indebted than is generally known. She was indeed, as Moscheles wrote, 'the life and soul of the opera, which owed to her at least half of its great success.' She played Fidès more than 200 times in all the chief opera-houses in Europe, and has so identified herself with the part that her successors can do no more than copy her.
From 1848 to 1858 she appeared every year in London. In 1859 M. Carvalho, director of the Theatre Lyrique, revived the 'Orphée' of Gluck, which had not been heard for thirty years. The part of Orphée, restored (by Berlioz) from a high tenor to the contralto for which it was written, was taken by Mme. Viardot, who achieved in it a triumph perhaps unique.[1] This revival was followed in 1861 by that of Gluck's 'Alceste' at the Opéra. The music of this—as Berlioz calls it—'well nigh inaccessible part,' was less suited than that of Orphée to Mme. Viardot's voice, but it was perhaps the greatest of all her achievements, and a worthy crown to a repertoire which had included Desdemona, Cenerentola, Rosina, Norma, Arsace, Camilla ('Orazi'), Amina, Romeo, Lucia, Maria di Rohan, Ninette, Leonora ('Favorita'), Azucena, Donna Anna, Zerlina, Rahel, Iphigénie (Gluck), Alice, Isabelle, Valentine, Fidès, and Orphée.
In 1863 Mme. Viardot fixed her abode at Baden, and has sung no more at the Opera, though she has appeared at concerts, and was heard in London as lately as 1870. She has composed a great deal, and several operettas, the books of which were written for her by Turgenief, were represented in her little private theatre by her pupils and her children. One of these, translated into German by Richard Pohl, as 'Der letzte Zauberer,' was performed in public at Weimar, Carlsruhe, and Riga. In 1871 she was obliged, as the wife of a Frenchman, to leave Germany, and since then has lived in Paris. She has devoted much time to teaching, and for some years was professor of singing at the Conservatoire. Among her pupils maybe named Mlles. Désirée Artot, Orgeni, Marianne Brandt, and Antoinette Sterling. Mme. Viardot has published several collections of original songs, and vocal transcriptions of some of Chopin's Mazurkas, made famous by her own singing of them and by that of Jenny Lind. Her three daughters are all clever musicians. Her son, Paul Viardot, a pupil of Léonard, born at Courtavent, July 20, 1857, has appeared with success in London and elsewhere as a violinist. Mme. Viardot is still the centre of a distinguished circle of friends, by whom she is as much beloved for her virtues as admired for her genius and her accomplishments. Not one of her least distinctions is that to her Schumann dedicated his beautiful Liederkreis, op. 24.
We cannot close this brief account of a great artist without an allusion to her well-known collection of autographs, which among other treasures contains the original score of 'Don Giovanni,' a cantata, 'Schmücke dich,' by J. S. Bach, Mendelssohn's 42nd Psalm, a scherzo by Beethoven, etc.
VIBRATO, an Italian term (past participle of, or verb adjective derived from, vibrare, to vibrate), denoting an effect, something akin to Tremolo (which see), yet differing essentially from it, used in musical performance. In vocal music its mechanism is an alternate partial extinction and re-inforcement of a note, producing almost its apparent re-iteration. In music for bowed instruments it is identical with the vocal 'tremolo,' consisting of a rapid change of pitch brought about by a quick oscillation of the hand while the finger is stopping a note, and producing a trembling sound or thrill. It is strange that vibrato on the bowed instrument is the tremolo on the voice, while the tremolo in instrumental music (the rapid reiteration of the same note by up and down bow) more nearly resembles the vocal vibrato. It is sometimes heard on the flute and cornet. When the vibrato is really an emotional thrill it can be highly effective, as also the tremolo in extreme cases, but when, as is too often the case, it degenerates into a mannerism, its effect is either painful, ridiculous, or nauseous, entirely opposed to good taste and common sense, and to be severely reprehended in all students whether of vocal or instrumental music. Hard and fast lines in matters of expression in art are difficult, if not almost impossible, to draw. Cultivation of taste, observance of good models, and especially the true and unbiassed analysis of the human feelings, must be the guides as to how far these two means of expression are to be used.
VICARS CHORAL. 'The assistants or deputies of the Canons or Prebendaries of (English) collegiate churches, in the discharge of their duties, especially, though not exclusively, those performed in the choir or chancel, as distinguished from those belonging to the altar and pulpit.' (Hook.) The Vicars Choral answer to the κανονίκοι ψαλΤαὶ of the early church. Originally each member of the capitular body had a vicar choral or minor canon attached to his dignity, whose appointment only lasted during his own life; but in process of time the numbers of these inferior ecclesiastical corporations became diminished. The difference between Minor Canons and Vicars Choral appears to be that whereas for the former, only clergy are eligible, the latter post can be held by either laymen or clerics. The former term is generally found in cathedrals of the new foundation, where the lay members are termed 'lay clerks,' the name 'vicars choral' being chiefly confined to cathedrals of the old foundation. St. Patrick's (Dublin) and Hereford have both Minor Canons and Vicars Choral; in the former the two bodies form distinct corporations, in the latter they are united. In all cathedrals of the old foundation in England, in St. David's, and in twelve Irish cathedrals the Vicars Choral form a distinct corporation, the members of which vary in number from twelve to three: these corporations
- ↑ The reader is referred to Chorley's Thirty Tears' Recollections of the Opera and to Berlioz' 'A travers chants,' for detailed descriptions of her wonderful performance, which was repeated over a hundred times.
