At Berlin, such was her success, that after her performance as Rahel in Halévy's "La Juive," she was serenaded by the whole orchestra. Here, too, she astonished all by volunteering at a moment's notice to sing the part of Isabelle in "Robert le Diable" in addition to her own of Alice, when the artiste who had been engaged for the former _rôle_ was suddenly taken ill. Her actual _début_ in Germany was made at a State concert in Berlin,--an official ceremony, but still a private one. The first public appearance in the country was made at an evening concert at the Gewandhaus of Leipsic in 1843. Pauline Viardot was twenty-two at the time. With a charming appearance, and already ablaze with the reflected glory of her sister, Maria Malibran, the _débutante_ quickly roused the sympathetic curiosity of her audience to enthusiasm. The entire press praised her virtuosity, artistic feeling, and nobility of countenance, but above all they expressed admiration for her gift of revealing the innermost beauty of the grand musical works in which she lived and felt so profoundly. They admired, too, that unique talent which wrapped every phrase in the exquisite charm and grace which she brought to bear. For that reason the bravura air of Persiani's "Inès de Castro," the final rondo from Rossini's "Cenerentola," and an unpublished air of Ch. de Bériot, earned for her at this first concert as much applause as the great air from Handel's "Rinaldo" and the lighter French, Spanish, and German songs which she sang in the same programme. These last three varieties of song she gave with a national colour so characteristic that, as one of the critics said, "Elles parurent chantées par trois voix et par trois âmes totalement différentes." As was her usual custom, she accompanied herself on the piano to perfection. Clara Schumann, who took part in the concert, was dumfounded, and never forgot the occasion. Another musician who appeared that evening was a young violinist, an infant prodigy, twelve years old, who was to become in later years the great master, Joseph Joachim. Between 1840 and 1843 Mme. Viardot added to her successes many fresh operas, principal among them being "Tancredi," the "Gazza Ladra," and "Semiramide," in which she took the part of Arsace. By the year 1845 her repertoire comprised, in addition to those already mentioned, "Somnambula" and "Norma," "I Capuletti" (in which she played Romeo), "L'Elisire d'Amore," "Lucia di Lammermoor," and "Don Pasquale"; as well as in German, "La Juive," "Iphigénie en Tauride," "Les Huguenots," "Robert le Diable," and "Don Juan," in which she played sometimes the part of Zerlina, at others Donna Anna.