Garcia the Centenarian And His Times

4-18

the summer of 1814, being at the time in his tenth

l tenor in the chapel choir of King Murat. The elder Garcia had held this post for about two years, having been appointed immediately on hi

alian vocal traditions of that "Bel Canto" school which

ace with an almost incredible link with the past. Ansani was nearly twenty when Porpora died, in his eighty-second year. A remark which Manuel Garcia once made rather points to the possibility that Ansani may have had a few lessons from Porpora himself. Whether this was absolutely true I know not,-at

d that he once met Bach. As, however, the German composer died in the year 1750, about the time that Ansani was still busying himsel

Twenty years before the close of the century he made his appearance in London, and at o

according to Gervasoni, he had a very rare truth of intonation, great power of expression, and most perfect method both of voice emission and vocalisation. His wife, Maccherini, was also a singer, and accompanied him to London on his second visit. He himse

e retired and settled in Naples, where he devoted himself to teaching. It wa

those days was a much slower process than that which is deemed necessary at the present time. Months, indeed years,

g made to sing an endless variety of ascending scales, his desire for a change became so great that he could not resist bursting out, "Oh dear! mayn't I sin

oreover, to have had no particular vocation for the lyrical stage, and the

l choir. Absolute verification of this statement is practically impossible to obtain, though there seems no reason for doubting its truth. On the other h

uition, till his twentieth year. It was largely due to the fact that work was not stopped during that dan

raining of his son, and among many other valuable lessons, he impressed upon him that a s

His intelligent brain could therefore make a blend of Spanish and Italian methods. To this he added in after life his own observations on the human voice, and applied the scientific theories whi

some episodes of his life are of considerable interest. In 1804 he had s

the authorities, both French and Italian, were assembled for the performance of this servile work, Zingarelli refused to have anything to do with it, and added that nothing would induce him to acknowledge the rule of the C

important post when Manuel came from Spain. Some eighteen months later, just before the Garcia family left for Paris, he succeeded Paisiell

but was also primo tenore of the King's Opera Company at the San Carlo. I remember S

n some way of proving to the members of the orchestra that he was not one of the ordinary small fry possessed of a voice and li

ist still sang exactly a semitone above the key in which they were playing, it began to dawn upon them that, instead of being sharp through nervousness or lack of ear, he was keeping a half tone too high intentionally throughout the piece. Consequently, when they heard him continue in E natural, without a moment's hesitation, or a single false note (for so great a musician was he that he could abstract himself entirely from his surro

inger has duplicated his extraordinary talent and versatility. Attention has already been called to the fact that he was conductor and impresario. As a composer he was responsible for over forty operas, of wh

iph of Bagdad" received no less appreciation. His power as an actor was equal to that as a singer, while his Spanish temperament gave a fire to

tracted the notice of Rossini, and led him to write the tenor r?le in "Elisabeth" for the elder Garcia. The result was so satis

n, as Manuel Garcia related

eated so successfully, but having obtained that composer's permission he wrote the entire score in a fortnight. To avoid all appearance of rivalry with Paisiello he named his work

gnora Gior

ignorin

gnor Luig

Signor B

Signor V

aviva Sig

rusion on his rights. In consequence of this the work was unmercifully damned, but it was kept on the

ich the elder Garcia undertook the tenor r?le at the initial performance, for in the cours

inary flexibility. It was this faculty which gave his inventive powers their full scope in the extemporisations which he was wont to introduce into

original theme, while it applied equally to the conventional ending found in nearly all arie of that time. The singers were expected to elaborate the simple melody giv

the truth of the above assertion. It i

as at Naples, one of the old Italian

the composer said, "Thank you, signer, very nice, but that was not at all what I wanted." He asked for an explanation, and was informed that the melody which had been written down was intended merely as a skeleton whi

ons, introducing runs, trills, roulades, and cadenzas, all of which were performed with the most brilliant execution. This time, when the end

n 1824), refers more than once to the same thing. In speaking of the famous male sopr

would have been misapplied, confining it to one bravura song (aria d'agilità) in each opera, conscious that the chief delight of singing lay in touching expression and e

Mount-Edgcu

irst-rate singer noted down merely a simple tema with the slightest possible accompaniment, which, if sung as written, would be cold, bald, and insipid. It was left to the singer

the elder Garci

rst public appearance, when she was barely five years old. The

alist made her début was Pa?r's "Agne

s and knew the whole opera by heart. On the night of the performance the prima donna either forgot her part or hesitated a moment. Lo! the little girl instantly took up the melody

Agnese throughout the rest of the scene-a piece of audacity which delighted the hearers and called forth an exhibition of true Italian enthusia

ly into a vivid realisation of the changes which had been taking place in Euro

ered, had but recently died. He was defeated at Tolentino, and retired first to France, then to Corsica. In the autumn the brilliant but headstrong ex-king of Naples was mad enough to make an attempt to regain his forfeited throne, on which Ferdinand had bee

ll described in Collett

self in a posture to receive the balls, he said to the soldiers, 'Spare my face and aim at my heart.' After these words the muskets were discharged, and he who had been King of the two Sicilies fell dead, holding in his hand the portrait of his family, which wa

took place, and in after years would recall the sensatio

cause for great affliction and terror in the appearance of th

om place to place, till it attacked the inhabitants of Cadiz at one extremity of the Mediterranean and Cons

on illicit trade caused its introdu

l, people left the city and returned, and merchandise was carried into the provinces and as far as Naples. Fortune, however, or divine

was rather a boundary-line than a barrier, at ten miles. Sentries were placed along these, and numerous fires lighted up the country at night. Whoever dared to attempt passing the line was punished

the other inhabitants of Naples, lived in constant

nd remove with his family to Paris, from which he had been more than four years absent. It must have been just about the time

ger known, and people hastened from all parts of the city, but too late. The conflagration spread, the king and royal family left the palace which adjoined the theatre, and the fire, catching the whole of the immense structure that composed the roof, sent

le structure was burned to ashes; and the mistake of having from financi

time, and in four months it rose more beautiful than ever, though