcia was well known during her lifetime, but after her death in 1910, she passed into obscurity. She was born in Paris in 1821, the youngest child of the Spanish tenor, Manuel Garcia; her sister was Maria Malibran, and her brother, Manuel Patrizio, was an eminent teacher of singing. The first volume of her biography ranges from 1836 until 1863 and covers the most important years of her operatic career. Several composers wrote for her, including Meyerbeer, for whom she created Fidés in 'Le Prophéte'; Saint Saëns modelled the role of Delilah on her and Brahms composed the Alto Rhapsody, which she premiered in 1870. She encouraged Gounod to write his first opera, 'Sapho', and sang the title role in the premiere at the Paris Opèra and at Covent Garden. Schumann dedicated his Liederkreis Op.24 to Viardot, and Faurè dedicated several of his songs to her. She launched the career of Jules Massenet, and gave valuable assistance to Sullivan, Bizet, Stanford, Arthur Goring Thomas and several other musicians at the beginning of their careers. Although she was not good looking, she had a fascinating personality and great charm and several men fell in love with her, including Alfred de Musset, Gounod, Maurice Sand, Ary Scheffer, Berlioz, and Ivan Turgenev, who loved her devotedly for forty years, although she was married to Louis Viardot for the whole of that time. She was a linguist, artist, composer and talented pianist who studied with Franz Liszt, as well as being a superb singer and actress. Liszt admired her songs and said that she was the first woman composer of genius. Her talent for friendship was great, and she counted Chopin and George Sand as two of her most intimate friends. From 1863 until 1870, she lived in Baden-Baden where she became a celebrated musical hostess, as well as a fine teacher and composer.This book traces the life and work of one of the most important sopranos of the nineteenth century, Pauline Viardot Garcia. Her influence on figures like Meyerbeer, Turgenev and Liszt alone makes this volume, the first comprehensive biography ever published in English, indispensable to the musicologist with an interest in the nineteenth century.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2014-07-24
- 405 pages
- Ebook
- Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Similar books
-
The Penguin Guide to Jazz on Compact Disc
By Richard Cook, Brian MortonThe Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD is one of the most comprehensive critical guides to jazz recordings available. For this revised and updated edition, some 2,000 listings have been...
-
Gramophone Classical Good CD Guide 2002
By GramophoneShe was 13 then ; now she is 18 , but that sented by the company in 1933. It was wonderfully spontaneous musicality which is choreographed by Léonide Massine and based hers by natural instinct ( one thinks of the young on a play by ...
-
Beethoven Lives Upstairs: Teacher's notes
By Susan Hammond, Ludwig van BeethovenThe story of a boy who lives downstairs from Beethoven with over 2 dozen excerpts from Beethoven's works.
-
The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra: Benjamin Britten's Composition on CD Narrated by Ben Kingsley
By Anita GaneriProvides information about the history of the orchestra since its beginnings in the seventeenth century, instruments of the orchestra, and famous composers of classical music.
-
The Good CD Guide, 1993: Reviews of the Best Classical Compact Discs You Can Buy
By Christopher PollardOverture in G minor , Z770 . ... The Knight of Malta , Z599 . Why , my Daphne , why complaining ?, 2525. ... Pavans — A major , Z748 ; A minor , Z749 ; B flat major , BWV750 ; G minor , BWV751 ; G minor , Z752 .
-
Shining Eyes, Cruel Fortune: The Lives and Loves of Italian Renaissance Women Poets
By Irma B. Jaffe, Gernando ColombardoWe have used a photocopy of her Rime held by Harvard College Library and a copy of the Discorso bound together with several volumes of her Rime in the Spencer Collection of the New York Public Library . We wish to thank the librarians ...
-
The Classical Music Experience
By Julius H. JacobsonCovers sixty of the world's most celebrated composers, from Bach, Mozart and Beethoven to Tchaikovsky, Gershwin and Bernstein. It weaves five hundred years of history and music into a rich tapestry of sound and story.
-
Jazz on CD
By Roy CarrJazz on CD
-
The Essential Guide to Jazz on CD
By John FordhamThe Essential Guide to Jazz on CD
-
I Can Make You Sleep: Overcome Insomnia Forever and Get the Best Rest of Your Life
By Paul McKenna... they get to sleep comfortably , but they wake up during the night and find it difficult to get back to sleep . There are several reasons why this happens . Eating too late and drinking too much alcohol can cause people to waken .