ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND.
(1848-1854.)
At the close of June 1848 Manuel Garcia, at the age of forty-three,
arrived in London, where he was to make a new home and spend the rest of
his days.
What changes had taken place in the capital since he had last been there
in the autumn of 1825! When he left George IV. was still king; when he
returned William IV. had reigned and been succeeded by Queen Victoria,
who had already been on the throne over ten years, while our present
king, as Prince of Wales, was six years old.
Let us glance for a moment at the position of musical affairs in London,
and at some of the artists who were in favour when Garcia arrived.
In the previous year (in which both Mendelssohn and Donizetti had died)
an important event had taken place, for the Covent Garden Theatre was
opened as an opera house, and a new period in its history begun.
The scheme had been originated by Signor Persiani, who took the lease of
the place in partnership with Galletti; then, finding that they had
embarked on an enterprise which was too much for them to carry through
without assistance, they brought in Messrs Cramer, the music publishers,
to help finance the undertaking.
As to the company which took part in the opening season, Signor Costa
left Her Majesty's Theatre in order to fill the responsible post of
conductor of an orchestra which had M. Prosper Sainton as principal
violin; and of the artists themselves the stars were Grisi, Mario,
Tamburini, and the Persianis, while Mdlle. Alboni made a triumphant
_début_, and proved herself another strong card to strengthen the hand
of the new management.
With the launching of this enterprise a triangular duel was fought
between Covent Garden, Drury Lane under Bunn, and Her Majesty's under
Lumley, who, after the famous "Bunn Controversy," had been successful in
securing a trump-card with Garcia's now world-famous pupil, Jenny Lind.
Next let us conjure up the artistic circles of London, among which Señor
Garcia found himself in 1848. What names of the past we find when we
glance in turn at science and literature, the stage and music. In one
and all it was an age of giants.
The scientific world could boast such lights as Brewster, Darwin,
Faraday, Sir John Herschel, Huxley, Miller, Owen, and Tyndall.
Literature poured forth a veritable Niagara of Prose writers: Charlotte
Brontë, Carlyle, Dickens, Disraeli, Grote, G. P. R. James, Douglas
Jerrold, Charles Kingsley, Charles Lever, Bulwer Lytton, Macaulay,
Martineau, John Stuart Mill, Ruskin, and Thackeray; while Poetry was
scarcely less prominent with Arnold, P. Bayley, the Brownings, Clough,
Tom Hood, Horner, Alexander Smith, Sir H. Taylor, and Tennyson.
_En passant_, we may note the following pieces of literary news, culled
from newspapers published during the month in which Manuel Garcia landed
in England.
The Nestor of literary France died in Paris on Tuesday last,
Monsieur de Chateaubriand.
* * * * *
Ralph Waldo Emerson will deliver a lecture at Exeter Hall on
"Domestic Life."
* * * * *
Review of the last new Transatlantic poem, "Evangeline," by
Longfellow.
* * * * *
Macaulay's 'History of England.' Volumes one and two. Just
published.
* * * * *
"NEW HISTORICAL ROMANCE," by the Author of 'Rienzi.'
Now ready at all libraries. In three volumes.
'HAROLD.'
_The Last of the Saxon Kings._
By Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, Bart.
Of the Stage we get a strange glimpse from the advertisements in the
papers of July 1848. Three things are specially noticeable in them.
Practically all the theatres boast "a regal air," a large proportion
are managed by ladies, and the bill of fare laid before the voracious
public is, to put it mildly, somewhat of an embarras de richesse.
Opera seasons are, of course, running at Her Majesty's Theatre and the
Royal Italian Opera, Covent Garden. Leaving these and other musical
matters of 1848 for the moment, let us reproduce some of the
advertisements from the papers of that July, for we shall obtain in this
way the best insight into the places of amusement of that time.
THEATRE ROYAL, DRURY LANE.
BENEFIT OF Mr MACREADy.
His last appearance previous to his departure for America.
THEATRE ROYAL, HAYMARKET.
Mr B. WEBSTER (_Sole Lessee_).
"THE WIFE'S SECRET."
_Sir Walter_ Mr Charles Kean.
_Jabez_ Mr Webster.
_Neville_ Miss Reynolds.
_Lady Eveline_ Mrs Charles Kean.
_Maude_ Mrs Keeley.
ROYAL LYCEUM THEATRE.
Under the Management of Mme. VESTRIS.
"The Captain of the Watch," after which "The Beggar's Opera," to
conclude with "Anything for a Change."
THEATRE ROYAL, SADLER'S WELLS.
Under the Direction of Miss RAINFORTH.
