CHAPTER XII.
CLOSE OF PARIS CAREER.
(1848.)
The first revolution of 1848 broke out in February. The grand Reform banquet which had been announced was suddenly prohibited on the 21st of the month, the immediate consequence being that revolutionary tumults burst out, and the next day brought with it the impeachment and resignation of Guizot. This was quickly followed by the throwing up of barricades in the streets; the Tuileries were ransacked, the prisons opened, and the most frightful disorders committed. At this Louis Philippe completely lost his nerve, and abdicated on the 24th in favour of his infant grandson, the Comte de Paris, who was not, however, accepted by the populace. Upon this the royal family and ministers made their escape as best they could, and a week later the ex-king landed at Newhaven as "Mr Smith."
On February 26 a republic was proclaimed from the steps of the Hôtel de Ville; and this decisive measure was followed by a grand funeral procession in honour of the victims of the revolution.
The next three months passed by in comparative quiet. The provisional government, which had been formed in the great public commotion, resigned to an executive commission, elected by the National Assembly of the French Republic, and the perpetual banishment of Louis Philippe and his family was decreed.
With June there came an outburst of still more frightful disorder, owing to the reconstitution of the National Guard of France, it being enlarged from 80,000 to 100,000. Among those who enrolled themselves in this body of men was Manuel Garcia; and it is not surprising that he did so, for, as all who knew him are well aware, he was a great lover of law and order.
The precautionary measure acted as a lighted fuse to a barrel of gunpowder. On June 23 the red republicans rose up in arms against the troops and the National Guard, more than three hundred barricades were thrown up, and firing continued in all parts of the capital during the night. Garcia well remembered George Sand standing on the top of a barricade surrounded by a band of students, and shouting down to him, "N'est-ce pas que c'est magnifique, n'est ce pas que c'est beau!"
Next day the troops under Cardignac and Lamoricière, after suffering immense loss, drove the insurgents from the left bank of the Seine. On the 25th Paris was declared in a state of siege, while on the following day the Faubourg du Temple was carried with cannon, the insurgents surrendered, and the revolution was brought to an end.
But at what a cost had peace been restored! The national losses caused by the outbreak were estimated at thirty million francs; while during the four days of fighting no less than sixteen thousand persons were killed and wounded, among the former being the Archbishop of Paris, who lost his life while tending the dying on the final day of conflict.
But for all its excitement and bloodshed this four days' revolution failed to excite much enthusiasm in the maestro. Perhaps it seemed poor fun after those scenes of the Napoleonic Invasion and the successive campaigns of the Peninsular War, which he remembered from his childhood. He may even have grown weary of such scenes, and considered the whole affair badly managed after the other revolutions he had been through. Certainly there had been much less fuss when, eighteen years before, he had seen Charles X. driven out and Louis Philippe made king. He had passed through too many excitements already.
One can almost imagine the scene that must have taken place in the July of 1846, when he was informed by a breathless pupil at the beginning of a lesson that an attempt had just been made on the king's life by Henri. One can picture him shaking his head reprovingly and replying, "Yes; but it was not as exciting as some of the other attempts on his life that I remember. Let me see, it must have been--yes, it was in the July of 1835, almost exactly thirteen years ago to the day, that the first one took place. Now that really _was_ a fine one! Fieschi fired an infernal machine as the king was riding down the Boulevard du Temple along the lines of the National Guard. Louis Philippe was accompanied by his three sons. They all four escaped, but the Duke of Treviso was shot dead, and forty persons were killed and wounded. Now that's what I call something _like_ an attempt!
"Then, next year, there was Louis Alibaud, who fired at the king on his way to the Tuileries. _Pauvre garçon!_ He was guillotined for his trouble.
"There wasn't another attempt for some time, but in 1840, again, Darmès fired at Louis Philippe; that was the year before the attempt made to assassinate one of the king's sons, the Duke of Aumale; but there was no result. Much better leave things to Providence. Why, it was only a year later that the heir to the throne was killed without bothering any one to risk his neck over it! Yes, he had a fall from his carriage. Bless me! you must remember that; it was only six years ago. Then there was Lecompte, who had a try at his unhappy majesty when he was going to Fontainebleau. How many people did you say were killed to-day when Henri made the attempt? None? Dear, dear. It's not like the old days. Well, let's get on with the lesson. What songs have you brought?"
If such a scene as this did _not_ take place, it certainly might well have done so.
However, what with revolutions, the driving out of kings, and the general unrest during the twenty years that followed his return from America as a young man of twenty-three, the maestro came to the conclusion that the French capital was getting too unsettled to be suitable for the giving of singing lessons. At the end of the month, therefore, he shook the dust of Paris from his feet and set out for London, where he had made up his mind to settle and establish himself as a teacher.
With this change of _locale_ the second period in Manuel Garcia's life is brought to a close. Before leaving it, we will cast an eye over some of the figures prominent in the musical and artistic world of Paris during the twenty years in which the centenarian made it his home.
Rossini, as we have seen, was director both of the Théâtre Italien and of the French Opera when Garcia joined his sister in Paris at the close of 1827. During this time the composer adapted several of his works to French taste. Of these, "Moïse" and "Le Siège de Corinth" were the new titles given to "Mose in Egitto" and "Maometto Secondo," of which the original productions had taken place during the four years following Manuel's arrival from Naples as a lad of eleven. Rossini, however, only stayed in Paris for eighteen months, and left after the production there of his greatest work, "Guillaume Tell," in August 1822, nor did he return to settle down and become one of the most notable personalities of the city till a quarter of a century later.
Many interesting musical productions took place during Manuel Garcia's residence in Paris.
