ORR232_ Book.qxd

PaulineViardot
andFriends
ORR240
In association with Prima Donna Productions
Box cover: Pauline Viardot, c. 1853, by Eugène (Jevgenij) Pluchart
(1798-1880). Oil on canvas. akg-images
Book cover: Pauline Viardot
CD faces: CD 1 ‘Scène d’Hermione’ by Pauline Viardot
CD 2 ‘La Captive’ by Hector Berlioz
Opposite: Pauline Viardot at 75
–1–

CONTENTS
Pauline Viardot – A Chronology and Introduction............................................Page 9
Pauline Viardot – Présentation........................................................................Page 21
Pauline Viardot – Einführung.........................................................................Page 31
Pauline Viardot – Introduzione.......................................................................Page 41
Notes and song texts.......................................................................................Page 51
Picture credits:
Pages 8, 20, 30 and 104 Pauline Viardot courtesy of the Wigmore Hall, pages 40 and 56 Opera Rara
archive.
Page 82 Giacomo Meyerbeer by kind permission of the Brigham Young University, Harold B. Lee
Library, Music Special Collections
Page 15 Portrait of George Sand (1804-76) 1830 (pastel on paper) by Candide Blaize
(1795-c.1855) ©Musée de la Ville de Paris, Musée Carnavalet, Paris France/Lauros/Giraudon/The
Bridgeman Art Library
Page 17 Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev (1818-83) (b&w photo) ©Private Collection/The Bridgeman Art
Library
Page 79 Charles-Francois Gounod (1818-93) late 19th century (b&w photo) by French
photographer, ©Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, France/Giraudon/The Bridgeman Art Library
Page 84 Frederic Chopin (1810-49) engraved by Gottfried Engelmann (1788-1839) 1833 litho by
Pierre Roch Vigneron (1789-1872) ©The Cobbe Collection Trust, UK/The Bridgeman Art Library
Page 89 Portrait of Hector Berlioz (1803-69) (oil on canvas) (b&w photo) by Emile Signol
(1804-94) ©Villa Medici, Rome, Italy/Roger-Viollet, Paris/The Bridgeman Art Library
–2–

Managing Director: Stephen Revell
Producer: James Mallinson
Assistant Producer: Ludmilla Andrew
Music research and translations by Marta Johansen
Concert performance directed by Lotfi Mansouri
Narration on this album is excerpted from the original monologues
by Georgia Smith (©2005)
French coach: Michel Vallat
German coach: Hildburgh Williams
Russian coach: Ludmilla Andrew
Chronology, introduction and notes on songs: Patrick O’Connor
Transcriptions of songs for this album
were made by Ian Schofield
Recording Engineer: Chris Braclik
Assistant Engineers: Chris Bowman and Tom Bennellick
Editing: James Mallinson and Classic Sound
Recorded live at the Wigmore Hall, 27 February 2006
–3–

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Anyone who writes about Pauline Viardot is indebted to the late April Fitzylon,
whose biography The Price of Genius (John Calder, 1964) remains the definitive
study of Viardot’s life.
Other sources consulted:
David Cairns: Berlioz (2 Vols, Allen Lane, 1999)
April Fitzlyon and Alexander Schouvaloff: Turgenev’s ‘A Month in the Country’
(Victoria and Albert Museum, 1983)
James Radomski: Manuel García (in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and
Musicians, 2000 edition)
Ivan Turgenev: Poems and Prose, translated by Evgenia Schimanskaya
(Lindsay Drummond, 1945)
Viardot-García, Pauline, 1821-1910. Papers: Guide (Houghton Library,
Harvard University, MA)
Patrick Waddington: Pauline Viardot-García, a chronological catalogue
(Whirinaki Press, NZ, 2001)
–4–
Patrick O’Connor, 2007

CD 1 37’56
Frederica von Stade, Anna Caterina Antonacci, Vladimir Chernov
David Watkin (cello), David Harper – piano
Fanny Ardant – narrator
Duration Page
[1] Fanny Ardant, narration 1’42
[2] ‘Две розы ’ (Dve rozy) – Pauline Viardot 1’16 51
Vladimir Chernov
[3] Fanny Ardant, narration 0’15
[4] ‘Celos’ – Manuel García 2’47 53
Anna Caterina Antonacci
[5] Fanny Ardant, narration 0’32
[6] ‘La regata veneziana’ – Gioachino Rossini 3’53 57
Frederica von Stade, Anna Caterina Antonacci
[7] Fanny Ardant, narration 0’40
[8] ‘L’absence’ – Pauline Viardot 1’55 60
Frederica von Stade
[9] Fanny Ardant, narration 0’06
[10] ‘Berceuse’ – Pauline Viardot 2’51 62
Frederica von Stade
[11] Fanny Ardant, narration 0’26
[12] ‘Le chêne et le roseau’ – Pauline Viardot 4’53 64
Anna Caterina Antonacci
[13] Fanny Ardant, narration 1’54
[14] ‘Утёс’ (Utës) – Pauline Viardot 3’31 66
Vladimir Chernov
–5–

Duration Page
[15] ‘Die Sterne’ – Pauline Viardot 4’05 67
Frederica von Stade, David Watkin (cello)
[16] Fanny Ardant, narration 0’05
[17] ‘Scène d’Hermione’ – Pauline Viardot 6’54 70
Anna Caterina Antonacci
CD 2 45’20
[1] Fanny Ardant, narration 0’29
[2] ‘Синица’ (Sinitsa) – Pauline Viardot 2’11 75
Vladimir Chernov
[3] Fanny Ardant, narration 0’37
[4] ‘Indécision’ – Pauline Viardot 1’48 77
Frederica von Stade
[5] Fanny Ardant, narration 0’16
[6] ‘Chanson de printemps’ – Charles Gounod 1’53 80
Vladimir Chernov
[7] Fanny Ardant, narration 0’19
[8] ‘Délire’ – Giacomo Meyerbeer 3’02 81
Anna Caterina Antonacci
[9] ‘Berceuse’ – Fryderyk Chopin 1’21 85
Frederica von Stade
[10] Fanny Ardant, narration 0’25
[11] ‘Allein’ – Pauline Viardot 2’36 87
Anna Caterina Antonacci
[12] Fanny Ardant, narration 0’26
[13] ‘La captive’ Op.12 – Hector Berlioz 4’24 88
Frederica von Stade, David Watkin (cello)
–6–

Duration Page
[14] ‘En mer’ – Pauline Viardot 5’36 92
Vladimir Chernov
[15] Fanny Ardant, narration 1’17
[16] ‘Буря’ (Buria) – Pauline Viardot 4’24 94
Vladimir Chernov
[17] ‘C’est moi’ – Pauline Viardot 4’07 98
Frederica von Stade, Vladimir Chernov
[18] Fanny Ardant, narration 1’03
[19] ‘Ici-bas tous les lilas meurent’ – Pauline Viardot 2’03 100
Anna Caterina Antonacci
[20] Fanny Ardant, narration 0’23
[21] ‘Заклинаниe’ (Zaklinanie) – Pauline Viardot 3’28 101
Vladimir Chernov
[22] Fanny Ardant, narration 0’24
[23] ‘Havanaise’ – Pauline Viardot 2’37 105
Frederica von Stade, Anna Caterina Antonacci,
Vladimir Chernov
Translations of дверозы (Dve rozy), утёс(Utës) by Marta Johansen and Robert Leek.
La regata veneziana, L’absence, Le chêne et le roseau, Indécision, Chanson de printemps,
La captive, C’est moi by Richard Stokes and Mireille Ribèrie. Berceuse, Ici-bas tous les
lilas meurent by Marta Johansen and Georgia Smith. Die Sterne, Allein, En mer by
Marta Johansen. Celos, Délire by Jacqueline Cockburn. Буря (Buria) from
www.pushkins-poems.com, Заклинаниe(Zaklinanie) by Marta Johansen,
Robert Leek and Georgia Smith, Havanaise by Avril Bardoni.
Cyrillic text and translations by Olia Grebenyuk.
–7–

Pauline Viardot
(self-portrait)

PAULINE VIARDOT – A Chronology
1821 Birth in Paris of Pauline García, 18 July, youngest child of Manuel
García (1775-1832) and his second wife, Joaquina García (1780-1854).
1825 García family go to America, and in New York give the first US
performances of operas by Rossini and Mozart, including Don
Giovanni. Meeting with Lorenzo Da Ponte. Pauline’s older sister,
Maria García, meets and marries Eugène Malibran.
1832 Begins piano studies with Liszt.
1834 Appears as pianist in concerts with her sister Maria and Charles de
Bériot.
1836 Death of Maria Malibran.
1839 Pauline García’s stage debut, as Desdemona in Rossini’s Otello
(Her Majesty’s, London); Paris debut (Odéon).
1840 Marriage to Louis Viardot.
1841 Vienna debut as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia.
1843 St Petersburg debut; first meeting with Turgenev.
–9–

1844 Second Russian season; debut as Norma.
1848 Appears in concert in London with Chopin, when she sings her own
arrangements of several of his mazurkas.
1849 Creates the role of Fidès in Meyerbeer’s Le prophète, Paris Opéra,
16 April.
1851 Title role in premiere of Gounod’s Sapho, Paris Opéra, 16 March.
1855 Sings Azucena in first London performance of Verdi’s Il trovatore.
1859 Lady Macbeth in Verdi’s opera, Dublin and Manchester.
1859 Sings title-role in Berlioz’s edition of Gluck’s Orphée, Paris Théâtre
Lyrique.
1860 Sings Isolde in private performance of Act II of Tristan und Isolde,
with Wagner as Tristan.
1861 Gluck’s Alceste, Paris Opéra.
1869 Viardot’s Le dernier sorcier performed at Weimar.
1870 Gives first performance of Brahms’s Alto Rhapsody in Jena.
–10–

1873 Sings Massenet’s Marie Magdeleine, Paris Odéon.
1874 Dalila in private performance of Acts I and II of Samson et Dalila,
accompanied by Saint-Saëns.
1876 Death of George Sand.
1883 Deaths of Louis Viardot and Ivan Turgenev.
1889 Meeting, in Paris, with Tchaikovsky to whom she shows the
manuscript score of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, which she later presents
to the Paris Conservatoire.
1901 Awarded Légion d’Honneur by the French government.
1910 Death of Pauline Viardot, 18 May.
–11–

PAULINE VIARDOT 1821–1910
HECTOR BERLIOZ described one of Pauline Viardot’s performances: “All
her poses, her gestures, her expressions… are studied with profound art. As
to the perfection of her singing, the extreme skill of her vocalisation, her
musical assurance – those are things known and appreciated by
everyone…Madame Viardot is one of the greatest artists… in the past and
present history of music.”
Pauline Viardot’s reputation lived on for decades after she had ceased to
perform. Like that of her elder sister, Maria Malibran, her name came to be
associated with a romantic ideal, the notion of striving for perfection that so
suited the modern writers and free-thinkers of the mid-19th century.
Pauline was born into a family of musicians and actors, and grew up
backstage. Her father, Manuel García, was born in Seville in 1775. He
trained as a chorister at Seville Cathedral and – having escaped the knife –
became an accomplished tenor soloist. He was equally, if not more, successful
as a composer, having many works performed in Madrid, where he became
one of the resident composers at the Teatro del Principe. García was first
married to the soprano Manuela Morales, with whom he had two daughters,
but in 1807 he made his way to Paris, accompanied by the singer Joaquina
Briones, who eventually became his second wife and the mother of his three
famous children, Manuel, Maria and Pauline.
–12–

García created the roles of Norfolk in Rossini’s Elisabetta, regina
d’Inghilterra, and later that of Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia. Renowned
in Italy, France and England, García was considered the greatest interpreter
of Rossini’s Otello. In 1826 García, his family and a small company went to
America where they gave the first performances of Italian opera in New York.
With his son as Figaro, and his daughter Maria as Rosina, García sang
Almaviva once more. Lorenzo Da Ponte, then teaching at Columbia
University, urged them to put on Don Giovanni, and thus Mozart’s opera was
given its US premiere, with the librettist in attendance.
When Maria left her parents to marry her first husband, Eugène Malibran,
the family, without their leading prima-donna, embarked on a tour of
Mexico. One of Pauline’s most vivid childhood recollections was of an
ambush, in which the travellers were attacked by bandits, and lost all their
money and possessions. On their return to Europe, García began to teach,
his voice having all but given out. His pupils included such famous names as
Adolphe Nourrit, Henriette Méric-Lalande (Donizetti’s first Lucrezia Borgia)
and eventually Pauline herself. She was only 11, though, when her father
died, and in 1836, after the untimely death of Maria Malibran, it was
decided by Mme García that Pauline, who wanted to be a pianist, and had
studied for a while with Liszt, should instead devote her studies to singing.
She made her debut as Desdemona in Rossini’s Otello, the work that had
been so closely associated with both her father and her sister; she was an
immediate success. At the age of 19, having rejected the poet Alfred de
–13–

