The feelings with which the world-renowned baritone regards his old master may best be summed up in the words inscribed on the photograph which used to stand on the grand piano in Señor Garcia's home: "To the King of Masters." 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. 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. Up to the present time Sir Charles Santley remains unquestionably the greatest baritone this country has produced.

Shortly after Santley had commenced lessons under the renowned teacher, he received an invitation to a party at Chorley's to meet a pupil of Garcia, Gertrude Kemble, who was about to make her début at St Martin's Hall in the Christmas performance of the "Messiah."

"I would have much preferred staying at home with a book," he writes. "I had made my first appearance at the Crystal Palace in the afternoon, and felt depressed with the poor impression I had made. The party, which had been arranged to give Miss Kemble an opportunity of singing before a small assembly previously to confronting the larger audience at St Martin's Hall, included the famous Adelaide Kemble, Virginia Gabriel, John Hullah, Mr and Mrs Henry Leslie, and others.

"I felt great sympathy for the poor trembling girl who was about to undergo an ordeal for which she was not physically prepared. I learned afterwards her voice had been much strained by an incompetent professor during her long residence in Hanover. Manuel Garcia had done wonders with it since her return to England, but she still had great difficulty in controlling the upper register, which naturally added considerably to her nervousness. Nevertheless she sang exceedingly well and with great intelligence.

"This party," he concludes, "which I would willingly have shirked, proved a very important event for me,—in less than eighteen months Miss Kemble became my wife."

The next year, which saw the capture of Pekin in far-off China, brought with it a strange coincidence. As we have seen, some improvements in the laryngoscope had followed its invention, due to the labours of Türck and the experimental skill and acumen of Czermak, and in due course questions of priority became a bone of contention, as they had done nearly two decades previously in connection with Señor Garcia's 'Mémoire sur la Voix humaine.'

For the annual prize awarded in 1860 by the Paris Academy of Sciences, under the Montyon foundation, Türck and Czermak submitted contributions on the art of laryngoscopy. But nice points of priority were brushed aside by the Academy, and to each there was awarded a "mention honorable," accompanied by a gift of money.

This action seems to have prompted Garcia to put forward a claim for the prize in Experimental Physiology to be awarded for the year 1861. Accordingly he presented a memoir, in which he recapitulated his pioneer work, and expressed the hope that the favours meted out to the before-mentioned authors might be extended to himself. The matter does not, however, appear to have gone any further.

With 1862 there came the first tardy recognition which Manuel Garcia received from the medical world for the inestimable boon which he had conferred on them by his invention: the diploma of Doctor of Medicine, honoris causa, was bestowed on him by the University of Königsberg. But as the year brought in its train this pleasure, so, too, it had its compensating sorrow, for on the 10th of May, at Saint-Josse-ten-Noode in Belgium, his mother passed away at the ripe old age of eighty-four.

1868, in which Disraeli assumed the helm of State as Prime Minister, saw the advent of Antoinette Sterling, who came on to Garcia from Cologne, where she had been studying under Mathilde Marchesi.

The letter which the maestro sent to Signor Marchesi, after hearing the contralto, I am able to quote:—

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. One day she was struggling to execute a particularly difficult phrase, and at last burst out crying, "You ought not to give me these songs until I have mastered the exercises properly." "You're quite right," he answered, and took her back to the exercises once more.

Until Antoinette Sterling commenced her training under him she used the full extent of her voice, singing from the D below middle C to the top soprano C sharp—a range of three octaves. She sang all the contralto arias from opera and oratorio, and at the same time felt equally at home with the soprano rôles.

When, finally, they did meet again, she at once recommenced her lessons, and these were continued, as regularly as engagements would permit, until seven years after her début.

On July 5, 1869, Manuel Garcia was elected a member of the Committee of Management at the Royal Academy of Music, with which he had now been connected for twenty years.

Twelve months later he was brought to a sudden realisation of the catastrophe that shook Europe, for July saw the commencement of the Franco-Prussian War, all the French being ordered to leave German territory. In consequence of this edict Mme. Viardot was obliged to move from Baden-Baden, where she had been teaching; and, like many others, she made her way to England. On her arrival there with her husband she settled down in London near her brother, till the march of events rendered it possible for her to return to the Continent.

