Born:
July 18, 1821
Birthplace:
Paris, France
Died:
May 18, 1910 in Paris
Also Known As:
Her full name was Michelle Ferdinande Pauline Viardot - Garcia; a highly regarded
mezzo-soprano who greatly influenced
opera. She can also sing
contralto and
soprano voices. She comes from a musically inclined family; her father, Manuel Garcia, was a teacher and singer; her sister, Maria Malibran, was a soprano and her brother, Manuel García II. Viardot, was a voice teacher. She later focused on composing and teaching. She married theatre director Louis Viardot.
Type of Compositions:
As a composer she wrote songs,
operettas and vocal transcriptions of
mazurkas by
Frédéric Chopin.
Influence:
Her mother; who taught her singing, was one of her influences. She was a piano student of
Franz Liszt and studied composition under Anton Reicha.
Notable Works:
As an operatic singer, she sang the parts of Desdemona (from
Otello by
Gioacchino Rossini), Fidès (from
Le Prophète by
Giacomo Meyerbeer), Rachel (from
La Juive by Fromental Halévy), the title role in
Louis Hector Berlioz' Orfeo ed Eurydice and the title role in
Sapho by
Charles Gounod. One of her operettas is
Le Dernier Sorcier; the libretto of which was written by Ivan Turgenev.
Interesting Fact:
In 1859, Viardot made her concert debut in Belgium at the age of 15. In 1861, she made her operatic debut in London, singing the part of Desdemona in
Otello by
Gioacchino Rossini. Prominent composers such as
Robert Schumann and
Johannes Brahms composed pieces for her.
Music Sample:
Listen to music samples
here.