Rossini's opera of "Cinderella," after which "No Song, no Supper."
THEATRE ROYAL, ADELPHI.
Under the Management of Mme. CELESTE.
"The Harvest Home," after which "Going to the Derby," to conclude
with "The Married Bachelor."
THEATRE ROYAL, MARYLEBONE.
Under the Management of Mrs WARNER.
_Macbeth_ Mr Macready.
_Lady Macbeth_ Mrs Warner.
After which "The Spoiled Child."
ROYAL SURREY THEATRE.
Shakspere's original version of "The Life and Death of King Richard
Third," after which "A Grand Ballet," to conclude with Boz's
"Oliver Twist."
ROYAL OLYMPIC THEATRE.
Mr H. Spicer's new play, "The Lords of Ellingham," to conclude with
the Drama, "The Miller and His Men."
ST JAMES'S THEATRE.
(French Plays.)
"L'Almanach des 25,000 Addresses," concluding with "L'Enfant de
Quelqu'un," with M. Grassot, M. Sainville, and M. Ravel.
To commence at 7.30.
PRINCESS'S THEATRE.
"La Vivandière," to conclude with the "Spirit of Gold," a Ballet,
and other entertainments.
ROYAL GRECIAN SALOON.
An entirely new opera in three acts by Auber, "Le Chevalier
d'Essone," with a Farce and a Divertissement.
Commencing at 6.30.
ASTLEY'S ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE.
An entirely new grand spectacle, entitled "Marmion; or the Battle
of Flodden," with other entertainments in the Ring.
THE DIORAMA, REGENT'S PARK.
(New Exhibition.)
"Eruption of Mount Ætna."
COAL-HOLE TAVERN, STRAND.
(Opposite Exeter Hall.)
Chair taken by JOHN RHODES every Evening.
Glees, Duets, Solos, Catches, Comic Songs, &c., executed by the
most numerous company of vocalists in the Metropolis, under the
direction of Mr Warren, R.A.
MADAME WARTON'S WALHALLA.
(Leicester Square.)
"Tableaux Vivants."
CREMORNE GARDENS.
Grand Aquatic Tournament.
Magnificent Water Pageant.
The following paragraph appeared on July 29, and from it we get an
insight into the aftermath which the months of revolutionary disturbance
had bequeathed to the city Garcia had left only four weeks before.
"_From a Paris Correspondent._
"The theatres here seem struggling to get on their legs again. The
only speech that was listened to attentively during my visits to
the Assembly was that by Victor Hugo, advocating an annual grant of
680,000 francs to the Paris theatres."
Let us now look at the musical events which were taking place during the
first weeks after Manuel Garcia's arrival in London.
We find many interesting announcements in the concert world; and it is
strange to note that practically none of the halls in which they were
given survive at the present day. On June 23 M. Chopin gives his
_matinée_; while the Philharmonic Society informs the "subscribers and
the public" that their eighth concert will take place at the Hanover
Square Rooms, on June 26, with the following programme:--
Sinfonia in A, No. 2, Mendelssohn; overture, "Leonora," Beethoven;
sinfonia in C minor, Beethoven; overture, "The Ruler of the
Spirits," Weber.
_Vocal performers._--Mme. Castellani and Signor Mario.
_Conductor._--Mr Costa. Tickets, £1, 1s. each.
On the same day there takes place in the Great Concert Room of Her
Majesty's Theatre, Mr Benedict's Grand Annual Morning Concert, with the
following artists:--
"Tadolini, Cruvelli, Vera, de Mendi, Schwartz, Sabatier, Mme.
Lablache, Miss Dolby, the Misses Williams, Mme. Doras-Gras,
Gordoni, Marras, Brizzi, Lablache, Caletti, Belletti, Ciabatta,
Pischek, and John Parry."
Three days later Monsieur Berlioz gives a recital at the Hanover Square
Rooms.
During the same week we find the Musical Union giving a Grand Matinée at
Willis's Rooms, with vocal music, sung by Mme. Viardot-Garcia and
Mdlle. de Mendi: instrumentalists, Molique, Sainton, Hermann, Deloffre,
Hill, Mellon, and Piatti; pianist, Charles Hallé; accompanist, Benedict.
Soon after this Thalberg gives a recital; while "John Parry, the
laughter-provoking and ingenious," holds his concert in the Hanover
Square Rooms. "His new 'whimsy' (for he is the Hood of musicians in his
amount of whim, and whim cannot exist without genius) is 'The Rehearsal
of an Operetta.'"
