M. Sterling Mackinlay

“ It is a strange experience to see one's very self spring out at one from nothing in a flash. I shall say nought to this rash friend of mine, Sir Felix Semon, who into the midst of a busy life crammed all the work and worry of the labour of love that has brought you here to-day. Nought, nought to the friends so very near my heart, the Laryngological Society of London, and the chosen band whose terrible labours fill me with remorse whenever I think of them, the Members of the Garcia Committee. ”

“ Then, in an atmosphere of electrical excitement, Manuel Garcia stood up, and amid a thrilling silence made his response.
It was almost the only occasion in the world's history that a man of world-wide fame had ever attained his 100th anniversary. It was, moreover, the first time that any centenarian, whether illustrious or "born to blush unseen," had been in such full possession of his faculties and bodily strength as to make his own reply to the hundreds assembled to do honour to his birthday. ”

“ Now it seemed very extraordinary to Señor Garcia and to his sister that Rossini should have heard her sing again and again in society without even mentioning such a thing as engaging her, and yet, after hearing her at the Opera House in music which she had sung before him on so many occasions, he should at once make her a magnificent offer for a term of years. Why was it? They could not understand it at all, and accordingly asked one day for the explanation.
"It is true," answered Rossini, "that I knew Maria Malibran was a brilliant singer from listening to her at private houses. ”

“ After having made a name which will ever be honoured and reverenced throughout the musical world for high ideals nobly sustained, he is, though over seventy, still able to make before the public occasional appearances, in which he shows how the old Italian method, coupled with a fine intellect and dramatic instinct, can triumph over mere weight of years. As one listens it seems impossible to believe that a man who sings to-day with all the fire, vigour, and passion of youth, can have been before the public for anything like so long a period as half a century. ”

“ It was in the same spirit, too, that he would speak of his efforts as a teacher. "I only tell you how to sing, what tone is good, what faults are to be avoided, what is artistic, what inartistic. I try to awaken your intelligence, so that you may be able to criticise your own singing as severely as I do. I want you to listen to your voice, and use your brain. If you find a difficulty, do not shirk it. Make up your mind to master it. So many singers give up what they find hard. They think they are better off by leaving it, and turning their attention to other things which come more easily. ”

“ In an instant Garcia leapt to his feet and banged his fist on the piano. "Mon Dieu! How can you produce a voice? Can you show it to me and say, 'See, here it is. Examine it?' Non! Can you pour it out like molten lead into the sand? Non! There is no such thing as voice-production. Perhaps you mean voice-emission. You do? Eh, bien! Then say so, please."
"Through the good offices of a friend," says another pupil, "I found myself one day in Garcia's room at the London Academy of Music. ”

“ Maria Malibran was, moreover, a veritable tomboy when she was in the company of children, being up to all sorts of tricks, and rested by painting beautiful pictures; would dress as a man, and drive the coach from place to place, and when she arrived, brown with the sun and dust of Italy, would sometimes jump into the sea. Then she would go straight to the opera and, having sung "Amina," "Norma," or "The Maid of Artois," as we shall perhaps never hear them sung again, return home to write or sing comic songs. ”

“ Moreover, I remember his remarking one day, while I was studying under the maestro, "You are learning from the greatest teacher the world has ever known." Nor is he less ardent in his admiration for Mme. Viardot-Garcia. "No woman in my day has ever approached her as a dramatic singer," he once said; "she was perfect, as far as it is possible to attain perfection, both as vocalist and actress."
Santley is himself remarkable as a man no less than as an artist. ”

“ When Jenny Lind was drawing near the close of her studies under Garcia, the crucial question arose, Should the finished artist make her début in Paris? Or should she return at once to Sweden, and reappear in all the glory of her newly acquired powers in her beloved Stockholm? ”

“ What a wonderful experience those lessons proved, lasting sometimes nearly two hours! When he was interested in explaining certain effects in singing or in recounting stories of artists and operas apropos of the work in hand, time ceased to exist. The luncheon-bell would ring three or four times without having any apparent effect, so engrossed was he in his subject. At the end of the lesson he would, with the old courtliness of his youth, insist on seeing one out himself. If one opened the door and stood aside for him to pass, the manœuvre proved perfectly useless. ”

“ Dear and Revered Master,—Amongst the many friends assembled to-day to lay a tribute of gratitude and admiration at your feet, and a greater number far away who are celebrating to-day's unique event in spirit, there can be none whose congratulations are more sincere or more cordial than those of the members of the Laryngological Society of London. We yield to none in our gratitude for your precious invention, the Laryngoscope, which will keep your memory green through all ages. ”

“ Of her first appearance in Milan Señor Garcia gave me a delightful account. At that time Pasta was a great favourite in the city, her most effective part being Norma. Such enormous success had she made in this rôle, in fact, that the Milanese always used to allude to her as "Norma" instead of making use of her own name.
Upon her arrival Maria Malibran was asked by the director of the Opera House in what part she would like to make her first appearance. She at once replied, "Norma, signor."
"But, madame, do you forget Pasta?"
"Eh, bien? I am not afraid of Pasta. I will live or die as Norma." ”