Musset, she married Louis Viardot, director of the Théâtre Italien in Paris.
He left his post to oversee her career.
Pauline Viardot had triumphs as great as those of her sister, in London,
Paris, Vienna, Berlin and, above all, St Petersburg. She seems never to have
appeared in Italy. This may have been because of the fierce rivalry she enjoyed
for a while with Giulia Grisi, even though the two of them appeared together
in Rossini’s Semiramide and Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi.
An accomplished linguist, from her adolescence Pauline Viardot began to
build a wide circle of friends and acquaintances which eventually represented
the intellectual and musical élite of Europe. Chopin, Liszt, Berlioz, Gounod,
Meyerbeer, Saint-Saëns, Schumann and Fauré all composed or dedicated
works for her. Alfred de Musset, Flaubert, Dickens, Delacroix, even Henry
James as a young man, were all admirers, but the two greatest friendships of
her life were with the writers George Sand and Ivan Turgenev.
George Sand first met Pauline shortly after her Paris debut in 1839. The
following year Mme Sand wrote a long article in praise of the young singer,
and soon Pauline was a treasured member of the group that was invited to
stay at George Sand’s country house at Nohant. Sand modelled the central
character in her novel Consuelo on Pauline. Although set in the 18th century,
the protagonist, a Spanish singer, was easily recognisable to their friends:
–14–

George Sand
(1804-1876)

‘The pale, still – one might at first glance say lustreless –
countenance, the suave and unconstrained movements, the
astonishing freedom from every sort of affectation, how transfigured
and illumined all this appears when she is carried away by her genius
on the current of song.’
What was Viardot’s voice like? She would nowadays be classified as a
mezzo-soprano, and the repertory she sang, the heroines of Rossini, Bellini
and even Donizetti, a little Mozart (Zerlina and Donna Anna), and then later
operas by Meyerbeer, Gounod and Verdi, can give one a fair idea. Her
greatest triumph was in Berlioz’s edition of Gluck’s Orphée, a part she sang
150 times. The critic Henry Chorley wrote:
‘The peculiar quality of Mme Viardot’s voice – its unevenness, its
occasional harshness and feebleness, consistent with tones of the
gentlest sweetness – was turned by her to account with rare felicity as
giving the variety of light and shade to every word of soliloquy, to
every appeal of dialogue.’
When Pauline Viardot decided to retire from the stage, making her farewell
as Orphée in Paris, she was 42 (almost exactly the same age as Maria Callas
would be when she too retired).
In 1862 the Viardots left Paris – they were utterly opposed to the regime
of Napoleon III – and took up residence in Baden-Baden. There, they were
–16–

Ivan Turgenev
(1818-1883)

joined by Turgenev, who had been in love with Pauline since he had first met
her in St Petersburg in the 1840s. Although there had been periods in which
they had not been in touch, Pauline had taken Turgenev’s illegitimate
daughter and brought her up with her own family. Inevitably, this also led to
much friction. Nevertheless, Turgenev lived for much of the rest of his life
with Louis and Pauline. This complicated ménage à trois finds an echo in
several of Turgenev’s novels, and in his play A Month in the Country. In her
biography of Pauline Viardot, The Price of Genius, April Fitzlyon wrote that
the typical Turgenev heroine was a married woman: ‘They are almost always
predatory, masterful, self-seeking, dangerously attractive; they scarcely ever
make the men who love them happy, they almost always dominate them.’
Turgenev undoubtedly enjoyed the happiest times of his life living in the
Viardots’ houses, in Baden or later, after the Franco-Prussian war and the
dissolution of the Second Empire, in Paris, and finally at Bougival, where he
died in 1883. Turgenev wrote three librettos for Viardot’s operettas, works
designed to be performed not in the theatre, but as amateur theatricals at
home (Trop de femmes, L’ogre and Le dernier sorcier). Some of his conservative
Russian friends pretended to be shocked that Turgenev took part occasionally
in these performances. He was oblivious to criticism where Pauline was
concerned, and wrote to her: “I am so happy at the thought that everything,
everything in me to the very depths is linked with your being, and depends
on you. If I am a tree, then you are my roots and crown.”
–18–

It has taken nearly a century since Pauline Viardot’s death for performers
and listeners to take an interest in her music. From her adolescence she had
composed songs and piano pieces. Some of these were published long after
they were composed, and there is speculation about the dates of many of them.
Although Viardot did not consider herself to be a composer, or so it is said, she
achieved more than most women of her time working in this pre-eminently
male sphere. She grew up in Paris when the vogue for romances and
chansonnettes dominated the vocal-music publishing business. Through her
acquaintance with Schumann, and later Gounod, Berlioz, Tchaikovsky and
Fauré, she saw the whole notion of song transformed into a separate art. Her
choice of poets reflects the trajectory of her life, including Mörike, Lermontov
and Turgenev. As a child she had met Lorenzo Da Ponte, Mozart’s librettist;
she lived long enough to know the music of Debussy and Richard Strauss.
Pauline Viardot’s life in many ways sums up the whole history of music in the
19th century.
–19–
© Patrick O’Connor, 2007

Pauline Viardot

PAULINE VIARDOT – Chronologie
1821 Naissance le 18 juillet à Paris de Pauline García, troisième et dernier
enfant de Manuel García (1775-1832) et de sa seconde épouse
Joaquina García (1780-1854).
1825 La famille García se rend aux États-Unis, et donne à New York les
toutes premières représentations sur le sol américain des opéras de
Rossini et Mozart – notamment Don Giovanni. Rencontre avec
Lorenzo Da Ponte. Maria García, sœur aînée de Pauline, rencontre et
épouse Eugène Malibran.
1832 Pauline prend ses premières leçons de piano avec Liszt.
1834 Elle se produit en concert comme pianiste aux côtés de Maria et de
Charles de Bériot.
1836 Décès de Maria Malibran.
1839 Débuts de Pauline García sur scène, en Desdemona dans Otello de
Rossini au Majesty’s Theatre de Londres ; débuts parisiens à l’Odéon.
1840 Elle épouse Louis Viardot.
1841 Débuts à Vienne en Rosina dans Il barbiere di Siviglia.
–21–

1843 Débuts à Saint-Pétersbourg ; elle fait la connaissance de Tourgueniev.
1844 Deuxième saison en Russie ; débuts dans le rôle de Norma.
1848 Elle se produit en concert à Londres avec Chopin et, à cette occasion,
chante plusieurs mazurkas dont elle a fait elle-même l’arrangement.
1849 16 avril, elle crée le rôle de Fidès dans Le prophète de Meyerbeer à
l’Opéra de Paris.
1851 16 mars, elle interprète le rôle-titre de Sapho de Gounod lors de sa
création à l’Opéra de Paris.
1855 Elle chante Azucena dans Il trovatore de Verdi lors de sa création à
Londres.
1859 Elle incarne Lady Macbeth dans l’opéra éponyme de Verdi à Dublin et
à Manchester.
1859 À Paris, au Théâtre Lyrique, elle chante le rôle-titre de l’Orphée de
Gluck adapté à son intention par Berlioz.
1860 Elle incarne Isolde lors d’une représentation privée de l’acte II de
Tristan und Isolde, aux côtés de Wagner dans le rôle de Tristan.
–22–

1861 Alceste de Gluck à l’Opéra de Paris.
1869 Le dernier sorcier de Viardot est joué à Weimar.
1870 Elle participe à la création de la Rhapsodie pour contralto de Brahms à
Iéna.
1873 Elle chante Marie Magdeleine de Massenet à l’Odéon.
1874 Avec Saint-Saëns au piano, elle interprète Dalila lors de la
représentation privée des actes I et II de Samson et Dalila.
1876 Décès de George Sand.
1883 Décès de Louis Viardot et d’Ivan Tourgueniev.
1889 Elle rencontre Tchaïkovski à Paris et lui montre la partition
autographe de Don Giovanni de Mozart dont elle fera don au
Conservatoire de Paris.
1901 Le gouvernement français la décore de la Légion d’honneur.
1910 Décès de Pauline Viardot, le 18 mai.
–23–

PAULINE VIARDOT 1821–1910
HECTOR BERLIOZ, qui avait assisté à un concert de Pauline Viardot,
vantait la recherche dont témoignaient son jeu et sa gestuelle, ainsi que la
perfection de son chant, la richesse de sa vocalisation et son assurance
musicale : « Madame Viardot est l’une des plus grandes artistes dont le nom
vient à l’esprit, dans le passé ou le présent. »
La réputation de Pauline Viardot perdurera longtemps après ses adieux à la
scène. Comme celui de sa sœur aînée, Maria Malibran, son nom en vient à
symboliser la recherche inlassable de la perfection, idéal romantique cher aux
écrivains modernes et aux libres-penseurs du milieu du XIX e siècle.
Issue d’une famille de musiciens et de comédiens, Pauline grandit dans les
coulisses des théâtres. Manuel García, son père, est né à Séville en 1775.
Jeune choriste à la cathédrale de Séville, il a échappé au scalpel pour devenir
un grand ténor soliste. Il est également, sinon plus, connu pour ses
compositions : nombre de ses œuvres sont jouées à Madrid où il séjourne
comme compositeur en résidence au Teatro del Principe. Après avoir épousé
en premières noces la soprano Manuela Morales, qui lui a donné deux filles,
García se rend à Paris en 1807 en compagnie de la cantatrice Joaquina
Briones, qui devient sa seconde épouse et la mère de trois enfants promis à la
célébrité, Manuel, Maria et Pauline.
–24–

García, qui a créé le rôle de Norfolk dans Elisabetta, regina d’Inghilterra de
Rossini, participe également à la création d’Il barbiere di Siviglia en Almaviva.
Célèbre en Italie et en France comme en Angleterre, García est considéré le
plus grand Otello rossinien. Accompagné de sa famille et d’une petite troupe,
il s’embarque en 1826 pour New York où il est le premier à présenter des
opéras italiens au public américain. Avec son fils Manuel en Figaro et sa fille
Maria en Rosina, Garcia incarne à nouveau Almaviva. Lorenzo Da Ponte, qui
enseigne alors à la Columbia University, le presse de monter Don Giovanni,
et c’est ainsi que l’opéra de Mozart est créé aux États-Unis en présence du
librettiste.
Lorsque Maria quitte ses parents pour épouser Eugène Malibran, la famille
se retrouve sans chanteuse principale et se lance dans une tournée au
Mexique. L’un des souvenirs d’enfance les plus mémorables de Pauline est
celui d’une embuscade au cours de laquelle les voyageurs furent attaqués par
des bandits et dépouillés de tout – argent et bagages. De retour en Europe,
Garcia, dont la voix a fini par se casser se met à donner des cours de chant et
compte parmi ses élèves de futurs grands noms comme Adolphe Nourrit,
Henriette Méric-Lalande (qui créera Lucrezia Borgia de Donizetti) et Pauline
elle-même. Elle n’a que 11 ans, mais lorsque son père meurt en 1836, peu
après la disparition prématurée de Maria Malibran, sa mère décide que
Pauline, qui a toujours voulu être pianiste et a eu Liszt comme professeur, se
consacrera d’abord au chant.
–25–

Elle débute en Desdemona dans Otello de Rossini, œuvre étroitement
associée à son père et à sa sœur, et son succès est immédiat. À l’âge de 19 ans,
ayant rejeté les avances du poète Alfred de Musset, elle épouse Louis Viardot,
alors directeur du Théâtre italien de Paris, qui renoncera à ce poste pour
s’occuper de la carrière de la jeune femme.
À Londres, à Paris, à Vienne, à Berlin et surtout à Saint-Pétersbourg, Pauline
Viardot remporte un succès comparable à celui de sa sœur. Si elle ne se produit
apparemment jamais en Italie, peut-être est-ce en raison de la rivalité féroce qui
l’oppose pendant un certain temps à Giulia Grisi – avec laquelle elle interprète
pourtant Semiramide de Rossini et I Capuleti e i Montecchi de Bellini.
Particulièrement douée pour les langues, Pauline Viardot se constitue dès
l’adolescence un large cercle d’amis et de relations qui représenteront bientôt
l’élite intellectuelle et musicale d’Europe. Chopin, Liszt, Berlioz, Gounod,
Meyerbeer, Saint-Saëns, Schumann et Fauré lui composent ou dédient des
œuvres. Elle compte parmi ses admirateurs Alfred de Musset, Flaubert,
Dickens, Delacroix, voire le jeune Henry James, mais les deux plus grandes
amitiés de sa vie sont avec des écrivains : George Sand et Ivan Tourgueniev.
George Sand fait la connaissance de Pauline Viardot peu après ses débuts
parisiens en 1839. L’année suivante, Sand dresse l’éloge de la jeune cantatrice
dans un long article de presse, et bientôt Pauline est un membre très apprécié
du groupe invité par Sand dans sa maison de campagne à Nohant. L’écrivain
s’inspire d’ailleurs de Pauline pour le personnage principal de Consuelo. Bien
–26–

que l’intrigue du roman se situe au XVIII e siècle, les amis des deux femmes
n’ont aucun doute sur l’identité de celle qui a servi de modèle à la cantatrice
espagnole :
« La pâleur, l’immobilité – le manque d’éclat, pourrait-on même
dire à première vue – de son visage, la grâce et la spontanéité de ses
mouvements, l’étonnante absence de toute forme d’affectation,
comme tout cela se transforme et s’illumine lorsque son génie se laisse
emporter par le flot du chant. »
Quelle voix la Viardot avait-elle ? Aujourd’hui on la classerait parmi les
mezzo-sopranos, et son répertoire – les héroïnes de Rossini, Bellini et parfois
Donizetti, quelques rôles mozartiens (Zerlina et Donna Anna) et, plus tard,
les opéras de Meyerbeer, Gounod et Verdi – en donne une assez bonne idée.
Sa gloire atteint son apogée avec l’Orphée de Gluck dans la version de Berlioz,
qu’elle interprète quelque 150 fois. Le critique Henry Chorley écrit alors :
« La voix mobile de Mme Viardot – faite tantôt de dureté, tantôt
de faiblesse alliées à un timbre d’une extrême douceur – rend avec un
rare bonheur toutes les nuances de chaque monologue, de chaque
imploration. »
Lorsque Pauline Viardot décide de faire ses adieux à la scène de l’opéra,
c’est Orphée qu’elle chante. Elle a alors 42 ans (l’âge, ou presque, auquel
Maria Callas choisira également de se retirer).
–27–