There is also a notice of Exeter Hall: "Mr Hullah's choralists
celebrated the anniversary of laying the first stone of their new music
hall with the best miscellaneous English concert that one recollects....
Mr Sims Reeves, who seems wisely taking the tide at the flood, and by
increased care justifying his increasing success, was an attraction,
singing among other music Purcell's 'Come if you dare,' with spirit
enough to 'rouse a shire.'"
Then there is a season of Promenade Concerts at the Royal Adelaide
Gallery, Strand, not to mention "M. Jullien and his unrivalled band" at
the Royal Surrey Gardens.
'Musical Gossip' of July 1848 contains some items, the first of which
cannot fail to bring an ironical smile to the face of modern composers.
"We have year after year adverted to the unsatisfactory state of the law
of musical copyright in this country."
"It is now stated that Mdlle. Lind has at last declined to take an
engagement at Norwich: the sum of £1000 was offered her."
"A correspondent at Florence writes: 'Old Rossini is here enjoying his
well-earned _otium cum dignitate_.'"
Now let us turn to operatic matters in that far-off season of 1848.
Mr Delafield had undertaken to finance the Covent Garden venture, for
which a bevy of great names had been secured. As in the preceding season
Garcia's pupil, Jenny Lind, had been the principal star at Her
Majesty's, so in this year another pupil, his sister, Pauline Viardot,
was the star at the rival establishment. In addition to her there were
Alboni, Persiani, Grisi, Mario, Ronconi, Marini, and Castellani.
Unhappily, things did not run as smoothly as might have been wished:
Michael Costa and Delafield were at loggerheads, and in July, soon after
Garcia arrived from Paris, a financial crisis occurred which was only
averted by the assistance of Gye.
On the 20th of the month the first important operatic event took place
of the many which the maestro was to witness here during the last
fifty-eight years of his life. As the "Huguenots" had been produced
twelve years before in the original French version during his stay in
Paris, so now, with his advent to London, Meyerbeer's masterpiece was
given for the first time at Covent Garden in its Italian version, under
the title "Gli Ugonotti," with the part of Urbain transposed for Alboni,
and an additional cavatina written specially for her. The cast on this
occasion was as follows:--
_Valentine_ Mme. Viardot-Garcia.
_Marguerite_ Mme. Castellani.
_Urbain_ Mdlle. Alboni.
_Raoul_ Signor Mario.
_Marcel_ Signor Marini.
_Nevers_ Signor Tagliafico.
_Saint Bris_ Signor Tamburini.
As to the rival operatic season at Her Majesty's Theatre, it will be
sufficient if we quote a rather typical critique of one of the
representations:--
"'Poor Don Pasquale,' Donizetti's prettiest musical comedy (!),
'produced to fill an off-night,' was an exclamation there was no
escaping from on Tuesday evening. Why was it produced at all? To us the
performance was an execution in the Tyburn acceptation of the word.
"But a murder far more heinous has been committed at Her Majesty's this
week. Poor M. Meyerbeer, how must his ears have tingled when his
'Roberto' was given with one principal character--involving two entire
acts, the two principal soprano songs of the opera, and its only grand
finale--coolly swept away! By past musical performances we were apprised
that neither Mr Lumley nor Mr Balfe recognises the difference between
one of the flimsy Italian operas and those thoughtful works in which
sequence, contrast, and stage effect have all been regarded by the
composer.... If no prima donna equal to 'En vain j'espère' and 'Robert'
be in the theatre, wherefore give the work at all, unless 'the Swedish
lady' is _in extremis_ for a new attraction? Why not withdraw as
superfluous all solos in Mdlle. Lind's operas save Mdlle. Lind's own?
Why not mount 'Don Juan' without Donna Anna's arias? Rapacious as these
propositions sound, they are as defensible as the liberties taken with
Meyerbeer."
We find the first mention of Señor Garcia's arrival made in the 'Musical
World' of July 1, in these words:--
"Manuel Garcia, the celebrated professor of singing in the Conservatoire
of Paris, has arrived in London. He is brother to Malibran and Pauline
Garcia, and was teacher of Jenny Lind."
On July 15 the 'Athenæum' gives further details: "We are informed that
Monsieur Garcia meditates settling here as professor of singing."
With the publication of this news the maestro was besieged with
applications from those who were desirous of becoming pupils. He was at
once regarded as the foremost professor in the capital, and his house in
George Street, Hanover Square, not only saw numbers of students anxious
to enter the profession, but was equally sought out by the aristocracy
and wealthy classes of society, as had been the case in Paris.
On November 10, 1848, he was appointed a member of the professional
staff at the Royal Academy of Music.