Of this period Mme. Noufflard, daughter of Lady Hallé, has given some recollections.

"While Mme. Viardot was taking refuge in London, her house was the rendezvous of every talent; and I well remember one evening, when serious music had given way to fun, Saint-Saëns sitting at the pianoforte to improvise the 'rising of the sun in a mountainous country.' In the twinkling of an eye Manuel Garcia cut out a large halo from a newspaper, and was seen slowly emerging from behind a high-backed chair, his full face, with its paper decoration, disclosing itself at the top, as the last triumphant chord was struck.

CHARLES HALLÉ AND MANUEL GARCIA PLAYING CHESS. (Reproduced from an Original Sketch by Richard Doyle.)
CHARLES HALLÉ AND MANUEL GARCIA PLAYING CHESS.
(Reproduced from an Original Sketch by Richard Doyle.)

Mme. Noufflard also tells how the maestro used to visit her parents at Greenhays in Manchester:—

With the January of 1871 came the capitulation of Paris, followed by the conclusion of peace in February, the revolt of the Commune, and the second siege of the capital in March.

AT this point it may be of interest to recall the principal musical events which took place during the earlier years of Manuel Garcia's residence in London.

The year of the invention of the laryngoscope is principally of interest to musicians from the fact that Gye was able to secure for his opera company a valuable aid in that greatest basso of any time, Luigi Lablache, then sixty years of age.

The following year brought the London première of "L'Etoile du Nord," and of Verdi's new opera, "Il Trovatore"; it is additionally memorable for the advent of Cerito, on whom the mantle of Taglioni and Vestris had fallen as a première danseuse.

The Opera House was rebuilt and opened once more in 1858, the year in which Lablache died. The Covent Garden season commenced on May 15 with a notable body of artists, which included Grisi, Didiée, Parepa, Victoire, Mario, Formes, Rossi, Tamberlik, and Costa; while in the early autumn the Birmingham Festival was held, with Pauline Viardot and Sims Reeves as the stars.

In the last month of '58 we find the Pyne-Harrison Company giving a season of English opera, with W. Harrison, George Honey, Weiss, and Louisa Pyne as the leading attractions, and Alfred Mellon in the conductor's seat.

The next year (1859) brings the production in Italian of Meyerbeer's new opera, "Dinorah," at Covent Garden; while in the autumn the Pyne-Harrison Company give it in an English version provided by Chorley, with Charles Santley making his operatic début as Haël. This is followed at Christmas by Hallé's production at Manchester of an English version of Gluck's "Iphigénie en Tauride," in which two of Garcia's pupils take part—Catherine Hayes and Charles Santley.

A few weeks later, during the Italian opera season, came the first appearance in England of Faure, as Haël, a part which Meyerbeer had specially written for him in "Dinorah."

One may perhaps be allowed to note in passing that 1859 brought with it the first appearance of Henry Irving on the London stage. In the winter season of 1860 Her Majesty's was running English opera with a fine cast, which included Lemmens-Sherrington, Mdlle. Parepa, Reeves, Santley, George Honey, J. G. Patey, and Chas. Hallé as conductor.

With 1861 we come to the English début of the greatest star of the last half of the nineteenth century, for on May 14 Adelina Patti made her first appearance at Covent Garden, as Amina in "La Somnambula," amid such enthusiasm as to ensure her the premier place among the operatic artists of her day. And indeed after this memorable date the diva continued to appear for no less than twenty-five consecutive seasons at Covent Garden, her name proving an infallible draw, no matter in what opera she chose to appear.

The following February, 1862, saw the production of another of Balfe's operas, the "Lily of Killarney," the plot being that of the "Colleen Bawn," which had just had a huge success at the Adelphi Theatre.

The artists engaged for the Covent Garden season of Italian opera included such names as Patti, Tamberlik, Mario, Faure, Formes, and Gordoni; while in the autumn of the year Mapleson gave a season of opera with Tietjens, Alboni, Giuglini, and Santley.

For 1863 may be writ large the five letters FAUST. Mapleson tells the story of its production in his memoirs. Thomas Chappell had bought the English rights for £40, after seeing it at the Théâtre Lyrique. The music of an opera is worth nothing until the opera itself has become known, and Messrs Chappell opened negotiations with Mr Frederick Gye for its production during the Royal Italian Opera season.

