A Thing Apart?
I should like to take this opportunity of removing a widespread error. Some people think that the Garcia school of singing is a thing apart; others believe that it is exactly the same as the Italian school. Neither view is correct. It is true that Garcia’s school is based on the Italian school, for in those days there was nothing else, nothing but Italian singers, Italian operas; but the Garcias, father and son, by means of their physiological discoveries, enlarged the scope of this school and improved and strengthened it. The best proof of the excellence of their school is to be found in the number of distinguished pupils trained in accordance with the principles. I need only name the following: Santley, Bataille, Stockhausen, Jenny Lind, Marchesi, Marianne Brandt, Orgeni, Artôt de Padilla, Antoinette Sterling, Schultzen Asten, Anderson, Pregi, etc.
Garcia died in 1832, leaving to his three children the task of adding to the lustre of his name, and nobly did they fulfill their mission.
His son, Manuel Garcia, hesitated in his choice of profession, unable to make up his mind whether he would go to sea or study chemistry. He actually went to sea for a time, and took part in the capture of Algiers. On his return, his father forced him to go on the stage; he sang in Italy for some years and took part in the Mexican tour, which I have already described. He himself was never satisfied with his voice, and as he disliked his profession he resolved to give it up. It was, however, too late for him to study for another profession, and he was obliged to become a teacher of singing. As such he certainly accomplished great things.
Memories and Adventures (1913) by Louise Héritte-Viardot, p 6-7.
To return to my uncle, Manuel Garcia. In Paris, he married one of his pupils, who afterwards became a singer. Painful domestic circumstances obliged him to leave Paris, and he settled in London; England became his home, where he lived till his death, but he always remained a Spanish subject. When his wife died, he married an Englishwoman, and this marriage was a most happy one.
He continued to teach till a few years before his death. He led a retired life in his villa, “Mon Abri”; his mental faculties remained so absolutely unimpaired, so that no one who saw him would have dreamt that he was one hundred and two, if he had not stooped so, but this he had done all his life and the habit became more confirmed as he grew older. He was always very moderate in eating and drinking, and he did not smoke. No one ever saw him unoccupied. He read much, serious books only, and he always had a great deal of writing to do, letters or some theoretical work on the art of singing.
Memories and Adventures (1913) by Louise Héritte-Viardot, p 9-10.
Louise was the daughter of Pauline Viardot-Garcia and the granddaughter of the great Romantic tenor Manuel Garcia.
Can you imagine being part of this family and living up to its expectations? That’s one thing that comes to mind when I read passages like this. Another is the simple question: why did Garcia stoop-over all his life? Was this a result of his being beaten down by his father? (There are accounts of his being beaten.) Was Garcia’s stooping as much psychological as it was physical?
Anna Schoen-René came to see the great vocal maestro in the late 1890’s and noticed the same stooping, but also said Garcia straightened up—sat ramrod straight—while at the piano, right before making her sing her face off.
Isn’t that curious?
The other thing that stands out in the passages above is that Manuel Garcia, both father and son, taught by means of their “physiological studies” and strengthened and improved the Italian school of singing; a matter which has been my life-long study and preoccupation.
This means they connected the dots and dreamt up stuff: techniques and tools.
Do I teach it?
You can bet on that.
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