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One of the most celebrated singers of the nineteenth century, Pauline Viardot was a favorite Meyerbeer heroine, was involved with Berlioz in the Gluck revival, inspired characters in the novels of George Sand and Ivan Turgenev, became an influential voice teacher, and composed many songs and operas of her own. Daughter of the Spanish voice pedagogue Manuel del Popolo García and sister of the equally famous but short-lived singer Maria Malibran, Pauline Viardot studied voice with both her parents, composition with Anton Reicha, and piano with, among others, Franz Liszt. When she was 15 her sister died, whereupon Pauline focused her attention on singing. She made her debut the next year, bursting into public life as a three-octave mezzo, and was soon on tour, accompanying herself on the piano in her own songs. Schumann was sufficiently inspired to dedicate his Opus 24 Heine songs to her. She soon became a fixture of the Théâtre Italien in Paris, specializing in Rossini. She attracte