Profondément opposés au régime de Napoléon III, les Viardot quittent
Paris en 1862 pour s’installer à Baden-Baden. Ils y sont rejoints par
Tourgueniev, très épris de Pauline depuis leur première rencontre à Saint-
Pétersbourg dans les années 1840 ; malgré des contacts parfois épisodiques,
Pauline s’est occupée de la fille illégitime de Tourgueniev et l’a élevée au sein
de sa propre famille. Cette situation ne va pas sans friction. Néanmoins,
jusqu’à sa mort, Tourgueniev vivra la majeure partie du temps aux côtés de
Louis et de Pauline. C’est un ménage à trois compliqué dont plusieurs
romans de Tourgueniev et sa pièce Un mois à la campagne se font l’écho. Dans
sa biographie de Pauline Viardot, The Price of Genius (« Le prix du génie »),
April Fitzlyon note que l’héroïne de Tourgueniev est la plupart du temps une
femme mariée. « Elle est presque toujours rapace, autoritaire, égoïste,
dangereuse et séduisante ; elle fait rarement le bonheur de ceux qui l’aiment
et domine presque toujours. »
Tourgueniev passe sans aucun doute ses plus heureuses années chez les
Viardot, à Baden-Baden et, plus tard, après la guerre franco-prussienne et la
dissolution du Second Empire, à Paris et à Bougival, où il meurt en 1883.
Tourgueniev écrit le livret de trois opérettes de Pauline Viardot (Trop de
femmes, L’Ogre et Le Dernier Sorcier) destinées à être chantées, non pas à
l’opéra, mais chez soi par des amateurs. Certains amis russes conformistes se
disent alors choqués de voir Tourgueniev participer parfois à ces
représentations. Néanmoins aucune critique à l’endroit de Pauline ne le
touche tant il est heureux à l’idée que tout, au plus profond de lui-même, le
lie à elle : « si je suis un arbre, vous êtes en même temps mes racines et ma
couronne. »
–28–

Il aura fallu attendre près d’un siècle après sa mort pour que musiciens et
mélomanes redécouvrent la musique de Pauline Viardot. Dès l’adolescence
Pauline a composé des mélodies et des pièces pour piano ; celles-ci firent
parfois l’objet de publications tardives, d’où certaines difficultés à dater
nombre d’entre elles. Viardot ne se considérait pas, dit-on, comme un
compositeur. Néanmoins, dans ce domaine à prédominance masculine, sa
production est supérieure à celle de la plupart de ses contemporaines. À Paris,
pendant sa jeunesse, la mode est à la romance et la chansonnette, qui
occupent alors une place prépondérante dans l’édition musicale. À travers
Schumann, et plus tard Gounod, Berlioz, Tchaïkovski et Fauré, elle voit le
chant se transformer en un art à part entière. L’œuvre de différents poètes,
dont Mörike, Lermontov et Tourgueniev, jalonne son parcours. Enfant, elle
a rencontré Lorenzo Da Ponte, le librettiste de Mozart ; elle a vécu assez
longtemps pour connaître la musique de Debussy et de Strauss. Toute
l’histoire musicale du XIX e siècle se trouve, à bien des égards, résumée dans
la vie de Pauline Viardot.
–29–
© Patrick O’Connor, 2007
Traduction : Mireille Ribière

Pauline Viardot
in the title role of
Lully’s Alceste

PAULINE VIARDOT – Chronologie
1821 Geboren als Pauline García am 18. Juli in Paris als jüngstes Kind von
Manuel García (1775-1832) und seiner zweiten Frau Joaquina
García (1780-1854).
1825 Die Familie García reist nach Amerika und gibt in New York die
ersten amerikanischen Aufführungen von Rossini- und Mozart-
Opern, u.a. Don Giovanni. Begegnung mit Lorenzo Da Ponte. Maria
García lernt Eugène Malibran kennen und heiratet ihn.
1832 Beginn des Klavierunterrichts bei Liszt.
1834 Auftritt als Pianistin bei Konzerten mit Schwester Maria und Charles
de Bériot.
1836 Tod Maria Malibrans.
1839 Pauline Garcías Bühnendebüt als Desdemona in Rossinis Otello in
London, Her Majesty’s. Debüt in Paris, Odéon.
1840 Heirat mit Louis Viardot.
1841 Debüt in Wien als Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia.
–31–

1843 Debüt in St. Petersburg, Begegnung mit Turgenjew.
1844 Zweite Spielzeit in Russland, Debüt als Norma.
1848 Konzertauftritte in London mit Chopin, singt eigene Arrangements
seiner Mazurken.
1849 Singt bei der Uraufführung von Meyerbeers Le prophète am 16. April
in der Pariser Opéra die Rolle der Fidès.
1851 Titelrolle bei der Uraufführung von Gounods Sapho am 16. März in
Paris, Opéra.
1855 Singt bei der ersten Londoner Aufführung von Verdis Il trovatore die
Azucena.
1859 Lady Macbeth in Verdis Oper in Dublin und Manchester.
1859 Titelrolle in Berlioz’ Bearbeitung von Glucks Orphée in Paris, Théatre
Lyrique.
1860 Singt bei einer privaten Aufführung des 2. Akts von Tristan und Isolde
die Isolde, mit Wagner als Tristan.
1861 Glucks Alceste, Paris, Opéra.
–32–

1869 Viardots Le dernier sorcier wird in Weimar aufgeführt.
1870 Gibt erste Aufführung von Brahms’ Alt-Rhapsodie, Jena.
1873 Singt Massenets Marie Magdeleine, Paris, Odéon.
1874 Singt die Dalila bei einer privaten Aufführung des 1. und 2. Akts von
Samson et Dalila, begleitet von Saint-Saëns.
1876 Tod George Sands.
1883 Tod von Louis Viardot und Iwan Turgenjew.
1889 Begegnung mit Tschaikowski in Paris, dem sie die handschriftliche
Partitur von Mozarts Don Giovanni zeigt, die sie später dem Pariser
Konservatorium überlässt.
1901 Auszeichnung mit der Légion d’Honneur durch die französische
Regierung.
1910 Tod Pauline Viardots am 18. Mai.
–33–

PAULINE VIARDOT 1821–1910
HECTOR BERLIOZ schrieb einmal über eine Aufführung Pauline
Viardots: „All ihre Posen, ihre Gesten, ihre Ausdrücke … sind von tiefstem
Kunstverständnis durchdrungen. Was die Vollkommenheit ihres Gesangs,
das überragende Geschick ihrer Stimmgebung, ihre musikalische Sicherheit
betrifft, so werden sie von jedermann anerkannt und bewundert … Madame
Viardot ist eine der größten Künstlerinnen … der früheren und
gegenwärtigen Musikgeschichte.“
Pauline Viardots Ruf überdauerte Jahrzehnte, auch nachdem sie sich von
der Bühne zurückgezogen hatte. Wie bei ihrer älteren Schwester Maria
Malibran verband man auch mit ihrem Namen ein romantisches Ideal, ein
Streben nach Vollkommenheit, das in der Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts die
modernen Schriftsteller und Freidenker ungemein ansprach.
Pauline entstammte einer Familie von Musikern und Schauspielern und
wuchs praktisch hinter den Kulissen auf. Ihr Vater Manuel García wurde
1775 in Sevilla geboren und erhielt an der dortigen Kathedrale eine
Ausbildung zum Chorknaben. Nachdem er dem Messer entronnen war,
entwickelte er sich zu einem gerühmten Tenorsolisten. Nicht minder
erfolgreich war er als Komponist, viele seiner Werke kamen in Madrid zur
Aufführung, wo er am Teatro del Principe als Haus-Komponist tätig war. In
erster Ehe war er mit der Sopranistin Manuela Morales verheiratet, mit der
er zwei Töchter hatte, doch 1807 zog er mit der Sängerin Joaquina Briones
–34–

nach Paris; sie wurde später seine zweite Frau und die Mutter seiner drei
berühmten Kinder Manuel, Maria und Pauline.
García interpretierte erstmals die Rolle des Norfolk in Rossinis Elisabetta,
regina d’Inghilterra und später die des Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia. Er
wurde in Italien, Frankreich und England gefeiert und galt als bedeutendster
Interpret von Rossinis Otello. 1826 reiste García mit seiner Familie und einer
kleinen Truppe nach Amerika, wo sie mehrere italienische Opern zur
Erstaufführung brachten. So sang er mit seinem Sohn als Figaro und seiner
Tochter Maria als Rosina wieder den Almaviva. Lorenzo Da Ponte, der zu der
Zeit an der Columbia University lehrte, überredete ihn, Don Giovanni zu
inszenieren, und somit erlebte diese Mozart-Oper ihre US-amerikanische
Premiere in Anwesenheit des Librettisten.
Als Maria die Familie verließ, um ihren ersten Mann Eugène Malibran zu
heiraten, unternahmen die Garcías ohne ihre Primadonna eine Tournee
durch Mexiko. Zu Paulines lebhaftesten Kindheitserinnerungen gehört ein
Überfall, bei dem die Reisegruppe von Banditen ausgeraubt wurde und ihr
ganzes Hab und Gut, inklusive des Geldes, verlor. Nach der Rückkehr nach
Europa begann García, dessen Stimme mittlerweile versagte, zu unterrichten;
zu seinen Schülern gehörten Größen wie Adolphe Nourrit, Henriette Méric-
Lalande (Donizettis erste Lucrezia Borgia) und später auch Pauline.
Allerdings war sie erst elf, als ihr Vater starb, und nach dem frühen Tod Maria
Malibrans beschloss Mme. García, dass Pauline, die von einer Karriere als
Pianistin träumte und eine Weile Unterricht von Liszt bekommen hatte, sich
auf Gesang verlegen sollte.
–35–

Ihr Debüt gab sie als Desdemona in Rossinis Oper Otello, in der ihr Vater
und ihre Schwester brilliert hatten, und war sofortig ein durchschlagender
Erfolg. Nachdem sie den Antrag des Dichters Alfred de Musset abgelehnt
hatte, heiratete sie mit 19 Jahren Louis Viardot, den Leiter des Théâtre Italien
in Paris. Diese Stelle gab er auf, um sich ihrer Karriere zu widmen.
Die Triumphe, die Pauline Viardot feierte, waren nicht minder groß als die
ihrer Schwester, ob in London, Paris, Wien, Berlin und insbesondere in St.
Petersburg. In Italien selbst trat sie offenbar nie auf – womöglich wegen einer
Rivalität mit Giulia Grisi, obwohl die beiden Sängerinnen gemeinsam in
Rossinis Semiramide und Bellinis I Capuleti e i Montecchi auftraten.
Dank ihrer Sprachkenntnis konnte Pauline Viardot bereits in jungen
Jahren einen großen Freundes- und Bekanntenkreis aufbauen, der später die
intellektuelle und musikalische Elite Europas bildete. Chopin, Liszt, Berlioz,
Gounod, Meyerbeer, Saint-Saëns, Schumann und Fauré komponierten
Werke für sie oder widmeten ihr Musikstücke. Alfred de Musset, Flaubert,
Dickens, Delacroix und selbst der junge Henry James gehörten zu ihren
Bewunderern, doch die für sie wichtigsten Freundschaften hatte sie mit den
Schriftstellern George Sand und Iwan Turgenjew.
George Sand lernte Pauline kurz nach deren Pariser Debüt 1839 kennen.
Im folgenden Jahr schrieb Sand einen ausführlichen, positiven Artikel über
die junge Sängerin, und bald war Pauline ein geschätztes Mitglied der
Gruppe, die in George Sands Landhaus in Nohant eingeladen wurde. Die
Schriftstellerin lehnte die Hauptfigur ihres Romans Consuelo an Pauline an.
–36–

Auch wenn er im 18. Jahrhundert spielt, war die Protagonistin, eine
spanische Sängerin, für den Freundeskreis unverkennbar:
„Das blasse, stille Gesicht – fast leblos, wie man auf den ersten Blick
meinen könnte –, die geschmeidigen, ungezwungenen Bewegungen,
der erstaunliche Mangel an jeder Art von Gehabe – wie verändert und
erleuchtet erscheint das alles, wenn sie sich auf den Flügeln des
Gesangs von ihrem Genie forttragen lässt.“
Und wie klang Pauline Viardots Stimme? Heute würde man sie als
Mezzosopranistin bezeichnen; das Repertoire, das sie sang – die Heldinnen
Rossinis, Bellinis und auch Donizettis, bisweilen Mozart (Zerlina und
Donna Anna) und dann später Opern von Meyerbeer, Gounod und Verdi –
geben uns eine Ahnung davon. Ihren größten Erfolg hatte sie mit Berlioz’
Bearbeitung von Glucks Orphée, eine Rolle, die sie 150 Mal sang. Der
Kritiker Henry Chorley schrieb:
„Durch die eigentümliche Qualität ihrer Stimme – ihre
Unebenheit, die gelegentliche Schroffheit und Schwäche gepaart mit
Klängen zartester Sanftheit – verstand Mme. Viardot es, mit selten
glücklicher Fügung jedem Wort eines Monologs, jeder Wendung
eines Dialogs Licht und Schatten zu verleihen.“
Als Pauline Viardot ihren Abschied von der Bühne nahm, tat sie es als
Orphée. Damals war sie 42 Jahre alt (und damit fast im selben Alter, in dem
Maria Callas sich zurückzog).
–37–