“ Her voice, no longer suffering from the effects of the cruel fatigue and the inordinate amount of over-exertion which had so lately endangered, not merely its wellbeing, but its very existence, had now far more than recovered its pristine vigour,—it had acquired a rich depth of tone, a sympathetic sweetness, a bird-like charm in the silvery clearness of its upper register, which at once impressed the listener with the feeling that he had never before heard anything in the least degree resembling it.
Few human organs are perfect. ”

“ But she had not reckoned with the iron will of the maestro. He refused to give her any more lessons. For over an hour she sat in his room, and as one lesson after another was given, she could not keep back her tears. The situation became intense, but the teacher did not lose control. He was pained to see her sorrow, and at last rose from his seat and led her gently away, saying, "Never in my life have I wavered over a decision once made; I cannot do so now. You must make the best of what you know already; you will probably get engagements, but do not base your future on singing." ”

“ To my mind the worst feature of Paris is its dreadful selfishness, its greed for money. There is nothing to which the people will not submit for the sake of gain. Applause here is not always given to talent, but often enough to vice,—to any obscure person who can afford to pay for it. Ugh! It is too dreadful to see the claqueurs sitting at the theatre, night after night, deciding the fate of those who are compelled to appear,—a terrible manifestation of original sin."
Six weeks later she writes: "All idea of appearing in public here has vanished. ”

“ All these simple facts were absolute mysteries previously to the enlightening device of Manuel Garcia.
Though Czermak took up the laryngoscope and added to its general feasibility by the introduction of artificial light, it still had many obstacles to overcome, but in this it only shared the common fate of all innovations. A number of the men who bore the heat of the day in the early time of storm and stress are still alive, and must rejoice in the fulness of recognition which their speciality has gained. ”

“ THE remaining six years which Señor Garcia spent in Paris before migrating to London were important for the musical world.
We have seen how at this point in his career he was able to claim as pupils a trio of world-renowned singers—Maria Malibran, Pauline Viardot, and Jenny Lind. During the period between 1842 and 1848 this number was greatly increased, for there passed through his hands a series of artists whose successes were a tribute to their master's method and powers of teaching, and to his right to be acknowledged by all the world as the foremost maestro di canto of his age. ”

“ During the two years that followed, she caused considerable damage to her voice, partly through overstrain, partly through ignorance of the true principles of voice-emission. As soon as she realised what had happened she determined to go to Paris, for she had been long convinced that there was one man alone from whom she could learn all those technicalities of the art of singing of which she knew so little and longed to know so much. And the name of that man was Manuel Garcia, whose fame as a teacher had, even at that early period of his career, already travelled to Sweden. ”

“ Many songs of the old masters would be very indifferently sung by modern performers, not on account of their difficulty but their apparent facility. Composers when writing for a first-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 to fill up the outline, to give it the light and shade and all its grace and expression, which requires not only a thorough knowledge of music but the greatest taste and judgment.
But to return to the elder Garcia and his family. ”

“ The true reason why Jenny Lind's singing before she went abroad could not be said to flow in the track which leads to perfection is undoubtedly to be found in the fact that she was a so-called theatereler—a pupil educated at the expense of the directors of the theatre itself—and, as such, was unable to escape from the necessity of appearing in public before her preparatory education was completed,—a proceeding no less disastrous to the pupil than contrary to the good sense of the teacher. ”

“ Antoinette Sterling ever regarded Señor Garcia with the greatest affection and esteem, and used to delight in recalling the following memories of the days when she had studied with him. I have set them down before in the little memoir of her career already published.
When Miss Sterling, as she then was, went to the maestro for lessons, he was so carried away with the voice of his new pupil that he could not bring himself to keep her to exercises, as was his custom in the case of others. Almost at once he began taking her through all the Italian operatic rôles. ”

“ Another French critic writes, "If Maria Malibran must yield the palm to Pasta in point of acting, yet she possesses a decided superiority in respect to song."
"Since that time," remarks Mr Hogarth, "the superiority of Malibran to Pasta in song became more and more evident; while in respect to acting, though no performer has ever approached Pasta in her own peculiar walk of terrible grandeur, yet none has ever surpassed Maria Malibran in intelligence, originality, vivacity, feeling, and those 'tender strokes of art' which at once reach the heart of every spectator. ”

“ Professor Osler has told us that if we take the sum of human achievement in science and the arts, and subtract the work of those above forty, "while we should miss great treasures, even priceless treasures, we should practically be where we are to-day." The achievement of Garcia supplies a striking comment on these hasty words. He was ten years over the limit fixed by the professor when by his invention he opened up a new world to scientific exploration. Subtract the laryngoscope from medicine, and what a gap is left in modern methods of diagnosis and treatment! ”

“ Upon my reminding him that 'Carmen' had been nearly a failure at the Opéra Comique in Paris three years before—'I know,' he replied; 'and the poor composer died of a broken heart three months later. That is the way France generally treats rising talent, including her own. I place little value on the opinion of Paris about a new work.'
"Garcia was enthusiastic over the opera. The subject and treatment appealed to him to a singular degree, while the story he thought intensely dramatic, and was astonished and delighted at the Spanish colour in the music." ”

“ He would then have seen not merely a man whose years beyond all question numbered a century, but one who at that great age showed no sign of senility, and could still take an active part in a series of trying ceremonies, and bear with dignity, if not altogether without fatigue, a load of honours and congratulations, a flood of speeches like the rushing of great waters, and repeated thunderstorms of applause that would have overwhelmed many men in the full vigour of life. ”