Pauline Viardot [née García] (July 18, 1821 – May 18, 1910) was a leading nineteenth-century French mezzo-soprano, pedagogue, and composer of Spanish descent.
She came from a musical family and took up music at a young age. She began performing as teenager and had a long and illustrious career as a star performer. Her three daughters also pursued careers in music performances.
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.
As a young girl she had studied with the musical theorist and composer, Anton Reicha, she was an outstanding pianist, and a complete all-round professional musician. Between 1864 and 1874 she wrote three salon operas - Trop de femmes (1867), L'ogre (1868), and Le dernier sorcier (1869), all to libretti by Ivan Turgenev - and over fifty lieder. Her remaining two salon operas - Le conte de fées (1879), and Cendrillon (1904; when she was 83) - were to her own libretti. The operas may be small in scale, however, they were written for advanced singers and some of the music is difficult. She also wrote instrumental compositions, often for violin and piano. Among her arrangements are vocal arrangements of instrumental works by Chopin, Brahms, Haydn and Schubert.
Here is the translation of the French lyrics:
Madrid, princess of all the Spains
Many a blue eye, many a black,
runs through your myriad lands.
The white city of serenades,
Many little feet pass
through your promenades every night.
Madrid, when your bulls are bounding,
Many a white hand applauds.
Many banners are streaming;
On your beautiful starry nights,
Many a long-veiled señora strolls
Down your blue staircases.
Madrid, Madrid, I laugh at
Your well dressed women
Shod in such narrow heels;
Because I know that none in all the world,
Neither brunette nor blonde,
is worth even the tip of her finger.
She is my Andalusian princess!
My beloved, my jealous one,
My beautiful widow in a long veil!
A true demon, an angel!
She is yellow like an orange,
Lively like a bird!
Now, if you want to know
How I made this conquest,
It was the allure of my horse,
A compliment on her mantilla
And some vanilla bonbons we shared
On a beautiful evening of carnival.
(Wikipedia, lieder.net)
Please take note that the audio AND the sheet music ARE NOT mine. Change the quality to a minimum of 480p if the video is blurry.
Original audio: classical-music-online.net
Original sheet music: imslp.org