1862 zogen die Viardots als entschiedene Gegner des Regimes von
Napoleon III. aus Paris fort und ließen sich in Baden-Baden nieder. Dort
gesellte sich Turgenjew zu ihnen, der in Pauline verliebt war, seit er sie in den
1840er Jahren in St. Petersburg kennen gelernt hatte. Zwar waren sie seitdem
nicht ununterbrochen in Kontakt gewesen, aber Pauline hatte Turgenjews
illegitime Tochter zu sich geholt und mit ihren eigenen Kindern erzogen. Das
führte unvermeidlich zu gewissen Spannungen, dennoch verbrachte
Turgenjew fast den ganzen Rest seines Lebens mit Louis und Pauline. Diese
komplizierte Ménage-à-trois kommt in mehreren Romanen des russischen
Schriftstellers vor, aber auch in seinem Drama Ein Monat auf dem Lande. In
The Price of Genius, ihrer Biografie von Pauline Viardot, schreibt April
Fitzlyon, dass Turgenjews Heldinnen vielfach verheiratete Frauen sind. „Sie
sind fast immer raubgierig, herrisch, selbstsüchtig, gefährlich attraktiv, ganz
selten machen sie den Mann glücklich, der sie liebt, fast immer dominieren
sie ihn.“
Turgenjew verbrachte zweifellos die glücklichste Zeit seines Lebens bei den
Viardots, ob nun in Baden-Baden oder später, nach dem deutschfranzösischen
Krieg und dem Ende des Zweiten Kaiserreichs, in Paris und in
Bougival, wo er 1883 starb. Turgenjew schrieb für Paulines Operetten drei
Libretti. Diese Werke waren nicht für eine öffentliche Aufführung gedacht
sondern vielmehr für Amateurdarbietungen im häuslichen Kreis (Trop de
femmes, L’ogre und Le dernier sorcier). Einige von Turgenjews konservativen
russischen Freunden zeigten sich entsetzt, dass er bisweilen bei diesen
Aufführungen mitwirkte. Doch wenn es um Pauline ging, ließ Turgenjew
–38–

keine Kritik gelten, und schrieb ihr: „Der Gedanke beglückt mich, dass alles,
alles in mir bis in die tiefsten Tiefen mit deinem Wesen verbunden und auf
dich angewiesen ist. Wenn ich ein Baum bin, so bist du meine Wurzeln und
meine Krone.“
Nach ihrem Tod dauerte es nahezu hundert Jahre, bis Musiker und Zuhörer
sich für ihre Musik zu interessieren begannen. Pauline Viardot hatte bereits als
junges Mädchen Lieder und Klavierstücke komponiert, einige wurden lange
nach ihrer Entstehung veröffentlicht, so dass sie vielfach schwer zu datieren
sind. Pauline Viardot verstand sich selbst nicht als Komponistin, oder so
behauptete sie zumindest, doch erreichte sie in dieser von Männern
beherrschten Domäne mehr als die meisten ihrer Zeitgenossinnen. Während
ihrer Jugend in Paris gab in Musikverlagen die Vorliebe für romances und
chansonnettes den Ton an. Durch die Bekanntschaft mit Schumann und später
mit Gounod, Berlioz, Tschaikowski und Fauré erlebte Pauline Viardot, wie das
Genre des Lieds zu einer eigenständigen Kunstform wurde. Die Wahl ihrer
Dichter, darunter Mörike, Lermontow und Turgenjew, spiegelt den Lauf ihres
Lebens wider. Als Kind hatte sie Lorenzo Da Ponte kennen gelernt, Mozarts
Librettisten, sie lebte lange genug, um noch die Musik Debussys und Strauss’
zu hören. So subsumiert Pauline Viardots Leben in vieler Hinsicht die
Musikgeschichte des ganzen 19. Jahrhunderts.
–39–
© Patrick O’Connor, 2007
Übersetzt von Ursula Wulfkamp

Pauline Viardot

PAULINE VIARDOT – Cronologia
1821 Pauline García, ultima figlia di Manuel (1775-1832) e di Joaquina, sua
seconda moglie (1780-1854), nasce a Parigi, il 18 luglio.
1825 I García si recano a New York, dove allestiscono le prime
rappresentazioni statunitensi delle opere di Rossini e Mozart, tra cui
Don Giovanni, e fanno la conoscenza di Lorenzo Da Ponte. Maria
García incontra e sposa Eugène Malibran.
1832 Pauline comincia a studiare pianoforte con Liszt.
1834 Al pianoforte esegue concerti con la sorella Maria e Charles de Bériot.
1836 Muore Maria Malibran.
1839 Pauline García debutta in teatro nel ruolo di Desdemona nell’Otello di
Rossini, al teatro Her Majesty’s di Londra; esordio all’Odéon di Parigi.
1840 Pauline sposa Louis Viardot.
1841 Esordisce a Vienna cantando Rosina nel Barbiere di Siviglia.
1843 Esordio a San Pietroburgo; primo incontro con Turgenev.
–41–

1844 Seconda stagione russa, esordio nel ruolo di Norma.
1848 A Londra si esibisce in concerto con Chopin, interpretandone le
mazurche arrangiamenti composti da lei.
1849 Crea il ruolo di Fidès nell’opera di Meyerbeer Le prophète, Opéra di
Parigi, 16 aprile.
1851 Protagonista alla prima della Sapho di Gounod, Opéra di Parigi, 16
marzo.
1855 Azucena nel primo allestimento londinese del Trovatore di Verdi.
1859 Lady Macbeth nell’opera di Verdi a Dublino e Manchester.
1859 Protagonista nell’edizione di Berlioz dell’Orphée di Gluck al Théâtre
Lyrique di Parigi.
1860 Isolde in alcune esecuzioni private dell’Atto 2 del Tristan und Isolde di
Wagner. Il compositore interpreta Tristan.
1861 Alceste di Gluck, Opéra di Parigi.
1869 Le dernier sorcier della Viardot allestito a Weimar.
–42–

1870 Prima interprete della Rapsodia per Contralto di Brahms a Jena.
1873 Marie Magdeleine di Massenet, Odéon di Parigi.
1874 Dalila in spettacoli privati degli Atti 1 e 2 di Samson et Dalila,
accompagnata da Saint-Saëns.
1876 Morte di George Sand.
1883 Morte di Louis Viardot e Ivan Turgenev.
1889 Pauline Viardot conosce aikovskij a Parigi e gli mostra la partitura
manoscritta del Don Giovanni di Mozart, da lei successivamente donata
al Conservatorio di Parigi.
1901 Riceve la Légion d’Honneur dal governo francese.
1910 Pauline Viardot muore il 18 maggio.
–43–

PAULINE VIARDOT 1821–1910
ECCO COME Hector Berlioz descrisse una delle esibizioni di Pauline
Viardot: “Tutti i suoi atteggiamenti, i suoi gesti, le sue espressioni…sono
studiati con profonda arte. Per quanto riguarda la perfezione del suo canto,
l’estrema capacità della vocalizzazione, la sicurezza musicale – si tratta di cose
note e apprezzate da tutti… Madame Viardot è una delle più grandi artiste …
nella storia della musica, ieri e oggi.”
La reputazione di Pauline Viardot sopravvisse per decenni dopo il suo addio
alle scene. Il suo nome, come quello della sorella maggiore, Maria Malibran,
finì per essere associato a un ideale romantico, a un anelito alla perfezione che
si attagliava alla perfezione agli scrittori moderni e ai liberi pensatori della metà
dell’Ottocento.
Figlia d’arte, Pauline crebbe tra le quinte dei teatri. Suo padre, Manuel
Garcia, nato a Siviglia nel 1775, era stato corista nella cattedrale della sua città.
Essendo sfuggito al destino di castrato, divenne un abile tenore solista. Le sue
composizioni ebbero altrettanto, se non maggiore successo, e molte furono
eseguite a Madrid, dove García divenne uno dei compositori residenti al Teatro
del Principe. Sposato in prime nozze con il soprano Manuela Morales, da cui
ebbe due figlie, nel 1807 si trasferì a Parigi, accompagnato dalla cantante
Joaquina Briones, che infine sposò in seconde nozze e che gli diede tre famosi
figli: Manuel, Maria e Pauline.
–44–

García creò i ruoli di Norfolk nell’Elisabetta, regina d’Inghilterra di Rossini e
in seguito quello di Almaviva nel Barbiere di Siviglia. Famoso in Italia, Francia
e Inghilterra, fu considerato il più grande interprete dell’Otello di Rossini. Nel
1826 si recò in America, con la famiglia e una piccola compagnia, e a New
York diede le prime interpretazioni delle opere italiane. Con il figlio nel ruolo
di Figaro e la figlia Maria nelle vesti di Rosina, García cantò ancora una volta
Almaviva. Lorenzo Da Ponte, che allora insegnava presso la Columbia
University, li sollecitò ad allestire Don Giovanni, e così l’opera di Mozart
ricevette la sua prima statunitense alla presenza del librettista.
Quando Maria lasciò i genitori per sposare il primo marito, Eugène
Malibran, la famiglia, ormai senza primadonna, intraprese una tournée in
Messico. Uno dei ricordi più vividi dell’infanzia di Pauline fu un agguato in
cui i viaggiatori furono aggrediti dai banditi e derubati di tutto. Al loro ritorno
in Europa, avendo ormai praticamente perso la voce, García si dedicò
all’insegnamento. Tra suoi allievi ci furono nomi famosi come Adolphe
Nourrit, Henriette Méric-Lalande (la prima Lucrezia Borgia di Donizetti) e
infine la stessa Pauline, che aveva appena 11 anni quando il padre morì. Nel
1836, dopo la prematura morte di Maria Malibran, la madre decise che
Pauline, ormai avviata alla carriera di pianista, avendo studiato per qualche
tempo con Liszt, si dedicasse invece allo studio del canto.
L’esordio fu nel ruolo di Desdemona nell’Otello di Rossini, un’opera ormai
strettamente legata ai nomi del padre e della sorella, e Pauline riscosse
immediato successo. All’età di 19 anni respinse il poeta Alfred de Musset e
–45–

sposò Louis Viardot, direttore del Théâtre Italien di Parigi, il quale abbandonò
il suo posto per dedicarsi alla carriera della moglie.
Come sua sorella, Pauline Viardot ebbe grandi trionfi a Londra, Parigi,
Vienna, Berlino e soprattutto a San Pietroburgo, ma non cantò mai in Italia,
forse a causa della grande rivalità che si era creata per qualche tempo con
Giulia Grisi, anche se entrambe le cantanti apparvero insieme nella
Semiramide di Rossini e nei Capuleti e Montecchi di Bellini.
Raffinata poliglotta, fin dall’adolescenza Pauline Viardot si creò una vasta
cerchia di amicizie e conoscenze che avrebbero costituito l’élite intellettuale e
musicale d’Europa. Chopin, Liszt, Berlioz, Gounod, Meyerbeer, Saint-Saëns,
Schumann e Fauré composero opere per lei o gliele dedicarono. Alfred de
Musset, Flaubert, Dickens, Delacroix, persino il giovane Henry James furono
suoi ammiratori, ma i suoi più grandi amici furono George Sand e Ivan
Turgenev.
George Sand conobbe Pauline poco dopo il suo debutto parigino nel 1829.
L’anno successivo scrisse un lungo articolo di elogi sulla giovane cantante e ben
presto Pauline divenne una componente apprezzata del gruppo di persone
invitate nella casa di campagna di George Sand a Nohant. La scrittrice si ispirò
a lei per l’eroina di Consuelo. Sebbene il romanzo fosse ambientato nel
Settecento, la protagonista, una cantante spagnola, era facilmente
riconoscibile:
–46–

