It has always been stated that he was given the post by Auber, but investigation proves this to be incorrect. Auber was not appointed to the directorship of the Conservatoire until the year 1842. At the time Señor Garcia joined the staff Cherubini was at the head of affairs, having been made director in the year 1821 (after being professor of composition there for five years), and he remained in that position until the close of 1841, when he retired at the age of eighty-one, to be succeeded by the younger composer. In the year of Manuel Garcia's appointment to the Conservatoire, his sister, Maria Malibran, was in London during May and June, having been engaged by the management of the Royal Italian Opera at Covent Garden for twenty-one performances at a fee of £2775. How little did those who listened to her in London that summer foresee that with the close of the season they were to hear her in the capital no more, and that in little over a year her life was to be brought to a tragic end! Yet such was to be the case. After the close of the London season the contralto retired to Brussels for a rest, and then in the early autumn set out for Naples. Immediately on her arrival she received an urgent visit from Giovanni Gallo, the director of the little theatre of "St Jean Chrysostôme." The interview led to a delightful episode. The unhappy impresario was on the verge of bankruptcy, and came to beg her aid. Maria Malibran refused, but offered to sing for him at his theatre for a fee of three thousand francs. The company and orchestra, who had already half dispersed, were hastily reassembled, and de Bériot himself directed the rehearsals for "Somnambula." The announcement of the forthcoming performance created tremendous excitement,--seats fetched incredible prices; and on the night itself the hall was crammed to overflowing. The tenor was so affected that he suddenly stopped short, and for some minutes could not sing a note. The public began to murmur, and the whole success of the evening was in jeopardy, until Malibran came to the rescue. She at once commenced to sing the tenor music, and rendered it with such virility of accent and gesture that the public shouted with enthusiasm. What was more to the purpose, the tenor was able to recover himself after a few moments and take up his _rôle_ again. At the fall of the curtain the ovation was tremendous,--indeed it seemed as if the applause would never come to an end.