Great Singers, Second Series: Malibran To TitiensFerris, George T. (George Titus)
History
Great Singers, Second Series: Malibran To Titiens
Ferris, George T. (George Titus)
Singers -- Biography
Grisi united much of the nobleness and tragic inspiration of Pasta with
something of the fire and energy of Malibran, but in the minds of the
most capable judges she lacked the creative originality which stamped
each of the former two artists. She was remarkable for the cleverness
with which she adopted the effects and ideas of those more thoughtful
and inventive than herself. Her _Norma_ was ostentatiously modeled on
that of Pasta. Her acting showed less the exercise of reflection and
study than the rich, uncultivated, imperious nature of a most beautiful
and adroit southern woman. But her dramatic instincts were so strong and
vehement that they lent something of her own personality to the copy of
another's creation. When to this engrossing energy were added the most
dazzling personal charms and a voice which as nearly reached perfection
as any ever bestowed on a singer, it is no marvel that a continual
succession of brilliant rivals was unable to dispute her long reign over
the public heart.
PAULINE VIARDOT.
Vicissitudes of the Garcia Family.--Pauline Viardot's Early
Training.--Indications of her Musical Genius.--She becomes a Pupil
of Liszt on the Piano.--Pauline Garcia practically self-trained as a
Vocalist.--Her Remarkable Accomplishments.--Her First Appearance before
the Public with De Beriot in Concert.--She makes her _Debut_ in London
as _Desdemona_.--Contemporary Opinions of her Powers.--Description of
Pauline Garcia's Voice and the Character of her Art.--The Originality
of her Genius.--Pauline Garcia marries M. Viardot, a Well-known
_Litterateur_.--A Tour through Southern Europe.--She creates a Distinct
Place for herself in the Musical Art.--Great Enthusiasm in Germany
over her Singing.--The Richness of her Art Resources.--Sketches of the
Tenors, Nourrit and Duprez, and of the Great Barytone, Ronconi.--Mine.
Viardot and the Music of Meyerbeer.--Her Creation of the Part of _Fides_
in "Le Prophete," the Crowning Work of a Great Career.--Retirement from
the Stage.--High Position in Private Life.--Connection with the French
Conservatoire.
I.
The genius of the Garcia family flowered not less in Mme. Malibran's
younger sister than in her own brilliant and admired self. Pauline, the
second daughter of Manuel Garcia, was thirteen years the junior of her
sister, and born at Paris, July 18, 1821. The child had for sponsors at
baptism the celebrated Ferdinand Paer, the composer, and the Princess
Pauline Prascovie Galitzin, a distinguished Russian lady, noted for her
musical amateurship, and the full name given was Michelle Ferdinandie
Pauline. The little girl was only three years old when her sister Maria
made her _debut_ in London, and even then she lisped the airs she
heard sung by her sister and her father with something like musical
intelligence, and showed that the hereditary gift was deeply rooted in
her own organization.
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