“Il volto pallido, immobile – a prima vista, si direbbe ordinario – i
movimenti affabili e spontanei, straordinariamente liberi da affettazioni
d’ogni sorta, tutto si trasfigura e s’illumina quando il suo genio la
trasporta lungo la corrente del canto.”
Com’era la voce della Viardot? Oggi sarebbe definita un mezzosoprano: ne
offre una discreta idea il suo repertorio, che comprende le eroine di Rossini,
Bellini e anche Donizetti, un po’ di Mozart (Zerlina e Donna Anna), e poi
opere più tarde di Meyerbeer, Gounod e Verdi. Il suo più grande trionfo fu
l’Orphée di Gluck nell’edizione di Berlioz, una parte che cantò 150 volte. Il
critico Henry Chorley scrisse:
“La qualità peculiare della voce di Madame Viardot – la sua
irregolarità, la sua occasionale asprezza e debolezza, che si accompagna
a toni della più delicata dolcezza – fu rivolta da lei a proprio vantaggio
con rara felicità d’espressione e varietà di chiaroscuri in ogni parola dei
soliloqui, in ciascun richiamo del dialogo.”
Quando Pauline Viardot decise di ritirarsi, il suo addio alle scene a Parigi fu
nelle vesti di Orphée: aveva 42 anni (quasi l’età di Maria Callas quando anche
lei si ritirò).
Nel 1862 i coniugi Viardot, risolutamente contrari al regime di Napoleon
III, lasciarono Parigi e si stabilirono a Baden-Baden. Qui li raggiunse Turgenev,
che si era innamorato di Pauline a prima vista a San Pietroburgo nel decennio
–47–

del 1840. Sebbene ci fossero stati periodi in cui non si erano tenuti in contatto,
Pauline aveva accolto la figlia illegittima di Turgenev e l’aveva allevata con la
propria famiglia. Questo portò inevitabilmente a numerosi contrasti.
Ciononostante, Turgenev visse per la maggior parte del resto della sua vita con
Louis e Pauline. Il complicato ménage-à-trois trova eco in diversi romanzi di
Turgenev e nel suo dramma Un mese in campagna. Nella sua biografia di
Pauline Viardot, The Price of Genius, April Fitzlyon scrisse che la caratteristica
eroina di Turgenev era una donna sposata: “Sono quasi sempre sfruttatrici,
prepotenti, egoiste, pericolosamente attraenti; non fanno quasi mai felici gli
uomini che le amano, vogliono quasi sempre dominarli.”
Per Turgenev gli anni più felici furono indubbiamente quelli trascorsi nelle
residenze dei Viardot a Baden-Baden o in seguito, dopo la guerra francoprussiana
e la dissoluzione del secondo Impero, a Parigi e Bougival, dove morì
nel 1883. Turgenev scrisse tre libretti per le operette di Pauline, destinate non
al teatro, ma alle abitazioni degli attori dilettanti (Trop de femmes, L’ogre e Le
dernier sorcier). Alcuni suoi amici conservatori finsero di scandalizzarsi del fatto
che lo scrittore prendesse parte occasionalmente a queste rappresentazioni, ma
Turgenev era ignaro delle critiche per quanto riguardava Pauline e le scrisse:
“Sono così felice al pensiero che tutto, tutto in me fino alle maggiori
profondità, sia collegato con il vostro essere e dipenda da voi. Se sono un
albero, voi siete le mie radici e la mia corona.”
È passato più di un secolo dalla morte di Pauline Viardot prima che artisti e
ascoltatori si interessassero alla sua musica. Fin dall’adolescenza, Pauline aveva
–48–

composto canzoni e brani per pianoforte. Alcuni furono pubblicati molto
tempo dopo essere stati composti e le date di molti sono oggetto di congettura.
Sebbene pare che la Viardot non si considerasse una compositrice, si impose
più di tante altre donne del suo tempo lavorando in questa sfera dominata
dagli uomini. Crebbe a Parigi, dove la moda delle romances e chansonnettes
dominava le case editrici di partiture vocali. Attraverso i suoi contatti con
Schumann e successivamente Gounod, Berlioz, Tchaikovskij e Fauré, la
cantante vide l’intero concetto di canzone trasformarsi in un’arte a sé. I poeti
che scelse, tra cui Mörike, Lermontov e Turgenev, seguono la traiettoria della
sua vita. Da bambina aveva conosciuto il librettista di Mozart, Lorenzo Da
Ponte; visse abbastanza a lungo da conoscere la musica di Debussy e Strauss.
Per molti versi, la vita di Pauline Viardot riassume l’intera storia della musica
nel XIX secolo.
–49–
© Patrick O’Connor, 2007
Traduzione: Emanuela Guastella

Fanny Ardant (narrator)

CD 1 37’56
Pauline Viardot
Poem by Afanasi Fet
‘Дв е розы’Dve rozy (Two roses) [CD 1 Track 2]
(pub. 1864 Russia, 1866 France)
VLADIMIR CHERNOV
WHEN PAULINE VIARDOT first appeared in Russia, she helped to win the
hearts of her new audience by learning Russian, and singing in the language of
her listeners. After the interval of one performance of Il barbiere di Siviglia, she
and her colleagues Rubini and Tamburini joined with a local choir to sing
‘God Save the Tsar’. After 1850, Viardot never returned to Russia, but she
always felt close to the country where she had received such an extravagantly
warm reception. This song, one of a group in Russian that she published in
1864, is a setting of a poem by Afanasi Afanesevich Fet (real name Shenshin,
1820-92) who came to know the Viardots well (see CD 1 Track 15).
Пол н оспать! Тебедв е розы Enough of sleeping: it’s daybreak
Polno spat’! Tebe dve rozy
Япринёссрассветом дня. And I’ve brought you two roses
Ya prinës s rassvetom dnia.
Сквозь сереб ряныесл ёзы The delight of their fire
Skovz’ serebriannye slëzy
Ярченега их огн я. Seems brighter through silver tears.
Yarche nega ikh ognia.
–51–

Vladimir Chernov

Веш нихдн ей минутн ы грозы , Spring thunderstorms are brief,
Veshnikh dnei minutny grozy
Воздух чист, свежей листы … The air is clean, the leaves fresh...
Vozkukh chist, svezhei listy.
И роняю ттихо слёзы And quiet tears fall
I roniaiut tikho slëzy
Аром атн ыецветы . From the fragrant flowers.
Aromatnye tsvety.
Manuel García
Poem by Louis Pomey (?)
‘Celos’ (Jealousy) [CD 1 Track 4]
Arr. Pauline Viardot, dedicated to George Sand
ANNA CATERINA ANTONACCI
VIARDOT’S FATHER, whose full name was Manuel del Populo Vicente
Rodríguez García, was born in Seville in 1775. During the first half of his
remarkable career, he was equally renowned as a composer and singer. He
wrote stage works in Spanish, Italian and French. His songs continued to be
sung by both his daughters, indeed both of them would insert his aria ‘Yo que
soy contrabandista’ from El poeta calculista in the lesson scene in Act 2 of
Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia. In 1830 he published a collection of Spanish
songs, and this arrangement by Pauline of one of his songs in the Andalusian
manner is her own tribute to the genius of her father. ‘He believed neither in
God nor in the Devil,’ she said. ‘His own religion was life, with all its most
ardent passions, it was art, it was love!’
–53–

Anna Caterina Antonacci

¿Qué quieres Panchito What do you want me to think,
que me piense yo, Panchito?
que me piense yo? What do you want me to think,
¿Qué quieres Panchito Panchito?
que me piense yo?
Si te vi ayer tarde I saw you late yesterday
al dar la oración during prayer
con una señora in conversation
en conversación, with a woman.
en conversación.
Si te vi ayer tarde I saw you late yesterday
al dar la oración, during prayer.
al dar la oración,
al dar la oración.
¿Qué quieres Panchito What do you want me to think,
que me piense yo, Panchito?
que me piense yo?
Si seguí tus pasos I followed you and saw
y vi con dolor to my pain
que la dabas pruebas that you gave her proof
de un constante amor. of constant love.
–55–

Gioachino Rossini
(1792-1868)

¿Qué quieres Panchito What do you want me to think,
que me piense yo, Panchito?
que me piense yo?
Si después de todo If, after all we have been through,
te pido un favor I ask you a favour
y tu me lo niegas and you, full of rage,
lleno de furor, deny me this.
lleno de furor.
¿Qué quieres Panchito What do you want me to think,
que me piense yo, Panchito?
que me piense yo,
que me piense yo,
que me piense yo?
Gioachino Rossini
Poem by G. Pepoli
‘La regata veneziana’ (The Venetian regatta) [CD 1 Track 6]
FREDERICA VON STADE & ANNA CATERINA ANTONACCI
ROSSINI HAD known Pauline since she was an infant. Just as her father and
sister had triumphed in his operas, so many of Pauline’s early successes were in
Rossini roles – Desdemona, Rosina, Cenerentola and Ninetta (in La gazza
ladra). When they were both living in Paris in the 1850s, Pauline frequented
Rossini’s musical evenings at his house in the rue Chausée d’Antin. ‘La regata
veneziana’ is one of the duets from Rossini’s collection Les soirées musicales,
–57–

Frederica von Stade

composed in the early 1830s, just after he had written his final opera,
Guillaume Tell. Much later, he wrote a sequence of songs about the regatta, in
the Album italiano of his Péchés de vieillesse (Sins of old age).
Voga o Tonio benedeto Row, O Tonio, my good man,
Voga, voga, arranca, arranca: row, row, harder, harder:
Beppe el suda, el batte l’anca Beppe is sweating, losing heart,
Poverazzo el nol pò più, poor devil, he can’t go on,
Voga, voga, voga su! row, row, keep rowing!
Caro Beppe el me vecchieto Dear old Beppe,
No straccarte col te remo; don’t exhaust yourself rowing:
Za ghe semo, spinze, daghe, you’re almost there, almost
voga più. there, pull harder!
Ziel pietoso una novizza Good heavens, your future bride,
C’ha el so ben nella regada, as you well know is expecting you
at the finish
Fala o zielo consolada, make her happy, for goodness sake,
No la far stentarde più don’t make her suffer anymore!
Voga o Tonio benedeto ... Row, O Tonio, my good man ...
–59–

Pauline Viardot
Text anonymous
‘L’absence’ (Absence) [CD 1 Track 8]
(pub. 1844)
FREDERICA VON STADE
PUBLISHED JUST after the first of Viardot’s Russian seasons, this has a
decidedly Spanish feel to it – is it, perhaps, another evocation of one of Manuel
García’s songs? The fashion for the music of Spain took hold in Paris later,
during the reign of the Emperor Napoleon III, and his Spanish wife, Eugénie
de Montijo.
Aux longs tourments de l’absence The only remedy for the long torment
Le seul remède est mourir. of absence is to die,
Dans la triste indifférence why languish so long
Pourquoi si longtemps languir? in sad indifference?
Sans repos, sans espérance? Without rest, without hope?
Est-ce vivre que souffrir? Is to live to suffer?
Aux longs tourments de l’absence The only remedy for the long torment
Le seul remède est mourir. of absence is to die,
Ah! ah!
Lorsque je tiens ma promesse, While I keep my promise,
Ingrat, de t’aimer toujours, ungrateful one, to love you always,
Peut-être une autre maîtresse another mistress perhaps
T’enivre d’autres amours. exalts you with other loves.
C’est hélas! trop de souffrance, The suffering is too great, alas!
–60–

Rehearsal for the concert at the Wigmore Hall with
Fanny Ardant, David Watkin, David Harper, Anna Caterina Antonacci
Frederica von Stade and Vladimir Chernov

Je sens mon coeur défaillir. I feel my heart grow weak.
Ah! des tourments de l’absence Ah! the only remedy for the long torment
Le seul remède est mourir. of absence is to die,
Ah! ah!
Pauline Viardot
Poem by Auguste de Châtillon (1813-1881)
‘Berceuse’ (Lullaby) [CD 1 Track 10]
(pub. 1884)
FREDERICA VON STADE
PAULINE AND LOUIS Viardot had four children, Louise (b. 1841), Claudie
(b. 1852), Marianne (b. 1853) and Paul (b. 1857). Louise was married in 1862
to Ernest Héritte, a diplomat, and their son, born in 1864, made Pauline a
grandmother at the age of 43. Almost to the end of her life, there was always
music in Pauline’s house; her children and grandchildren visited her often, and
this cradle-song was perhaps composed for one of them.
Enfant, si tu dors, Child, if you’ll fall asleep,
Les anges alors the angels
T’apporteront mille choses: will bring you a thousand things:
Des petits oiseaux, little birds,
Des petits agneaux, little lambs,
Des lys, des lilas et des roses, lilies, and lilacs, and roses,
–62–

Puis, des lapins blancs, and then white rabbits
Avec des rubans with ribbons
Pour traîner ta voiture; will pull your carriage;
Ils te donneront they’ll give you
Tout ce qu’ils auront, everything they have
Et des baisers, je t’assure! and many kisses, you’ll see!
Enfant, dors à mes accords, Child, sleep to my melody,
Dors, mon petit enfant, sleep, my little child,
Dors! Dors, petit enfant. Sleep! Sleep, little child.
J’entends l’éléphant du grand I hear the elephant of the Great
Mogol Mogul
Il s’avance, coming along,
Portant sur son dos deux carrying on his back two closed
palanquins clos, palanquins.
Que lentement il balance, How slowly he ambles along,
Lentement, lentement il balance! slowly, slowly ambles ...
Dans les palanquins sont les In the palanquins are the white
lapins blancs rabbits
Qui vont traîner ta voiture... who are going to pull your carriage...
Tu n’entends pas mon murmure, you don’t hear my whisper,
Enfant, dors à mes accords, Child, sleep to my melody,
Dors, mon petit enfant Sleep, my little child.
Dors! dors! dors! dors! Sleep! Sleep! Sleep! Sleep!
–63–

