April 27, 2022

Pauline Viardot: 6 Pièces pour violon et piano (Women Composers 11)

Pauline Garcias Viardot was a leading nineteenth-century French mezzo-soprano, pedagogue, and composer of Spanish descent. She stemmed from an artistic family and became the wife of Louis Viardot, a French scholar of Spanish art, who was not only an art expert and collector, but also writer of art books and travel guides, a literary translator, and a director of opera. Louis was 20 years her senior and did everything possible to support her career. Pauline's parents were both singers, and although Pauline was an excellent pianist, she was led to pursue a singing career.


Pauline Viardot made her opera debut as Desdemona in Rossini's Otello in London in 1839. This proved to be the surprise of the season. She had an exquisite vocal technique combined with an astonishing degree of passion. Renowned for her wide vocal range and her dramatic roles on stage, Viardot gave performances that inspired composers such as Berlioz, Camille Saint-Saëns (who dedicated Samson and Delilah to her, and wanted her to sing the title role), and Giacomo Meyerbeer, who created Fidès in Le Prophète for her.

The cosmopolitan writer Turgenev was in love with Pauline Viardot from the first time he saw her, and for decades he traveled with her through Germany and France, himself never marrying, living next door or later even in the same house as the Viardots, going from romantic involvement (he may have been the father of Pauline's son) to more quiet friendship, a relationship ignored or even condoned by her husband Louis - in fact, Ivan Turgenev and Louis Viardot were good friends who liked to hunt together. It is the most famous ménage à trois in history! (See the interesting The Europeans: Three Lives and the Making of a Cosmopolitan Culture, by Orlando Figes, https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4118854639). See also Turgenev's letters to the Pauline Viardot at Gutenberg.

In addition to Turgenev, Pauline was friends with a large number of European artists. George Sand was a great admirer of Viardot from the beginning, and later became an intimate friend; through Sand, Viardot also met Chopin. Alfred de Musset was also enthusiastic about her, which he showed in his newspaper reviews. Others were Clara Schumann, Gioacchino Rossini, Camille Saint-Saëns, Charles Gounod, and Hector Berlioz, the latter two of whom also fell for Viardot's charms. A salon was held in Viardot's house twice a week, where all these people and many others met.

Viardot traveled extensively and sang on all the major stages in Europe. She was very well known and loved in England and Germany, where she was on good terms with the royal houses.

Viardot began composing when she was young, but it was never her intention to become a composer. Her compositions were written mainly as private pieces for her students with the intention of developing their vocal abilities. She did the bulk of her composing after her retirement at Baden-Baden. However, her works were of professional quality and Franz Liszt declared that, with Pauline Viardot, the world had finally found a woman composer of genius. Among her work are 5 chamber operas, of which 3 on texts by Turgenev. She also wrote numerous songs and instrumental works for the piano.

Pauline Viardot's "6 morceaux for violin and piano" date from 1868. They are here performed among a number of other works by the Centre Européen de Musique Bougival at a large Pauline Viardot concert. The movements are Romance, Bohémienne, Berceuse, Mazourke, Vieille Chanson, and Tarantelle. (The concert continues with other work by Viardot after these 6 pieces.)

Women Composers Index