Michelle Pauline Viardot-García, née García, (* July 18, 1821 in Paris; † May 18, 1910 there) was one of the most famous and versatile artists of the 19th century. In the second half of the 19th century she had a major influence on the musical life of her time in various countries, above all in France, Germany, England and Russia. She sang, composed and taught, she arranged and edited works by other composers, collected folk song texts and melodies, organized musical salons and also conducted extensive correspondence.
In addition to her training as a composer under the direction of Anton Reicha, the young Pauline García felt “irresistibly” drawn to the piano. Her playing and her compositions were very much appreciated by her teacher Franz Liszt. She speaks six languages fluently. From 1863 she settles in Baden-Baden with her husband and four children. Musicians, poets, painters and other important personalities of their time met in their domicile there, which in addition to a villa also included a garden theater and an art and lecture hall.
In Baden-Baden, Pauline mainly devotes herself to composition and draws inspiration from Russian poetry under the influence of Ivan Turgenev (1818–1883). She had met Russian poets …
* January 21st, 1858 in Paris † March 18th, 1937 in Paris
Encounter with music between agony and lust
The French composer Mel Bonis (1858–1937)
The example of the French composer Mel Bonis makes it clear that even today – in a time of intensive research into past musical epochs – one can still occasionally make surprising discoveries. This composer is one of the creative musical personalities of the turn of the century, whose compositions fell victim to the storms of the musical stylistic upheaval at the time and disappeared from the consciousness of the music scene.
Raised in a middle-class Parisian family far removed from music, the musically gifted Mélanie was able to attend the Conservatoire Supérieur through the intercession of César Franck, which she had to leave after a few years at the behest of her parents in order to end the relationship with a fellow student. A little later she married the industrialist Albert Domange, 22 years her senior, who brought five sons into the marriage, gave birth to three children of his own and gave birth to an illegitimate daughter in 1899, unnoticed by the family – a conflict that may be a trigger for allows her most fruitful creative …