Pauline Viardot
Fable by Jean De La Fontaine
‘Le chêne et le roseau’ (The oak and the reed) [CD 1 Track 12]
(pub. 1843, possibly 1841)
ANNA CATERINA ANTONACCI
MANY COMPOSERS have been drawn to the Fables of La Fontaine, notably
Offenbach, Lecoq and Caplet, but Viardot was one of the first. ‘Le chêne et le
roseau’ was first sung by Viardot at a concert in 1842, in which she was
accompanied by Chopin. It has been suggested that she made the piano part
more elaborate in this song in order to give the virtuoso composer something
more interesting to play. It was one of the songs that Viardot chose to include
in her album of eight songs, published the following year, with illustrations by
Ary Scheffer, the painter she referred to as ‘a spiritual counsellor and guide’.
Le Chêne, un jour, dit au Roseau: The oak one day addressed the reed:
« Vous avez bien sujet d’accuser ‘You have every reason to accuse
la nature, nature:
Un roitelet pour vous est un a wren for you is a heavy
pesant fardeau; burden;
Le moindre vent, qui the slightest wind which
d’aventure happens
Fait rider la face de l’eau, to ripple the water’s surface
Vous oblige à baisser la tête, forces you to lower your head;
Cependant que mon front, au while my brow, like the
Caucase pareil, Caucasus,
–64–

Non content d’arrêter les rayons Not content to halt the rays of
du soleil, the sun
Brave l’effort, l’effort de la tempête. bravely confronts the storm.
Tout vous est aquilon, tout me What to you is a North Wind is
semble zéphir. to me a Zephyr.
Encor si vous naissiez à l’abri if you were to grow sheltered
du feuillage by the foliage
Dont je couvre le voisinage, with which I cover the neighbourhood,
Vous n’auriez pas tant à souffrir: you would not suffer so much:
Je vous défendrais de l’orage; I would defend you from the storm.
Mais vous naissez le plus souvent But you are wont to grow
Sur les humides bords des by the damp borders of the
royaumes du vent. winds’ realm.
La nature envers vous me Nature seems most unjust
semble bien injuste. » towards you.’
« Votre compassion, lui répondit ‘Your compassion,’ replied the
l’arbuste, little shrub,
Part d’un bon naturel; mais ‘is well meant; but do not
quittez ce souci: worry.
Les vents me sont moins qu’à The winds are less to be feared
vous redoutables; by me than you.
Je plie, je plie et ne romps pas. I bend, and do not break.
Vous avez jusqu’ici You have till now
Contre leurs coups épouvantables resisted their fearful blows
Résisté sans courber le dos; without bending your back;
Mais attendons la fin. » but let’s await the end.’
–65–

Comme il disait ces mots, as the reed spoke these words,
Du bout de l’horizon accourt from the horizon there roared
avec furie in fury
Le plus terrible des enfants the fiercest child
Que le nord eût portés jusque that the North Wind had ever sired.
là dans ses flancs.
L’arbre tient bon, le roseau plie. The tree stands fast, the reed bends;
Le vent redouble ses efforts, the wind redoubles its efforts,
Et fait si bien qu’il déracine with such effect that it uproots
Celui de qui la tête au ciel était the tree whose crown reached
voisine up to heaven,
Et dont les pieds touchaient à and whose feet dwelt in the
l’empire des morts. empire of the dead.
Pauline Viardot
Poem by Yuriy Mikhail Lermontov
‘У тёс’ Utës (The Cliff) [CD 1 Track 14]
(pub. 1868)
VLADIMIR CHERNOV
AFTER PUSHKIN, Lermontov (1814-1841) was the most influential
Russian writer of the mid-19th century. The author of A Hero of Our Time,
like Pushkin he had been killed in a duel, two years before Viardot’s first
Russian season. This poem, written in the last year of Lermontov’s life, inspired
Viardot to one of her most interesting songs. In it she seems to have captured
that mixture of irony and pessimism that is characteristic of so much Russian
poetry and music.
–66–

Ноч евала туч к азолотая A little golden cloud spent the night
Nochevala tuchka zolotaia
Н а груди утёса-в ел ик ан а; Snuggled up to a great cliff.
Na grudi utiosa velikana.
У тром в путьона ум чалась рано, Early next morning she whirls away,
Utrom v put’ ona umchalas’ rano,
П о лазури в есел о играя; Happily playing in the blue skies
Po lazuri veselo igraia ...
Н о остал ся влажный след But a dramp trace
вморщ ине
No ostalsia vlazhnyi sled v morshchine
Старого утёса. Одиноко Remained in a wrinkle of the old cliff.
Staravo utiosa ... Odinoko
Он стоит, задум ался глуб око, Lonely, the cliff stands lost in reverie
On stoit zadumalsia g luboko,
И тих он ько пл ач ет он в пусты н е. And quietly weeps in the desert.
I tikhon’ko plachet on v pustyne.
Pauline Viardot
Poem by Afanasi Fet, translated by Friedrich Bodenstedt and Ivan Turgenev
‘Die Sterne’ (The stars) [CD 1 Track 15]
(pub. 1864)
FREDERICA VON STADE, DAVID WATKIN (CELLO)
IN 1856, Afanasi Fet came to join his friend Turgenev at the Viardots’ country
retreat at Courtavenel. Although he did not seem to fit in with the liberal-
–67–

David Watkin (cello)

minded, sophisticated circle always surrounding Pauline, Fet spent happy
hours talking with Turgenev. Fet, in his memoirs (Moi Vospominaniya,
Moscow, 1890) recalled the beauty of the chateau, the sunny autumn days
spent walking, picking fruit, and then the evenings, always with readings, and
music. Later, when he heard Pauline sing in Russian at one of her Paris
concerts (Turgenev and Tolstoy were both present), he wrote: ‘That
unexpected, masterly Russian singing aroused in me such rapture that I had to
restrain myself from some mad escapade.’
Ich starrte und stand unbeweglich, I stand and stare motionless,
Den Blick zu den Sternen gewandt, my gaze turned to the stars,
Und da zwischen mir und den and an intimate bond weaves
Sternen itself
Sich wob ein vertrauliches Band. between me and them.
Ich dachte ... weiß nicht, was I imagine ... I don’t know what I
ich dachte ... imagine ...
Fern klang’s wie ein seliger Chor, In a distant sound like a blessed choir,
Leis’ bebten die goldenen Sterne, the golden stars sweetly tremble.
Nun lieb’ ich sie mehr als zuvor! Now I love them more than before,
Die Sterne, den seligen Chor. the stars, the blessed choir.
–69–

Pauline Viardot
Text by Jean Racine
‘Scène d’Hermione’ from Andromaque [CD 1 Track 17]
(pub. 1887, possibly earlier)
ANNA CATERINA ANTONACCI
IN THE 1840s and 1850s, there was a great revival of interest in Paris in the
plays of Jean Racine, principally because of the performances of the
tragedienne Rachel (1820-1859). In Andromaque, the Greek prince Pyrrhus is
betrothed to Hermione, but falls in love with the captured widow of Hector,
Andromache. In this scene, Hermione accuses her fiancé of loving the Trojan
widow. Rossini had set this play as an opera, Ermione, in 1819, which Viardot
no doubt knew of (but could never have seen). She also composed a setting of
a scene from Racine’s Athalie. When the poet Alfred de Musset was pursuing
Viardot, he was also smitten by Rachel, and wrote a double tribute to them,
‘O jeunes coeurs remplis d’antique poésie, Soyez les bienvenus, enfants aimés
des dieux!’
Je ne t’ai point aimé, cruel! I didn’t love you? How cruel!
Qu’ai-je donc fait? What did I do then?
J’ai dédaigné pour toi les vœux for you I spurned the princes of
de tous nos princes; my own country;
Je t’ai cherché moi-même au I sought you out, myself, in the
fond de tes provinces; depths of your lands;
J’y suis encore malgré tes infidélités, I’m still here, despite your faithlessness,
Et malgré tous mes Grecs and despite my Greek warriors,
–70–

Anna Caterina Antonacci

honteux de mes bontés. all ashamed of my weakness.
Je leur ai commandé de cacher I ordered them to hide my
mon injure. dishonour.
J’attendais en secret le retour I secretly waited for the return
d’un parjure, of the lair,
J’ai cru que, tôt ou tard, à tes I believed that, sooner or later,
devoirs rendu, you’d see your duty:
Tu me rapporterais ce cœur qui you’d bring back the heart that
m’était dû. should be mine.
Je t’aimais inconstant, I loved you faithless: think how I
qu’aurais-je fait fidèle? could love, if you were faithful!
Et même en ce moment où ta Even now, when your cruel
bouche cruelle mouth
Vient si tranquillement m’annoncer calmly announces my doom –
le trépas,
Ingrat! je doute encore si je ne Ingrate! I think – I still love
t’aime pas! you!
Mais, Seigneur, s’il le faut, si le But, Lord, if it must be, if
ciel en colère heaven in its anger
Réserve à d’autres yeux la gloire gives other eyes the glory of
de vous plaire, pleasing you,
Achevez votre hymen, j’y consens. go ahead with your wedding, I consent!
Mais du moins But at least
Ne forcez pas mes yeux d’en don’t force me to witness it!
être les témoins!
Pour la dernière fois je vous This may be the last time I’ll
parle peut-être: ever speak to you...
Différez-le d’un jour; demain Postpone it a day, tomorrow
–72–

vous serez maître… you will be master.
Vous ne répondez pas? Perfide! You don’t answer? Traitor!
je le vois I see!
Tu comptes les instants que tu You’re counting the moments
perds avec moi! you waste with me!
Ton cœur, impatient de revoir ta Your heart – so impatient to see your
Troyenne, Trojan woman again –
Ne souffre qu’à regret qu’une can barely tolerate another
autre t’entretienne. woman’s company.
Tu lui parles du cœur, tu la You speak to her in your heart,
cherches des yeux! your eyes look for her!
Je ne te retiens plus! Sauve-toi I won’t keep you! Leave this
de ces lieux: place,
Va lui jurer la foi que tu m’avais go pledge yourself to her the
jurée; same way you did to me.
Va profaner des Dieux la Go profane the sacred majesty
majesté sacrée; of the gods!
Ces Dieux, ces justes Dieux Those gods, those just gods
n’auront pas oublié will not have forgotten
Que ces mêmes serments avec that these same oaths bound
moi t’ont lié. you to me.
Porte aux pieds des autels ce Bring to the foot of the altar
cœur qui m’abandonne; this heart that abandons me.
Va, cours, mais crains encore d’y Go! Run! But be afraid, if you
trouver Hermione! find Hermione there!
–73–

Vladimir Chernov and Frederica von Stade

CD 2 45’20
Pauline Viardot
Poem by Ivan Turgenev
‘Синица’ Sinitsa (The titmouse) [CD 2 Track 2]
(pub. 1864)
VLADIMIR CHERNOV
IT IS tempting to imagine that Turgenev, in this charming poem, is sending a
thinly disguised message to his beloved. The ‘singer’ is surely Pauline herself,
whose voice brings the message of spring. When he was not near her, Turgenev
would write to her; for instance in 1864, the same year that she published this
song, when he was giving a lecture in St Petersburg, he assured her: ‘I cannot
tell you how often I thought of you during the reading and said to myself, Oh,
if only she were here!’
Слыш уя: звенитсиница Amidst the forest’s gold leaves,
Slyshu ia: zvenit sinista
С редь желтею щихветвей; The clear-toned titmouse sings
Sred’ zhelteiushchikh vetvei;
Здрав ствуй, мален ькая птиц а, Greetings to you, singer, you lovely one,
Zdravstvui, malen’kaia ptitsa,
Вестница осен н их дней! Messenger who brings us spring!
Vestnitsa osennikh dnei!
–75–

Хотьгрозитон н ам н енастьем, Although it threatens us with storm and rain
Khot’ grozit on nam nenast’em
Хотьзим ы он н ам пророк – And looming winter,
Khot’ zimy on nam prorok –
Ды ш итб л агодатн ы м счастьем Your voice’s blessing
Dyshit blagodatnym schast’em
Твой весёлы й гол осок. Breathes dear joy.
Tvoi veselyi golosok.
Ды ш ит благодатн ы м счастьем Your voice’s blessing
Dyshit blagodatnym schast’em
Твой весёлы й гол осок. Breathes dear joy.
Tvoi veselyi golosok.
В песенке тв оей прив етной Your sweet tones that pierce
V pessenke tvoei privetnnoi
Слух пленен уж ел и ж мой Through my heart,
Slukh plenen uzheli zh moi
Лиш ьприроды безответн ой Are they only an unconscious empty sound
Lish’ prirody bezotvetnoi
Равнодуш ною игрой Of indifferent nature?
Ravnodushnoiu igroi?
Иль беспеч н о распевает Or are you given
Il’ bespechno raspevaet
Ивтеб е охота жить – That same pleasure as mankind,
I v tebe okhota zhit’ –
Т а, что лю дям пом огает That joy in sweetest life,
Ta, chto liudiam pomogaet
–76–

Смерть и жизн ьпереносить. That streams from your full breast?
Smert’ i zhisn’ perenosit’?
Т а, что лю дям пом огает That joy in sweetest life,
Ta, chto liudiam pomogaet
Смерть и жизн ьпереносить. That streams from your full breast?
Smert’ i zhisn’ perenosit’?
Pauline Viardot
Poem by Louis Pomey
‘Indécision’ (Indecision) [CD 2 Track 4]
(pub. 1878)
FREDERICA VON STADE
LONG AFTER she had retired from the stage and the concert platform,
Viardot continued to sing at home. She would be joined by members of her
family (her son Paul became a virtuoso violinist), and anyone who happened
to be visiting. A song such as this would have been composed, and sung,
somewhat tongue-in-cheek. The by-then elderly Pauline could easily conjure
up the folly of youthful amours. A young girl who was torn between two lovers:
what didn’t she know about that situation – she who had lived most of her life
with one swain or another intruding on her life with her husband, the longsuffering
Louis.
Pour cette fois suis-je assez This time I am truly unhappy!
malheureuse!
De deux garçons je me sens I am in love with two boys!
amoureuse!
–77–

