Garcia the Centenarian And His Times

CIA, the C

-words which it is impossible

e father and founder of the family, renowned as one of the finest tenors of his day; as a prolific composer, and as a singing teacher of distinguished

er sister, Pauline Viardot-Garcia, whose singing drew forth the praise and admiration of all, and whose retirement from the stage and concert

the greatest of his time. In the musical firmament he has been the centre of a solar system of his own,-a sun round which revolved a group of planets, whose names are familiar to all: J

such as Calvè, Eames, Henschel, Melba, Scheidemantel, van Rooy. One and

among the most important inventions of the medical world. Indeed, it is no figure of spe

e is without question the mo

who possess any claim upon our interests beyond the

in a few days of his 101st birthday, but with little distinction beyond this fact. As to the rest who go to make up

ldishness and

eyes, sans taste,

to the dais, mounting it with agility and then sitting for an hour, smiling and upright, while receiving honours and congratulations from all parts of the globe. Which of those who were present will ever forget how he attended the

laims to our attention beyond the mere fact of being in the one case a parent who exercised a very important influence upon Manuel Garcia's character and choice of career in early days, and who was, moreover, the fountainhead from which flowed the

been a great master, one can lay down a general outline of his teaching and applaud the soundness of his methods, but after all the outer world will in such matters be apt to judge by results alone. Or let us put it in anot

studied under the old Spaniard, and in doing so I trust that the above circumstances wil

to a second

peal to the special rather than to the general reader. The desire that the many may not suffer for the sake of the few to a greater extent than is absolutely necessary has pro

obtained in connection with the human voice from the use of the instrument; in the latte

f the ex-king Murat, a few months after the despotic brother-in-law's final overthrow at Waterloo. His first visit to England was made when George III. was on the throne; his nineteenth year saw the death of Louis XVIII.; while his arrival in America to take part in the first season of Italian opera ever given there was at a time when New York was a town of 150,000 inhabitants, and the United States were preparing to celebrate the jubilee of the Declarati

astopol, which was followed by such events as the Indian Mutiny; the accession of William I. to the throne of Prussia, with Prince Bismarck as his chief adviser; the capture of Pekin;

e Siege of Paris, they were looked on by him in his old age as things of but yesterday; while a

pupils, but many even whose parents and grandparents had studied under him; while befor

ille could not boast a single piano. Such a thing seems hardly credible to us who live in the twentieth century, when it is the exception rather than the rule to come across a

musicians of the eighteenth century, and even earlier, who bore that cognomen; none of these, however, can possibly have had any direct relationship to the family in which we are interested, and for an obvious reason. "Garcia" was only a nom de guerre which had been taken by the f

sical training being received at the hands of Antonio Ripa, and continued under Juan Almarcha, who succeeded Ripa as Maestro di Cappella at the cathedral. These two men were considered the first teachers in

upheaval which was to bring such fatal consequences. The populace had long been smouldering with discontent against the hated aristocrats, and at

number of his own compositions had been introduced. Not long after this he made his first appearance at Madrid in an oratorio, while his earliest opera was performed th

sion by Austria and Prussia, the storming of the Tuileries, the September massacre, and th

od European history continued to raise fresh landmarks for future generations to bear in wondering memory, for when he was nineteen there came the execution

elder Garcia's bachelor life with his romantic marriage to Joaquina Si

ent, and early declared her wish to pass her life in a convent. Her parents rais

order to prove whether her desire for the religious life was genuine. Accordingly the beautiful young novice we

ly in love with the singer. He on his side became no less completely a victim to her charms, and lost no time in declaring his passion, and that was the end, or sho

ame desirous of associating herself with his career. She therefore determined to put her musi

which brings with it the birth of

GARCIA'