Friendship, Collaboration and Transformation
Pauline Viardot might be one of the most influential, yet overlooked, woman in the European Classical music world of the nineteenth century. Her remarkable talents and influence were such that Clara Schumann called her “the most gifted woman I have ever known”, and for good reason.
Viardot was renowned as a singer who inspired dedications, premieres and roles written for her throughout an extraordinary opera career that began at the age of 16. She was an accomplished pianist whose playing impressed Robert and Clara Schumann, Liszt, Saint-Saens and Chopin. As a child of 8, she took piano lessons from Liszt, and studied theory and composition with Anton Reicha, a friend of Beethoven’s.
Viardot was a friend and supporter to many composers, championing the works of Berlioz, Liszt, Chopin, Saint-Saens, Wagner and Brahms. She was a composer of art songs, three salon operas, and over fifty Lieder, which are mostly overlooked and rarely performed. But what should never be forgotten is her collaboration with Chopin in arranging some of his mazurkas into transcriptions for voice and piano. Pauline Viardot created twelve virtuosic musical gems of lasting beauty that still remain a part of the vocal repertoire. The story of how they came into existence fascinates me, because it’s a story of friendship, collaboration and transformation.
Pauline Viardot met George Sand while performing in Paris, and they would become lifetime friends and confidants in all aspects of their lives. Viardot met Chopin at Nohant, the summer retreat he shared with Sand. She became a frequent and celebrated guest along with artists such as Balzac, Flaubert, Liszt and Delacroix. Their relationship soon developed into a devoted friendship, deepened by mutual respect and admiration for each others artistic abilities.
At Nohant, Viardot studied Chopin’s works with keen interest, ultimately with Chopin acting as her tutor. Viardot was an outstanding pianist whose skills impressed Chopin, and the two enjoyed playing duets often. During their time together, Chopin offered his advice on both her piano playing and her vocal compositions. Viardot shared her intimate knowledge of Spanish music with Chopin, and provided him a deeper understanding of the voice as a musical instrument. Together they read scores at the piano and Viardot would also sing Chopin’s songs in their original Polish version. When Viardot expressed her interest to set Chopin’s mazurkas for voice and piano, Chopin thought well enough of her idea to give his approval, advice and assistance.
Viardot set her twelve transcriptions of Chopin’s mazurkas to a French text written by Louis Pomey over two summers she spent at Nohant with her husband, Louis. Her approach was faithful to the original melodies that Chopin wrote, inserting ornamentation and improvised cadenzas to selected sections as she felt necessary. She may have had her own vocal abilities in mind, which were stunning and prodigious. Viardot also melded together components of different mazurkas, perhaps in an effort to better marry the feelings of the text with Chopin’s music. But their texture remains transparent, some harmonies simplified, always in keeping with the essence of the Polish mazurka sung with refinement and virtuosity. Chopin, known to be a severe critic, was enthused with Viardot’s accomplishment after hearing her performances of them in Paris and London. She sang them again at Covent Garden where they were so well received, Chopin agreed to perform the set with her in Paris and invited her to sing them at his last public performance in London. Chopin was so enamored with the publicity he received from Viardot’s transcriptions he took offense when his name wasn’t included in the billing of one of her subsequent performances of them.
When the relationship between George Sand and Chopin abruptly concluded, Pauline Viardot strove unsuccessfully to reconcile the two. She remained a loyal friend to both, however, and within two years, Chopin had died. George Sand would not attend his funeral, so Viardot decided to sing at the ceremony, in cognito. Pauline Viardot performed the transcriptions once again in Weimar, with Franz Liszt.