Dieu sait lequel me convient God only knows which one suits me
davantage, more,
Et de choisir je n’ai pas le courage. and I haven’t the courage to choose.
L’un me séduit par sa douce figure, One captivates me by his sweet face,
L’autre me plaît par sa désinvolture. the other pleases me by his graceful manner.
Du petit blond j’admire la moustache, I admire this little fair one’s moustache,
Mais du grand brun j’adore le panache! but I adore the tall dark one’s panache!
Pourquoi faut-il, quand vraiment Why must one, when one truly
on balance, hesitates,
À l’un des deux donner la préférence? prefer one to the other?
En aimer deux, ce serait si commode It would be so convenient to love both,
Qu’un beau matin on en prendra that one fine day it will be the
la mode! fashion!
Pour cette fois suis-je assez This time I am truly unhappy!
malheureuse!
De deux amis je me sens I am in love with two friends!
amoureuse!
Dieu sait lequel me convient God only knows which one suits me
davantage, more,
Et de choisir je n’ai pas le courage. and I haven’t the courage to choose.
L’un me séduit par sa douce figure ... One captivates me by his sweet face ...
–78–

Charles Gounod
(1818-1893)

Charles Gounod
Poem by Eugène Tourneux
‘Chanson de printemps’ (Song of spring) [CD 2 Track 6]
(pub. 1860)
VLADIMIR CHERNOV
CHARLES GOUNOD (1818-1893) first met Viardot in Rome in 1840.
Then a student, he accompanied her (from memory) in an aria from Weber’s
Der Freischütz. Ten years later, when she was at the height of her fame in Paris,
Viardot persuaded the management of the Opéra to commission Gounod’s
first stage work, Sapho. He composed it partly while staying at the Viardots’
house at Courtavenel; Turgenev described Gounod lying on the Russian
bearskin Pauline kept there and moaning quietly, in his search for inspiration.
Although Sapho was not a success in Paris or London, it opened the door for
Gounod, who became the most admired French opera composer of his time.
Eugène Tourneux is remembered now only because of Gounod’s setting of his
poem in Chanson de printemps. It is one of his most famous songs, and
Gounod later used the melody in his piano study Romance sans paroles, No 5.
Viens! enfant, c’est l’heure charmante Come, child, it is the charmed hour,
Ou l’on voudrait rêver à deux, when we would dream together,
Mêlons nos rêves et nos vœux let us mingle our dreams and our vows
Sous cette verdure naissante. beneath this greening foliage.
Salut, règne des fleurs, Hail to the kingdom of flowers,
Des parfums, des couleurs! of scent and colour!
–80–

Les suaves haleines Gentle breezes
Voltigent sur les plaines, move over the plains,
Le cœur épanoui the radiant heart
Se perd dans l’infini. loses itself in infinity!
Giacomo Meyerbeer
Poem by F.N. dei Santo Mango
‘Délire’ (Intoxication) [CD 2 Track 8]
ANNA CATERINA ANTONACCI
IN 1846, Viardot carried off something of a feat, when – to help an ailing
colleague – she sang the roles of both Isabella and Alice in a Berlin
performance of Meyerbeer’s Robert le diable. Meyerbeer, who had long been an
admirer, declared that he would not compose another opera for Paris unless
Viardot were engaged to sing in it. When she made her return to London, it
was as Valentine in Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots, the first time it was heard in
England, at a Royal Command Performance before Queen Victoria and Prince
Albert. Eventually Viardot did sing at the Paris Opéra, in the premiere of
Meyerbeer’s Le prophète, one of the great triumphs of her career. Meyerbeer’s
songs have fallen into neglect, and await modern champions.
De’ miei giorni sull’aurora In the springtime of my youth
vivo solo per soffrir: my life is filled with grief:
quel crudele che m’innamora the heartless man I love
par di gelo a’ miei sospir. is icily impassive to my sighs.
Se pietà de’ pianti miei If compassion for my tears
–81–

Giacomo Meyerbeer
(1791-1864)

lo potesse innamorar, could make him fall in love,
notte e giorno io piangerei; I would weep both night and day;
ma follia saria sperar. but hoping would be folly.
Un sorriso non negarmi One smile is all I ask,
e d’amor io morirò, then I shall die of love,
d’amor io morirò. shall die of love.
Forse un giorno men crudele Perhaps one day, less cruel,
al mio sen ritornerà, he will return to my arms,
e quest’alma più fedele and my more faithful spirit
al suo cor risponderà. will respond to his affection.
Se la gioia del mio core Then if my joyful heart
il crudel infiammerà, awakes the cruel one’s passion,
ogni pena, ogni dolore all the suffering, all the grief
nel mio petto cesserà. in my breast will vanish.
Un sorriso non negarmi One smile is all I ask
e d’amor io morirò, then I shall die of love,
d’amor io morirò, io morirò. shall die of love, shall die.
–83–

Fryderyk Chopin
(1810-1849)

Fryderyk Chopin
Mazurka Op. 33 No. 3 in C major
‘Berceuse’ [CD 2 Track 9]
Words by Louis Pomey
FREDERICA VON STADE
PAULINE VIARDOT published more than a dozen vocal settings of Chopin’s
mazurkas. The composer himself agreed to have Viardot perform some of
them at one of his London concerts towards the end of his life, when he had
quarrelled with George Sand, and was compelled to teach and give recitals
wherever he could, hastening the illness that would soon kill him. Viardot sang
the contralto part in Mozart’s Requiem at Chopin’s funeral in Paris in 1849.
When this song was eventually published in 1865, it became known as
‘Seconde Berceuse’, to avoid confusion with the earlier song (CD 1 Track 10).
Throughout the Victorian era, arrangements for voice and piano of music by
famous composers were very popular. Viardot also arranged pieces by Brahms,
Schubert and even Haydn.
Enfant, cède au sommeil qui ferme Sleep, my child, and close your eyes.
ta paupière,
Je suis auprès de toi, priant Dieu pour I am near you, praying that God will keep
l’absent, the absent one.
Goûte d’un doux repos le charme Enjoy the blessings of a quiet repose,
bienfaisant,
Et près du ton berceau, ne cherche pas and do not seek your father by your cradle.
ton père.
La-la, la-la! La-la, la-la! Hélas! La-la, la-la! La-la, la-la! Alas!
–85–

Frederica von Stade

Pauline Viardot
Poem by Richard Pohl
‘Allein’ (Alone) [CD 2 Track 11]
(pub. 1871)
ANNA CATERINA ANTONACCI
VIARDOT SET several poems by the critic, novelist and composer Richard
Pohl (1826-1896). A colleague of Schumann’s (he helped the composer to
prepare the concert version of Manfred), in Dresden Pohl wrote under the
pseudonym ‘Hoplit’, and was one of the first to champion the music of
Wagner. Later based in Weimar, his enthusiasm for Liszt and Berlioz, as well
as Wagner, led to his friendship with all three composers. Pohl knew Viardot
well, and wrote about her appearances in Germany. In her turn, because of her
friendship with Schumann (who dedicated his Liederkreis Op. 24 to her), and
later Brahms, she had a wide knowledge of the German Lied. She was one of
the first singers to advocate the idea of a Lieder recital as we know it today,
although it would not be until a generation later that the fashion for this
spread beyond Germany and Austria.
Still schau ich in die Nacht hinaus, Quietly I look out into the night
Wohin er nun gegangen, to where he is now gone,
Und blick hinauf zum Vaterhaus and glance up to my father’s house
In meines Herzens Bangen. in my heart’s distress.
Jetzt schlummert er in weiter Welt, Right now he is asleep out in the wide world
Von Gottes Aug’ bewacht, watched over by God.
–87–

Des Himmels schönster Stern erhellt Heaven’s most beautiful star lights up
Die Liebe unsrer Nacht. the love of our night.
O läs’ ich in dem Sternenheer Oh, I leave to that host of stars
Das Schicksal uns’rer Liebe! the fate of our love!
Ob nahe seine Wiederkehr? I wonder if he will return soon?
Und ob er treu mir bliebe? And does he remain true to me?
Hector Berlioz
Poem by Victor Hugo
‘La captive’ Op. 12 (1832) (The captive girl) [CD 2 Track 13]
FREDERICA VON STADE, DAVID WATKIN (CELLO)
COMPOSED IN 1832, Berlioz’s setting of Victor Hugo’s poem was one of his
first successful works. It was dedicated to the singer Louise Vernet, who
performed it in Rome the same year. The song, in its later arrangement with
orchestral accompaniment, featured in Pauline Viardot’s repertory, and she
first sang it, with the composer conducting, at a concert in London in 1848.
It was in Baden in 1859 that Viardot sang extracts from the roles of Cassandra
and Dido in Berlioz’s Les Troyens. The composer found in her his ideal
interpreter and woman, and, like Turgenev, he fell in love with her, telling her,
‘this ideal…the fantastic figment of an insane imagination has suddenly
materialised to my dying heart’.
–88–

Hector Berlioz
(1803-1869)

Si je n’étais captive, If I were not a captive,
J’aimerais ce pays I should love this country,
Et cette mer plaintive and this plaintive sea,
Et ces champs de maïs and these fields of maize,
Et ces astres sans nombre, and these stars without number,
Si le long du mur sombre if in the wall’s dark shadow
N’étincelait dans l’ombre there did not glint
La sabre des Spahis. the Spahis’ scimitar.
Pourtant j’aime une rive And yet I love a land
Où jamais des hivers where winter’s chill breath
Le souffle froid n’arrive never crosses
Par les vitraux ouverts. wide-open windows.
L’été la pluie est chaude, In summer the rain is warm,
L’insecte vert qui rôde and the hovering insects
Luit, vivante émeraude gleam bright emerald
Sous les brins d’herbe verts. beneath the green blades of grass.
Mais surtout quand la brise But most of all when a breeze
Me touche en voltigeant, lightly brushes my cheek,
La nuit j’aime être assise, I love to sit at night,
Etre assise en songeant, sit and dream,
L’œil sur la mer profonde, gazing on the deep sea,
Tandis que pâle et blonde while the pale moon
La lune ouvre dans l’onde opens across the water
Son éventail d’argent. its silver fan.
–90–

Fanny Ardant, Anna Caterina Antonacci, Vladimir Chernov and Frederica von Stade

Pauline Viardot
Poem by Gustave de la Renaudière (1812-1862)
‘En mer’ (At sea) [CD 2 Track 14]
(pub. 1849)
Dedicated to Berlioz
VLADIMIR CHERNOV
IN THE 1840s, Berlioz’s relationship with Viardot was strictly a professional
one. In the year of her greatest triumph at the Paris Opéra, she dedicated this
song to Berlioz. He was not enamoured of the music of Meyerbeer, but wrote
with great enthusiasm about her performance as Fidès in Le Prophète. The great
collaboration between Berlioz and Viardot, though, was their work together as
he prepared his edition of Gluck’s Orphée which proved to be her most
admired role. Berlioz described the impact she made: ‘If you could see how
little she resembles a woman in male costume…she suggests a young poet of
the ancient world…with accents, poses, facial expressions to make the heart
turn over.’
La lune dans les cieux The moon in the skies,
Promenant ses clartés, promenading its brightness,
Se mire sur les flots, was reflected
Sur les flots argentés. in the silver waves.
Je voguais solitaire, et, I was rowing by myself and,
M’éloignant des grèves, pulling away from shore,
–92–

Entre le ciel et l’eau between sky and water
Je balançais mes rêves. I balanced my dreams.
Entre le ciel et l’eau Between sky and water,
Quand la nue est d’azur, when the high cloud is blue,
Quand le flot est tranquille when the wave is calm
Et que le cœur est pur, and the heart is quite pure,
La double immensité The double immensities
Nous parle et nous révèle speak to us and reveal to us
La faiblesse de l’homme the fragility of humans
Et la force éternelle. and the forces of eternity.
Ces cieux ont éclairé These skies shone
Des empires puissants, on powerful empires,
Et ces flots ont mugi and these waves roared
Sous des murs menaçants, beneath the menacing walls,
Ces cieux brillent toujours, These skies shine always,
Ces flots roulent encore, these waves are still rolling,
Et le nom de Carthage and the name of Carthage
Est inconnu du More. is unknown to the Moors.
Des autels abattus, The altars thrown down,
Des empires détruits, the empires destroyed,
Le calme des déserts the calm of deserts in places
Aux lieux où mille bruits where once a thousand noises
–93–

