|
Manuel del Pópulo Vicente Rodriguez García (also known as Manuel García the Senior; 21 January 1775 – 10 June 1832) was a Spanish opera singer, composer, impresario, and singing teacher. ==Biography== García was born in Seville, Spain, on 21 January 1775. In 1808, he went to Paris, with previous experience as a tenor at Madrid and Cadiz. By that year, when he appeared in the opera ''Griselda'' in Paris, he was already a composer of light operas. He lived in Naples, Italy, performing in Gioachino Rossini's operas. These included the premières of ''Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra'' and ''The Barber of Seville'', in which he portrayed the role of Count Almaviva. In 1816, he visited Paris and London, England. Between 1819 and 1823, he lived in Paris, and sang in operas such as ''The Barber of Seville'', ''Otello'', and ''Don Giovanni''. His elder daughter was the celebrated mezzo-soprano Maria Malibran, and his second daughter was Pauline Viardot, a musician of consequence and, as a singer, one of "the most brilliant dramatic stars" of her time.〔According to Franz Liszt, who also declared that, with her, the world had finally found a woman composer of genius (quotations from back-cover notes of Michael Steen's book ''Enchantress of Nations: Pauline Viardot, Soprano, Muse and Lover''. Thriplow, Cambridge: Icon Books Ltd., 2007, ISBN 978-1-84046-843-4)〕 His son, Manuel Patricio Rodríguez García, after being a second-rate baritone, became a world-famous vocal pedagogue, "the leading theoretical writer of Rossini vocal school".〔Celletti, p. 172〕 In 1825, he and his company, four of eight of them Garcías, were recruited by a New York vintner Dominick Lynch, Jr. (1786–1857), who had been encouraged by Italian opera librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte, then a professor of Italian at Columbia College, to introduce New Yorkers to Italian Opera. They staged the first performances (a total of about 80) of Italian opera in New York.〔Susan T. Sommer, ''New York'', in Stanley Sadie (ed.), ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'', Grove (Oxford University Press), New York, 1997, III, p. 586.〕 The García family took all the main parts in performances of ''The Barber of Seville'', with García as Almaviva, his second wife Joaquina Sitchez (also called "la Briones") as Berta, Manuel Jr. as Figaro, and Maria as Rosina; Pauline was still very young at this time. Da Ponte particularly insisted on the company billing ''Don Giovanni'', of whose libretto he was the author, and Mozart's opera was given its first American unabridged performance on 23 May 1826 in the presence of its librettist, with García singing the title role, la Briones as Donna Elvira, Maria as Zerlina, and Manuel Jr. as Leporello.〔 To be more precise, there had been previous performances of both ''Don Giovanni'' and ''Le nozze di Figaro'', "but in much shortened versions and in wretched English translations by Henry Rowley Bishop". Since the García company lacked a suitable Don Ottavio, Da Ponte himself had to look for a local tenor to perform the role (Sheila Hodges, ''Lorenzo Da Ponte: The Life and Times of Mozart’s Librettist'', University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 2002, p. 193, ISBN 9780299178741).〕 They also performed in Mexico, and García recounted in his memoirs that while on the road between Mexico and Vera Cruz, he was robbed of all his money by brigands. García had planned to settle in Mexico, but following to political troubles, in 1829 he had to return to Paris, where he was once again very warmly welcome by the public. His voice, however, was being impaired by age as well as fatigue, and, never ceasing to compose, "he soon dedicated himself to teaching, for which he seems to have been specially gifted".〔Radomski, ''Grove'', p. 347〕 After having his last appearance on stage in August 1831, he died on 10 June the following year and was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery. His funeral oration was delivered by François-Joseph Fétis, who "honoured him above all as a composer, remarking that his best works remained unpublished – as is still true today".〔 In 1836, Franz Liszt wrote a ''Rondeau fantastique sur un thème espagnol'', S, 252, for piano, based on García's song "El contrabandista". According to James Radomski, "García's dynamic perfectionism left its impact on three continents and his legacy, in the hands of his children, was carried into the 20th century".〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Manuel García (tenor)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|