A few days before the date fixed for the production, he found that only £30 worth of seats had been taken. Then came a Napoleonic scheme. He announced at once four successive performances, and gave the astounding instructions at the office that for the first three out of these four not one place was to be sold beyond those already taken. The rest of the tickets he took home in a carpet-bag and distributed far and wide over a gigantic free list. At the same time he advertised in 'The Times' that, in consequence of a death in the family, two stalls for the first representation of "Faust"—the opera which was exciting so much interest that all places for the first three representations had been bought up—could be had at 25s. each.

Meanwhile demands had been made at the box-office for places, and the would-be purchasers were told that everything had gone up to the fourth night: this they repeated to their friends, and the opera began to be seriously talked of. The first performance was received with applause, the second still more warmly, and the third gained additional favour. No further device was necessary for stimulating curiosity: the paying public flocked, and it was given for ten nights in succession, after which it was constantly repeated until the termination of the season.

Not to be outdone, Gye at once produced his own version at Covent Garden, with Carvallo as Marguerite, her old part in the original Paris production, Didier as Siebel, Faure as Mephistopheles, Graziani as Valentine, and Tamberlik as Faust.

The year is also noteworthy for the fact that Pauline Lucca made her début as Valentine in the "Huguenots," while Mdlle. Artot, the pupil of Mme. Viardot, also made her first appearance here.

With 1864 (in which Meyerbeer passes away) we find the Italian Opera Company including Patti, Lucca, Tamberlik, Faure, Graziani, Mario, and, of course, Costa, with an interesting addition at the organ in Arthur Sullivan; while to the younger generation, at any rate, a strange realisation of those bygone days is given by the announcement of a gala performance to Garibaldi.

At Her Majesty's there is an interesting première, the first performance of "Faust" in English, with the following cast:—

1866 sees the début at Covent Garden of Carlotta Patti, coming with a considerable reputation as a concert singer; while among the artists of the season are Naudin, and Nicolini, who afterwards married Adelina Patti. At Her Majesty's, the company includes Gordoni, Santley, Gassier, Tietjens, and Grisi, who is announced for a limited number of performances; while the Irish basso, Foley, makes a hit in "Il Seraglio" under the Italianised nomenclature, "Signor Foli."

Next year, in which the death of Sir George Smart is chronicled, Covent Garden announces—on July 11—the first production of Gounod's "Romeo et Juliette" in an Italian version, with Mario and Patti in the title-rôles. At the rival house Mapleson has collected a fine company in Tietjens, Sinico, Gassier, Santley, Gordoni, Mongini, and two débutantes, Clara Kellogg, fresh from her American triumphs, and Christine Nillson, who makes her first appearance in "Traviata."

At half-past eleven the same evening Mapleson, who was dining in St John's Wood, was called by an excited servant to look out of the window, and saw the sky red in the distance. Her Majesty's Theatre was on fire! The manager hurried to the scene of the conflagration, and found the house in full blaze. Without a moment's delay he despatched Mr Jarrett, his acting-manager, to Mr F. B. Chatterton, then the lessee of Drury Lane, to endeavour to secure that theatre from March till the end of July. It was of great importance that the emissary should reach Chatterton, who lived at Clapham, before that astute manager could learn of the fire; for had he been aware of Mapleson's extremity, he would, of course, have raised his terms accordingly.

The Monday after, the insurance-agent called on Mapleson and offered him his sympathy, since, if the manager had paid down the £10 on account of the proposed insurance, he would have received a cheque for £30,000! Mapleson replied that he was exceedingly glad that he had not paid the deposit, as he certainly would have been suspected of setting the theatre on fire, and would never again have been able to set himself right with the public.

In 1868 (the year of Rossini's death), the date is rendered memorable by the début of Minnie Hauk and the discovery of Mme. Scalchi, who was singing at the time in a building that was little more than a circus; while Costa resigned his position as conductor, owing to a quarrel. His place was taken by Arditi and Vianesi, who shared the duties of conductor.