Montaient au ciel... voilà Rose to the skies... It is this
Ce que le monde antique that the ancient world
Lègue au monde nouveau bequeaths to the modern,
Dans un sens prophétique. in a prophetic feeling.
La lune dans les cieux ... the moon in the skies ...
Pauline Viardot
Poem by Alexander Pushkin
‘Буря’ Buria (The storm) [CD 2 Track 16]
(pub. 1865)
VLADIMIR CHERNOV
WHEN VIARDOT travelled to Russia for the first time in 1843, the great
poet Alexander Pushkin had been dead for only a few years. The most admired
writer in all of Russia, he would surely have fallen under the spell of the young
singer, just as so many of his compatriots were to. Pushkin’s influence over
Russian art and music cannot easily be over-estimated. The operas his works
inspired – Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov and Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin being
just the two best-known – and the myriad settings of his poems by Russian
composers of the 19th and 20th centuries have nevertheless not helped to
make his verse much understood in the West. Many Russian speakers claim
that the basic simplicity of his work renders it untranslatable. Viardot and
Turgenev must often have discussed Pushkin and read him together.
–94–

Буря м гл ою н еб о кроет, The storm wind covers the sky
Buria mgloiu nebo kroet,
Вихри снежны е крутя; Whirling the fleecy snow drifts,
Vikhri snezhnye krutia;
Т о как зв ерь он а зав оет, Now it howls like a wolf,
To kak zver’ ona zavoet,
То запл ач еткак дитя. Now it is crying, like a child,
To zaplachet kak ditia
Топокров л еобветш алой Now rustling the decayed thatch
To po krovle obvetshaloi
Вдруг сол ом ой заш ум ит, Of our own tumbledown roof,
Vdrug solomoi zashumit
Токак путн ик запоздал ы й, Now, like a delayed traveller.
To kak putnik zapozdalyi
Кнам вокош к о застуч ит. Knocking on our window pane.
K nam v okoshko zastuchit ...
Наш а ветх ая лачужка Our wretched little cottage
Nasha vetkhaia lachushka
И печ ал ьна и темна. Is gloomy and dark.
I pechal’na I temna ...
Чтожеты , моя старуш к а, Why do you sit all silent
Shto zhe ty, moia starushka,
Приум ол к л а у ок н а? Hugging the windows, old gran?
Priumolkla u okna?
–95–

Или бури завы ваньем Has the howling of the storm
Ili buri zavyvanem
Ты , мой друг, утом л ена, Wearied you at last, dear friend?
Ty noi drug, utomlena
Или дрем леш ь поджужжан ь ем Or are you dozing fitfully under
Ili dremlesh pod zhuzhanem
Своего в еретена? The spinning-wheel’s humming?
Svoevo veretena?
[П овтор] [Repeat of the previous four lines]
Вы пьем ,доб рая подружка, Let us drink, dearest friend
Vypem dobraia podruzhka,
Бедной юности моей, To my poor wasted youth.
Bednoi uinosti moei!
Вы пьем сгоря; где же кружка? Let us drink from grief – where’s the glass?
Vypem s goria, gde zhe kruzhka?
С ердц у стан етвеселей, Our hearts at least will be lightened.
Serdtsu stanet verselei.
С ердцубудетв еселей! Our hearts at last will be lightened.
Serdtsu budet veselei
Спой мне песню ,как синица Sing me a song of how the blue tit
Spoi mne pesniu, kak sinitsa
Тихо за м орем жила; Quietly lives across the sea.
Tikho za moriem zhila;
С пой мнепесню, как девица Sing me a song of how the young girl
Spoi mne pesniu, kak devista
–96–

За водой поутруш ла. Went to fetch water in the morning.
Za vodoi poutru shla.
Буря м гл ою н еб о кроет, The storm wind covers the sky
Buria mgloiu nebo kroet,
Вихри снежны е крутя; Whirling the fleecy snow drifts,
Vikhri snezhnye krutia;
Т о как зв ерь он а зав оет, Now it howls like a wolf,
To kak zver’ ona zavoet,
То запл ач еткак дитя. Now it is crying, like a child,
To zaplachet kak ditia
То запл ач ет, тозапл ач етк ак дитя! Now it is crying, it is crying like a child!
To zaplachet, to zaplachet kak ditia.
–97–

Pauline Viardot
‘C’est moi’ (It is I) from Cendrillon [CD 2 Track 17]
(1903-4)
FREDERICA VON STADE (CENDRILLON)
VLADIMIR CHERNOV (LE PRINCE CHARMANT)
VIARDOT MUST have been familiar with all the other operas on the
Cinderella story, by Nicolo, Rossini and Massenet, but that didn’t stop her
from putting together this late entertainment, designed to be performed by
amateurs at home. She included new arrangements of some of her old Chopin
settings, and the story is given a nice twist by making Cinderella’s father a
retired grocer, who nostalgically recalls the past among the sacks of coffee and
rice. The complete work can be heard on Opera Rara’s recording of Viardot’s
Cendrillon (ORR212).
C’est moi! ne craignez rien! It is I! Fear not!
Écoutez ma prière, Pray, hear me out,
Je n’ai pu résister au désir de I could not resist the desire to
vous voir. see you.
C’est lui, oh quel bonheur! It is him, Oh joy!
Dieu! si ce n’est qu’un rêve, God! if this is but a dream,
Ne me réveillez pas! Let me sleep on!
De grâce écoutez-moi, Hear me out, I beg you,
–98–

Écoutez ma prière! pray, hear me out,
Je n’ai pu résister au bonheur de I could not resist the joy of seeing you.
vous voir.
Ah s’il était sincère, If he were sincere,
De mes rêves le vœu serait comblé. my dreams would be fulfilled
Depuis que je vous/le vis From the moment I saw you/him,
Je vous/lui donnai ma vie. I pledged you/him my life.
De grâce, par pitié, I beg you, for pity’s sake,
Ne me renvoyez pas! do not send me away!
De vous seule dépend le bonheur All my life’s happiness depends on you.
de ma vie.
Oui mon bonheur! Yes, my happiness!
De vous seule dépend le bonheur All my days’ happiness depends on you.
de mes jours.
Est-ce un rêve, mon Dieu! Is this a dream, dear God!
Ô mon Dieu! Je ne sais que lui dire. O my God! I know not what to say,
Un trouble m’a saisie. I was unsettled.
Mon âme ravie rayonne de bonheur. My enraptured soul is aglow with happiness,
Je voudrais le lui dire I wish I could tell him!
Depuis que je vous vis, From the moment I saw you,
Je vous donnai ma vie. I pledged you my life.
Mon âme ravie rayonne de bonheur. My enraptured soul is aglow with happiness.
À vous mon âme To you, my soul!
Pour toujours. For eternity.
–99–

Réunie, à jamais. Forever united!
Pauline Viardot
Poem by Sully-Prudhomme
‘Ici-bas tous les lilas meurent’ (Down here all lilacs die) [CD 2 Track 19]
(pub. 1884)
ANNA CATERINA ANTONACCI
PAULINE AND Louis Viardot’s only son, Paul (1857-1941), became a
distinguished virtuoso violinist – Fauré’s first Violin Sonata, Op. 13, is
dedicated to him. Like his mother, he enjoyed some celebrity in St Petersburg,
where he performed Tchaikovsky’s Serenade, and met the composer. Paul
Viardot studied with Hubert Léonard; later in his life he was also a conductor,
composer, and author of several books, including Histoire de la musique, which
had an introduction by Saint-Saëns, and Mémoires d’un artiste (Paris, 1910).
This setting of a verse by Sully-Prudhomme (1839-1907) is one of Six
Mélodies that Paul Viardot published in 1884, the year in which both Louis
Viardot and Ivan Turgenev had died. The same poem was also set by Fauré
and Cui.
Ici-bas tous les lilas meurent, Down here all the lilacs die,
Tous les chants des oiseaux all the birds’ songs are
sont courts. short.
Je rêve aux étés qui demeurent I dream of summers that last
toujours. forever.
Ici-bas les lèvres effleurent Down here lips brush past,
–100–

Sans rien laisser de leur velours. leaving no trace of their velvet touch.
Je rêve aux baisers qui demeurent I dream of kisses that last
toujours. forever.
Ici-bas tous les hommes pleurent Down here men mourn
Leurs amitiés ou leurs amours. for their friendships and loves,
Je rêve aux couples qui demeurent I dream of couples who last
toujours. forever.
Pauline Viardot
Poem by Alexander Pushkin
‘Зак л ин ан иe’ Zaklinanie (Incantation) [CD 2 Track 21]
(pub. 1864)
VLADIMIR CHERNOV
ANOTHER FROM the group of songs in Russian that Viardot published, as
a tribute to her dedicated admirers in Russia, as a souvenir for old friends, as
part of the legacy of her friendship with Turgenev. Pushkin went to his death,
in a senseless duel, aged only 38. In one of his ‘Poems in Prose’, Turgenev,
thinking of Viardot perhaps, wrote of a woman ‘wise and good…everything is
alien to you, and you do not need anyone’. She asks for no sympathy, nor does
she offer any, her glance is deep and inscrutable. ‘So, in the Elysian Fields, to
the sublime sound of Gluck’s melodies, without sorrow and without joy, pass
the graceful shades.’
О , есл и прав да, что вноч и, Oh, if it’s true that in the night
O esli pravda, shto v nochi,
Когда покоятся живы е When the living repose
–101–

Kogda pokoiatsia zhivye
Иснеба лун н ы е лучи And from the sky and moon’s rays
I s neba lunnye luchi
Скол ь зят н а камни гроб овые, Glide over the tombstones,
Skol’ziat na kamni grobovye,
О , есл и прав да, что тогда Oh, if it’s true that at this time
O, esli pravda, shto togda
П устею т тих ие могил ы , The quiet graves empty out,
Pusteiut tichie mogily,
Я тень зову, я тень зову, я жду I call the shade, I call the shade, I await
Леилы. Leila.
Ia ten’ zovu, ia zhdu Leily.
Ко мне, мой друг! Сю да! Сюда! Appear to me, my friend! Come! Come!
Сюда! Come!
Ko mne, moi drug! Siuda!
Явись, возл юблен н ая тен ь, Appear, beloved spirit
Iavis’, vozliublennaia ten’
Как ты бы ла передразл ук ой, As you were before we parted,
Kak ty byla pered razlukoi,
Бл една, хладн а, как зим ний день, Pale, cold, like a winter’s day,
Bledna, khladna, kak zimnii den’,
Иск ажен а последней мукой. Disfigured by your last torment.
Iskazhena poslednei mukoi
Приди, как дальная звезда, Come, as a distant star,
Pridi, kak dal’naia zvezda,
Как лёгкий звукильдуновенье, As a slight sound or breeze,
–102–

Kak legkii zvuk il’ dunoven’e,
Иль к ак ужасное виден ье, Or as a ghostly apparition,
Il’ kak uzhasnoe viden’e,
Мне всё рав н о: сю да, сю да!... I don’t care, come! Come!
Mne vse ravno, siuda! Siuda!
Зову теб я н е дл я того, I call you not in order
Zouv tebia ne dlia togo
Чтоб ук орять людей, чья зл об а To reproach those whose spite
Chtob ukoriat’ liudei, ch’ia zloba
Убила друга моего Killed my friend
Ubila druga moego,
Иль чтоб изв едать тайн ы гроб а, Nor to experience the secrets of the grave,
Il’ shtob izvedat’ tainy groba,
Н е дл я того, что ин огда Nor because sometimes
Ne dlia togo chto inogda
Сомнен ьем м учусь ...но, тоскуя, When doubts torment me... But I yearn
Somnen’em muchus’ ... No, toskuia
Хоч у сказать , что всё лю б л ю я, To tell you that I still love you
Khochu skazat’ shto vse liubliu ia,
Что всё я твой: сю да, сю да! That I am all yours... I beg you, come!
Shto vse ia tvoi ... Siuda!
–103–

Pauline Viardot in
the title role of
Bellini’s Norma

Pauline Viardot
French words by Louis Pomey
‘Havanaise’ [CD 2 Track 23]
FREDERICA VON STADE, ANNA CATERINA ANTONACCI, VLADIMIR CHERNOV
AS WELL as the music of Spain, Cuban rhythms started to take hold of the
Parisians’ fancy during the Second Empire. Songs by Sebastián de Yradier (‘La
Paloma’ and ‘El arreglito’, which was used by Bizet for the Habanera in
Carmen) became all the rage. Here, in this seductive song, Viardot joins in
the fashion.
Sur la rive le flot d’argent Upon the shore the silver waves
En chantant brise mollement, murmur as they softly break,
Et des eaux avec le ciel pur and ocean merges with the limpid sky
Au lointain se confond l’azur. upon the blue horizon.
Quel doux hymne la mer soupire! How sweet the song sighed by the sea!
Viens, c’est nous que sa voix attire, Come, its voice is calling us,
Sois, ô belle, moins rebelle! be not, my pretty one, so stubborn!
Ah! Ah!
À ses chants laisse-toi charmer! Yield to the enchantment of its songs!
Viens, c’est là que l’on sait aimer. Come, that is where we shall know love.
–105–

À ses chants laisse-toi charmer! Yield to the enchantment of its songs!
C’est là, c’est là, oui, c’est là que l’on That is where we shall, we shall know
sait aimer. love.
Ô belle, ma belle, laisse-toi charmer, O pretty one, my pretty one, yield to its
enchantment,
C’est en mer que l’on sait aimer. on the sea we shall know love.
Oui, c’est là que l’on sait aimer! Yes, that is where we shall know love!

Fanny Ardant, David Watkin, Anna Caterina Antonacci
Vladimir Chernov, David Harper and Frederica von Stade

David Harper