Pauline Michelle Ferdinande Viardot, née Garcia (1821-1910), was a very successful woman in a world dominated by men. She made the most of her talents throughout her long career as one of the most well known singers of her time in Europe.
She was also a voice teacher, a composer and a cultural entrepreneur avant la lettre (before it existed). In short: she was one of the most influential women in the classical music world of the 19th century.
Pauline was born into a musical family: her father was Manuel Garcia, a famed Spanish tenor. Her mother Joaquina Stichès, was also an opera singer, and her sister was Maria Malibran, the legendary opera soprano, famed for her acting skills as well as for her beauty. Her sister Maria tragically died at the age of twenty-eight.
Her father trained both his daughters on the piano and also gave them singing lessons. The family was based in Paris, but travelled and performed all over the world. Pauline’s father, mother, brother and sister gave the first full performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni in the United States.
Her own children would also become musicians: her son a concert violinist, one of her daughters a composer and the other two (daughters) concert singers.
Pauline gave her first concert performance in 1837 at 16 years old in Brussels.
Soon after that, her career took off quite successfully and she quickly gained a good reputation. So good that during the fall of 1843 in Saint Petersburg an enthusiastic review appeared in a local newspaper two days before her performance in that city! Luckily, the 'reviewers’ prophetic description of the standing ovation turned out to be very accurate as the audience clapped their hands shouting for an hour.
Unlike her sister, Pauline may not have been known for her beauty, but she had an irresistible attraction about her.
Her husband, art critic Louis Viardot who became her manager, was devoted to her. The Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev fell passionately in love with her. He became her lifelong lover and accompanied the Viardots on most of their travels throughout Europe and eventually moved in with them.
Pauline was fluent in Spanish, French, Italian, English, German, and Russian. She also composed in different national music styles and performed in music halls across Europe. Making great use of the rapidly growing European railroad networks, the Viardots and Turgenev travelled constantly through the continent, mainly because of Pauline’s international tours.
Thanks to their many international connections with musicians, composers, artists, writers and cultural entrepreneurs, the Viardots and Turgenev contributed significantly to Europe’s growing cultural unity.
Among those connections were composers like Clara Schumann, Charles Gounod, Frederic Chopin, Hector Berlioz and Camille Saint-Saëns (who dedicated his work Samson and Delilah to her). Writers such as George Sand, Charles Dickens, Gustave Flaubert, and painters like Eugène Delacroix were also part of their entourage.
In 1863, Pauline Viardot retired from the stage.
She and her family left France and settled in Baden-Baden, Germany, where Turgenev also lived. Just a few years later, in 1870, the Viardots returned to France, where she started teaching at the Paris Conservatory. She also held a music salon in her house on the Boulevard Saint-Germain.
In 1910, Pauline Viardot died at the age of 88 and was buried at the Montmartre cemetery.
Transcribe letters written by or addressed to Pauline Viardot.
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