In 1869 Mapleson and Gye resolved to join forces, the result being a probably unexampled collection of stars. Ambroise Thomas's "Hamlet" was given for the first time in England with Christine Nillson as Ophelia, and "Don Giovanni" was performed with the following extraordinary cast, which has never been equalled in brilliancy:—

But these do not by any means exhaust the list of stars who took part in the season under the joint management. To the above quintette we must add Lucca, Scalchi, Ilma di Murska, Sinico, Tamberlik, Foli, Santley, and Mongini, while Costa and Arditi alternated the conducting. The season is probably unexampled in the whole annals of opera.

The next year, 1870 (in which Balfe died), saw the production of Verdi's "Macbeth" and of Ambroise Thomas's "Mignon," with Christine Nillson and Faure in the leading rôles, under the Gye-Mapleson management. During this year, moreover, a brilliant benefit was given to Charles Mathews, and from the list of star performers we can obtain some further idea as to the rise and fall of the theatrical artists which Garcia witnessed as he passed through life.

Charles Mathews, of course, took part himself, and was assisted by Barry Sullivan, Lionel Brough, Mrs Mathews, Mrs Chippendale, Ben Webster, Mrs Mellon, Mme. Celeste, together with the Bancrofts.

With 1871 (the year in which Auber died) Mario bade farewell to Covent Garden audiences, before whom he had appeared for no less than twenty-three out of the twenty-four seasons the Royal Italian Opera had been in existence.

It was in this year that the terrors of the Franco-Prussian War, to which we have already alluded, drove to London large numbers of refugees, many of them celebrities connected with the leading musical and dramatic institutions of Paris. It was a golden opportunity for music-lovers. At Covent Garden there were Adelina Patti, Lucca, Scalchi, Tamberlik, Mario, Bettini, Faure, Cotogni, Tagliafico; at Her Majesty's, Christine Nillson, Tietjens, Trebelli, Marimon, Ilma di Murska, Mongini, Gardoni, Capoul, Wachtel, Agnesi, Rota, Santley, Foli, and Carl Formes. In the concert-room there were to be heard the still marvellous voices of Alboni, Carlotta Patti, and Sims Reeves; or the glorious playing of Sivori, Vieuxtemps, Wieniawski, Neruda, Joachim, Clara Schumann, and Alfredo Piatti.

The following year, 1872, saw the début at Covent Garden of Albani. Later in the year, after the close of the opera season, a "fantastical spectacle" by Dion Boucicault and Planché was produced at the Opera House, under the title of "Babil and Bijou," in which took part Mrs Howard Paul, Lionel Brough, and Joseph Maas.

"EVERY year a man lives, he is worth less." This is what Manuel Garcia used to assert when he was drawing near to the completion of those three-score years and ten which have been set down as the natural span of human life. As far as his own career was concerned, however, the statement was singularly lacking in truth. His mode of living at the age of seventy has been well described by Hermann Klein, his pupil, friend, and collaborator in the final text-book, 'Hints on Singing,' published some twenty years later, when the veteran musician was over ninety years of age.

Mr Klein has been kind enough to send over from New York some interesting reminiscences for insertion in this chapter.

In the year 1874 Mr Klein's parents occupied a large house at the corner of Bentinck Street and Welbeck Street, Cavendish Square, and I will leave the sometime musical critic of 'The Sunday Times' to tell the story of the next few months.

"His lunch invariably consisted of the same simple fare—some sponge-cakes and a pint of milk, which would be fetched from a baker close by by my younger brother Charles. I asked Señor Garcia once if he did not feel hungry long before dinner, teaching as he did all day on such slender diet. 'No,' he answered, 'I don't feel half the discomfort from waiting that I should if I took a hearty meal in the middle of the day and then tried to teach immediately afterwards. Besides, I don't really need it. Most singers and teachers of singing eat more than they should. A man with moderate teeth, such as I have, can grow old on sponge-cake and milk!' And he lived for more than thirty years after that to prove the truth of his remark.

"At this time he had entered on his seventieth year, but in appearance was not past fifty. He had a light buoyant step, always walked quickly, and had a keen observant eye, which, when he spoke, would light up with all the fire and animation of youth. His dark complexion and habit of rapid gesticulation bespoke his southern origin. He was at home in Spanish, Italian, English, and French, but preferred the last. His modesty was remarkable. He could rarely be induced to talk of himself, but was firm in his opinions. In argument he was a close reasoner, and would be either a doughty opponent or a warm advocate; the middle line never attracted.

