Viardot-Garcia, Pauline (1821 - 1910)

Pauline Viardot-Garcia at the age of 20
[fig. 1]

Pauline Viardot-Garcia (1821 – 1910) at the age of 20
Steel engraving, around 1840
Robert-Schumann-Haus Zwickau

Schumann heard the singer, who was a close friend of George Sand, and a sister of the equally famous Malibran, for the first time on 25 June 1838 in Leipzig and was very touched by her singing. Pauline Garcia had a great mezzo-soprano with impressive range. Both Clara and Robert Schumann were in friendly contact with Pauline Viardot-Garcia (since 1846, Pauline was married to Louis Viardot). After her retreat from stage, Pauline Viardot-Garcia lived ten years in Baden-Baden, before returning to Paris during the war in 1871. During these years, also Clara Schumann lived near Baden-Baden, whom Pauline encouraged to buy a house in Lichtenthal, which became from 1862 to 1873 the center of Schumann's family life. Clara Schumann and Pauline Viardot did not only perform together, but also were really close friends, even though the luxurious lifestyle of Viardot, was sometimes displeasing Clara Schumann a little. After 1871, the contact between the two women was only sporadic.

(I.B.)

Published 2016:
Beatrix Borchard: Pauline Viardot-Garcia. Fülle des Lebens

Beatrix Borchard
Pauline Viardot-Garcia. Fülle des Lebens
Band 9 der Reihe „Europäische Komponistinnen“, hg. von Annette Kreutziger-Herr und Melanie Unseld
Böhlau: 2016, 439 Seiten
ISBN: 978-3-412-50143-3

Pauline Viardot-Garcia at the age of 25
[fig. 2]

Pauline Viardot-Garcia (1821 – 1910) at the age of 25
Lithograph  on Pierre Vigneron, 1846
Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien

Pauline is depicted on this sheet dated in 1846 as an ensemble member of the Paris theater “Théatre Italien”, whose director Louis Viardot married her in the same year.

Pauline Viardot-Garcia at the age of 45
[fig. 3]

Pauline Viardot-Garcia (1821 - 1910) at the age of 45
Photography, around 1865
Robert-Schumann-Haus Zwickau

This picture of Pauline Viardot-Garcia is dedicated to “dear Clara” and is from the time when both lived close by each other. Pauline, who was then living in Baden-Baden, had suggested Clara to buy a house in Lichtenthal that turned into Schumann’s family headquarter and meeting place of Schumann’s friends and guests for more than a decade.

[Translated by Katharina Ma]



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