The institution had only been founded twenty-five years previously, when
Garcia was eighteen, receiving its charter of incorporation seven years
later.
It was very different from the Academy as we know it now. Up to the
January of the year in which Garcia joined, it had had in all 767
pupils. It may be of interest to those who have been connected with it
during recent years, to learn that the total number of new pupils
admitted to the Academy during 1847 were forty, of which thirteen only
were members of the sterner sex. Assuming that every pupil stayed at the
Royal Academy of Music for a three years' course--the assumption is
rather more than doubtful--we should find the average number of pupils
per term during the first twenty-five years of its existence to have
been exactly ninety. Compare that with the five hundred or more who
attend at the present day.
The principal of the Academy at that time was Cipriani Potter, and we
find some strangely bygone names upon the staff of professors. Sir Henry
Bishop, Mons. Sainton, Moscheles, Goss, George Macfarren, Signor
Crivelli, Sir George Smart, Mme. Dulcken, J. B. Cramer, Julius Benedict,
Lindley, Chatterton, J. Thomas (the harpist), Signor Puzzi, and as an
assistant professor of the pianoforte, Walter Macfarren. These were some
of the colleagues with whom Garcia found himself associated when he
commenced his work at the Academy.
At the beginning of 1849 there came a reminder of the scenes of
revolution through which the maestro had passed a few months before, for
Julius Stockhausen followed him to England, to pursue in the quieter
atmosphere of London those studies which were so rudely broken up by the
alarums and excursions of his duties with the French National Guard.
Stockhausen continued to have lessons from the maestro till 1851, and
during this period sang at various concerts, by means of which
appearances he quickly began to make his mark. During the last year of
his studies he sang for the Philharmonic Society no less than three
times.
The close of 1852 saw his first appearance on the operatic stage at
Mannheim; while between the years 1857 and 1859 he was engaged at the
Opéra Comique in Paris, making especial success as the Seneschal in
"Jean de Paris." In 1862 he settled in Hamburg as director of the
Philharmonic Concerts there and of the "Sing-akademie," a position which
he held till the end of the 'Sixties. During this period he took many
concert tours with Mme. Schumann, Brahms, and Joseph. In 1870 he was
back in England, and stayed till the close of 1871, singing once more at
the Philharmonic, Crystal Palace, and other leading concerts. Three
years after this he went to live in Berlin, to take direction of the
vocal society founded by Stern. Thence he migrated to Frankfort as
professor of the Conservatorium, presided over at the time by Raff; and
it was in Frankfort that he spent the rest of his days.
His principal pupils were van Rooy, Scheidemantel, and George Henschel;
and as a teacher he was generally acknowledged to be the foremost of his
time in Germany, as Mathilde Marchesi was in France. It is therefore a
matter of some note that during the years in which Manuel Garcia was
himself the finest teacher in England, he should, through these two
pupils, have had his banner thus upheld upon the Continent.
Among the most promising of Garcia's earliest pupils at the Royal
Academy was Kate Crichton, who came to study under him at the
commencement of 1849--the year in which Sims Reeves made his operatic
_début_ and music-lovers mourned the death of Chopin.
Miss Crichton soon showed that the maestro had not left behind him in
Paris his cunning in the training of voices. As the time approached at
which the idea of her _début_ was taking shape, the advice of Garcia
upon the point was sought by her father. The letter in which was
embodied his reply may be quoted as showing the deep interest and sound
advice which was ever displayed in his relations with his pupils:--
MONSIEUR,--Veuillez avoir la bonté d'excuser le retard de ma
réponse; une indisposition en a été la cause.
Je regrette que le manque de courage tienne en échec les moyens de
Mademoiselle Browne et comme Mr Hogarth je juge que l'exercice
fréquent devant le public est le meilleur moyen de vaincre sa peur.
Mais aussi je pense que les premiers essays (_sic_) de Mademoiselle
Browne vont être fort incomplets et par une sorte dans l'usage de
procédés qu'elle ne domine pas encore complétement et par la
terreur que bien a tort lui inspire le public.
Or pensez vous qu'il faille donner à ses premiers essays (_sic_)
tout le rétentissement possible, ou ne trouvez vous pas qu'il
serait plus prudent de les faire à petit bruit laissant à la
débutante le temps d'acquerir l'applomb (_sic_) qui lui manque
avant de lancer son nom à la grand publicité.
Je vous soumets ces réflexions en vous laissant d'ailleurs la
faculté de faire usage de mon nom si vous le croyez utile aux
interests de votre enfant.