"Manuel Garcia was one of the most inspiring teachers that ever lived. All of his distinguished pupils, from Jenny Lind downwards, have dwelt upon his extraordinary faculty for diving deep into the nature of those who worked with him, and arousing their temperamental qualities to the highest degree of activity. His profound knowledge of his art, his familiarity with all the great traditions, and the absolute authority with which he spoke, combined to awaken a measure of confidence and admiration such as no other maestro di canto could possibly command.

"Even when annoyed he was seldom abrupt or impatient. His voice had gone, but he would employ its beaux restes to impart an idea for the proper emission of a note or phrasing of a passage. His sounds never failed to convey the desired suggestion. Though his own voice trembled with the weight of years, he never brought out a pupil with the slightest tremolo: moreover, he was never guilty of forcing a voice. His first rule was ever to repress the breathing power, and to bring it into proper proportion with the resisting force of the throat and larynx.

"He always played his own accompaniments for teaching, and in the 'Seventies' was a very fair pianist. He had at that time a Russian pupil, an excellent baritone, with whom he was fond of taking part in duets for four hands. They used to play Schubert's marches, &c., whenever the master could find time (which was not very often); and at the end of a delightful half-hour of this recreation he would exclaim, 'What fine practice for my stiff old fingers! How I wish I could get more of it!'

"At Bentinck Street Señor Garcia taught several budding Jewish vocalists, entrusted to his care by members of the Rothschild family, who showed their love of music by defraying the cost of teaching (and sometimes of maintaining) the youthful singers. One of these pupils, who subsequently became a prominent member of an English Opera Company, was an especial protégée of Baroness Lionel de Rothschild; and one day the kind lady, accompanied by her daughter (afterwards the Countess of Rosebery), called to inquire how the girl was progressing. The maestro's reply was characteristic. 'Madame la Baronne, she has all the musical talent of her race, but little of its industriousness or perseverance. Still, as in spite of that she accomplishes in a week what takes most other girls a month, I hope sometime to make a singer of her.'"

Here I will abandon Mr Klein's narrative, to resume it later in describing the preparation of Garcia's last text-book, 'Hints on Singing.'

During the next few years a number of pupils passed through his hands at the Royal Academy of Music, who were afterwards to take an important place in their profession.

At the commencement of 1876 Garcia received the letter from Wagner to which attention has been already called, embodying the offer for him to train the singers for the first Bayreuth Festival. This, however, he was obliged to refuse, owing to his large clientèle in London.

On July 14, 1877, the inventor of the Laryngoscope received his second recognition for the services which he had rendered to the medical profession, fifteen years having elapsed since the degree of Mus. Doc. had been conferred on him, honoris causa, by the University of Königsberg.

An influential meeting assembled to give their support at the ceremony of presenting him with a service of plate.

The following year brought fresh honours at the Royal Academy of Music. As previously the maestro had been elected a member of the Committee of Management after twenty years' connection with the institution, so now, after thirty years, he received a further mark of distinction by being made one of the Directors of the Academy.

With 1879 Charlotte Thudicum entered the Royal Academy of Music as his pupil. Success soon came to her, for after a year's tuition she won the Parepa-Rosa scholarship, and two years later the Westmoreland. On leaving his hands the young soprano went over to Paris to study opera with his sister, Mme. Viardot, and upon her return in 1883 was at once secured for the "Pops," Crystal Palace Saturday Concerts, and other important engagements, while in the following season she sang with the Birmingham Festival Choral Society.

1881 brought Garcia's third recognition for his invention.

The International Medical Congress was to hold its seventh session in London from the 2nd to the 9th of August, Dr de Havilland Hall, Dr (now Sir) Felix Semon, and Dr Thomas J. Walker being appointed honorary secretaries of the section devoted to "Diseases of the Throat," which was to meet with Dr George Johnson, F.R.S., in the chair.

At the suggestion of the late Sir James Paget, Señor Garcia received an invitation to read a paper before the Congress, describing his work in connection with his invention. The invitation was gladly accepted. He attended, and was introduced to the assembled doctors in the most flattering terms during the inaugural address by the chairman, who was one of the vice-presidents of the medical section.

In connection with the friendship which existed between Manuel Garcia and Sir Felix Semon, one may recall an amusing anecdote recounted in the latter's short memoir, published for Garcia's 100th birthday.