Garcia the Centenarian and His Times: Being a Memoir of Manuel Garcia's Life and Labours for the Advancement of Music and ScienceMackinlay, M. (Malcolm) Sterling
History
Garcia the Centenarian and His Times: Being a Memoir of Manuel Garcia's Life and Labours for the Advancement of Music and Science
"At Bentinck Street Señor Garcia taught several budding Jewish
vocalists, entrusted to his care by members of the Rothschild family,
who showed their love of music by defraying the cost of teaching (and
sometimes of maintaining) the youthful singers. One of these pupils, who
subsequently became a prominent member of an English Opera Company, was
an especial _protégée_ of Baroness Lionel de Rothschild; and one day the
kind lady, accompanied by her daughter (afterwards the Countess of
Rosebery), called to inquire how the girl was progressing. The maestro's
reply was characteristic. 'Madame la Baronne, she has all the musical
talent of her race, but little of its industriousness or perseverance.
Still, as in spite of that she accomplishes in a week what takes most
other girls a month, I hope sometime to make a singer of her.'"
Here I will abandon Mr Klein's narrative, to resume it later in
describing the preparation of Garcia's last text-book, 'Hints on
Singing.'
During the next few years a number of pupils passed through his hands at
the Royal Academy of Music, who were afterwards to take an important
place in their profession.
In 1875 Miss Orridge came to place herself under the maestro. The years
which she spent at the Academy brought victory after victory. She
gained in turn the Llewellyn Davies Bronze and Gold Medals for
declamatory singing, the Parepa-Rosa Medal, and the Christine Nillson's
Second Prize. While still a student at the Royal Academy of Music, Miss
Orridge made her _début_ at the St James's Hall Ballad Concerts, and
also went on a successful tour with Sims Reeves. From that time she
continued to make rapid strides in her professional status, and gave
promise of being one of the best contralto concert singers of her time,
when her career was brought to a sudden close by an untimely death, when
she had been before the public scarcely six years.
At the commencement of 1876 Garcia received the letter from Wagner to
which attention has been already called, embodying the offer for him to
train the singers for the first Bayreuth Festival. This, however, he was
obliged to refuse, owing to his large _clientèle_ in London.
On July 14, 1877, the inventor of the Laryngoscope received his second
recognition for the services which he had rendered to the medical
profession, fifteen years having elapsed since the degree of Mus. Doc.
had been conferred on him, _honoris causa_, by the University of
Königsberg.
An influential meeting assembled to give their support at the ceremony
of presenting him with a service of plate.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account