Accordingly in the following September he relinquished his professorship, and membership on the Committee of Management at the Royal Academy of Music, and thereby severed a connection of nearly half a century. Already a middle-aged man when he first took up his work at the Academy under Cipriani Potter, he saw him succeeded as Principal in turn by Charles Lucas, Sterndale Bennett, Sir George Macfarren, and finally Sir Alexander Mackenzie, who was holding the position at the time of his retirement. Allowing for a possible break of a month or two, Señor Manuel Garcia was actively engaged in teaching singing at Tenterden Street for the long period of forty-seven years. The Chevalier Alberto Randegger, who was his colleague on the staff for the greater part of this time, sent me the following letter:-- "Although Señor Garcia and myself have been good colleagues for many years at the R.A.M., he was, as you know, so reserved, modest, and retiring that very, very few people were by him allowed to approach or frequent his society on very intimate terms." What of musical London during the twenty years preceding Garcia's retirement from the Academy? Let us recall some of the artists who were most prominently before the public, and the more important musical events which were taking place in the operatic field. The glance need only be a brief one, for with the last quarter of the nineteenth century we are among events which are within the ken of most people. With 1875, the year after Sarasate's _début_, we find three events worthy of note. There took place the first performance in London of "Lohengrin," with Albani as Elsa, Cotogni as Telramund, and Nicolini in the title part. Then in the following September the Carl Rosa Opera Company appeared in the capital for the first time at the Princess's Theatre. Lastly, during the season there was heard at Drury Lane a young Polish singer, who met with emphatic success in baritone parts such as Don Giovanni, Nevers, Valentine, and Almaviva. He appeared then under the name of "De Reschi": eventually he was to return and take the town by storm as Jean de Rezké. Two years later we hear of the _début_ of Gerster, and of Gazarré, a Spanish tenor, who bridges over the interval between the retirement of Mario and the advent of his famous successor. In this year, moreover, Richard Wagner came to England to take part in the series of Wagner Festival concerts, which had been arranged with a view to paying off the debt on the new theatre at Bayreuth.