J'ai l'honneur d'être, Monsieur, Votre trés humble Serviteur,
M. GARCIA.
At last her teacher thought her ready to make the trial. An engagement
was secured under the management of Alfred Bunn, and on January 23,
1852, Kate Crichton made her _début_ on the opening night of the Drury
Lane season in "Robert le Diable." As to her success we may quote 'The
Times':--
"As Princess Isabelle, Miss Crichton (in whose person we recognised Miss
Browne, the most promising pupil of the vocal art in the Royal Academy
of Music) made her first appearance on any stage. She was successful to
a degree which, since the _début_ of Mr Sims Reeves in 1849, has had no
parallel on the English stage."
Unhappily Miss Crichton's career, so brightly begun, was brought to a
sudden close by her catching a malignant fever at Milan, resulting in
the loss of her vocal powers. Had it not been for this, there is no
doubt that she, too, would have been among that wonderful band of pupils
who won fame in the operatic world for their maestro and themselves.
Miss Crichton, however, during her years of study seems to have caught
the bacillus of old age from her master, for, upon ultimately regaining
the beauty of her voice after many years of retirement, she continued to
sing to her friends until within a few months of her death in her
eightieth year. Among other eminent pupils who acquired from Garcia the
bad habit of longevity, one may recall Stockhausen, who lived to pass
his eightieth birthday; Charles Santley and Bessie Palmer, who are well
on in the seventies; and Pauline Viardot, who is not so very far off
her ninetieth year. Who will assert that old age is not catching?
1850 was a year interesting to musicians from the fact that Frederick
Gye, the new manager of Covent Garden, produced Halévy's opera, "La
Juive," while the great German basso, Herr Formes, made his English
_début_; but the year was memorable for England at large, from the fact
that it saw the death of two of her best-known men--Robert Peel and
Wordsworth.
With the following year--in which Turner passed away--the subject of
this memoir was included for the first time in the census of the United
Kingdom. It affords a curious comparison with the numbers of the present
day, when we note that the Return, taken a month before the opening of
the Great Exhibition, gave the population as 27,637,761, the last figure
of which shows the advent of the maestro with unmistakable clearness.
1852 again brought Garcia's name before the English public as it had in
1848. Just as in that year three rival opera companies in London had
fought for the possession of his pupil Jenny Lind, so now the two
managers--Gye and Lumley--strove for the possession of another of his
pupils, Johanna Wagner, whose name was the only one rivalling that of
the Swedish Nightingale in its magnetic hold upon the musical world.
The January of the following year, 1853, brought another pupil, Bessie
Palmer, the contralto. She tells the story of her difficulties in
becoming his pupil in her book of 'Musical Recollections':--
"By the advice of C. L. Gruneisen, the critic of 'The Morning Post,' I
entered the Royal Academy of Music as a student. When I commenced
studying in September 1851, Manuel Garcia's class, which I had chosen to
enter, was full, so I was placed in Mr Frank Cox's class for six months.
Then Signor Crivelli heard me at one of the Academy weekly concerts, and
suggested that I should become his pupil next term. Imagine my surprise
when the old man positively asserted that my voice was soprano, and made
me learn many of Grisi's songs.
"After some months I found my voice becoming thin and scratchy and my
throat in a constant state of irritation. At last, in January of 1853, I
wrote to M. Cazalet, the superintendent, requesting that I should be
placed in Signor Garcia's class, as Signor Crivelli had quite altered
the tone and quality of my voice, and had made a mistake. M. Cazalet
answered that the committee refused to permit me to go into Signor
Garcia's class, and unless Signor Crivelli would kindly take me back as
his pupil I could not return to the Academy. Of course I wrote at once
and said I would _not_ rejoin Crivelli's class, and certainly would not
return at all.
"On leaving the Academy I went to Garcia's house and explained to him
how my voice had been changed. He made me sing a few bars, and then told
me I must rest entirely for some considerable time, not singing at all,
and not talking too much, so as to give the throat, which was out of
order, complete rest. After six months of quiet I went again to him,
when he tried my voice and said I could now begin to practise. I
therefore commenced lessons at once, and soon found it improving,
thanks to the careful way in which he made me practise, bringing the
voice back to its proper register, and giving me Italian contralto songs
after many lessons."
With this episode we are brought to the year which medical men will
consider the most important one in Manuel Garcia's life, as it was in
1854 that he perfected his great discovery.
[Illustration: MANUEL GARCIA.
(REPRODUCED FROM AN ORIGINAL SKETCH BY PAULINE VIARDOT SOON AFTER THE
INVENTION OF THE LARYNGOSCOPE.)]