In 1828, the year of his arrival from Mexico, Liszt was a boy of sixteen, an infant prodigy, just returned from a visit to England, and beginning to teach pianoforte, owing to circumstances already referred to in speaking of the lessons which Mme. Viardot had from him.
Berlioz had been sent by his parents some little time before to study medicine in the French capital. Instead of doing so, however, he had devoted himself to music, and was at this time a pupil at the Conservatoire.
Soon after Garcia's arrival there took place the production of one of Auber's best known works, "La Muette di Portici," or, as it is usually entitled, "Masaniello." The next year, that in which Schubert died, saw the completion of "Agnes von Hohenstaufen," the greatest work of Spontini, whose opera, "La Vestale," had been greeted with enthusiasm and adjudged Napoleon's prize of 10,000 francs twenty-two years before.
In 1830 came Auber's "Fra Diavolo" and Halévy's "Manon Lescaut."
The following year was an important one in many ways, for there were produced not only Bellini's two favourite operas, "Somnambula" and "Norma" (the "Puritani" was given four years later), but Hérold's "Zampa" and Meyerbeer's "Robert le Diable." But this is not all, for it saw the advent to Paris of Frédéric Chopin, a young man of twenty-two. Here he quickly found fame, and became the idol of the salons, giving lessons to a select _clientèle_ of pupils, and employing his leisure in composition. He rarely performed in public, though, in Mendelssohn's judgment, he was "a truly perfect virtuoso" as well as a thorough musician, with a faculty for improvisation such as, perhaps, no other pianist ever possessed.
In 1832, a date made memorable on the tablets of literature by the death of Goethe and Sir Walter Scott, there came Hérold's "Le Pré aux Clercs," while Berlioz obtained the first proper hearing for some of his compositions. Their complicated and peculiar nature, however, failed to win popular recognition, and he was driven to support himself and his wife by writing musical criticisms.
In the summer of 1833 the birth took place of a musician who was to become world-famous, Johannes Brahms; while the winter was rendered memorable in the artistic circles of Paris by the fatal journey which Alfred de Musset made to Italy with George Sand. In the following April he reappeared alone, broken in health and sunk in the deepest depression. A quarter of a century later, when Garcia had long been settled in London, he was to be reminded of the episode by reading the version of the events which George Sand gave to the world in the guise of a novel, 'Elle et Lui'; to which Paul de Musset at once retorted with 'Lui et Elle,' in which he asserted that she had been grossly unfaithful.
The year, which robbed the world of one musician and brought forth another,--for with the death of Bellini there came the birth of Saint-Saëns,--was one full of musical interest, for 1835 saw the completion of a perfect avalanche of new operas, including Auber's "Cheval de Bronze," Halévy's "La Juive" and "L'Etoile du Nord," Adolphe Adam's "Postilion de Longjumeau," and two operas by Donizetti, "Marino Faliero" and "Lucia di Lammermoor."
In 1836 the first performance took place of Meyerbeer's great opera, the "Huguenots," given at the Académie Royale de Musique on February 29, with the following cast:--
_Valentine_ Mdlle. Falcon. _Marguerite_ Mme. Doras-Gras. _Urbain_ Mdlle. Flécheux. _Marcel_ M. Levasseur. _Nevers_ M. Dérivis. _Saint Bris_ M. Serda.
The part of Raoul was played by the elder Garcia's famous pupil, Adolph Nourrit.
It is, moreover, the date of the commencement of a fresh episode in the life of George Sand (Madame Armandine Dudevant), this time with Chopin, who was introduced to her by Liszt.
The "Domino Noir" was produced in Paris in 1837, the year which saw the first performance of Mendelssohn's "St Paul" in England, to be followed three years later by the "Hymn of Praise," and in 1848, the year of Garcia's arrival in London, by the "Elijah."
In 1839 Flotow's "Le Naufrage de la Méduse" was produced; but the year is of far more interest to us from the fact that Richard Wagner, a young man, twenty-six years of age, first arrived in Paris, resolved to try his fortune there with "Rienzi," only to be forced to leave the city after a sore struggle of nearly three years, with his opera still unperformed.
In 1840, the year of Paganini's death, three operas of Donizetti saw light, "La Fille du Régiment," "Lucrezia Borgia," and "La Favorita."
In the next year Auber's "Les Diamants de la Couronne" was performed; and a twelve-year-old musician, newly arrived from Moscow, was given an opportunity of playing the piano to Liszt, and of being patted on the head, while he listened to words of warm encouragement. And the name of the boy-pianist? Anton Rubinstein, who died more than twelve years ago, at the age of sixty-five.
In 1842, the year in which Massenet was born, Meyerbeer's opera "Le Prophète" was finished, which was destined not to be produced at the Grand Opera House till seven years later.
In 1843 Donizetti's "Don Pasquale" was brought out, and in the following year Flotow's "Stradella" and Félicien David's grand ode-symphony "Désert." It saw, moreover, the completion by Richard Wagner of "Der Fliegende Holländer," as the next year, in which Tom Hood died, saw that of "Tannhäuser."
In 1847 the Parisian public witnessed for the first time Flotow's "Martha," while in the last year of Garcia's sojourn in the capital, Nicolai's "Merry Wives of Windsor" and Wagner's "Lohengrin" were finished; Offenbach was appointed _chef d'orchestre_ at the Théâtre Français (this being long before "La Grande Duchesse" and "Madame Favart" had been set down on paper); Gounod was still in his twenties, and had not yet even composed his first opera, while "Faust" was not to be brought out for eleven, and "Roméo et Juliette" for just on twenty years. As for Bizet, he was a mere boy of ten.
Allusion has already been made to George Sand, Henry Mürger, and Alfred de Musset. One must add to the literary circle of that time such personalities as these: Balzac, who first tasted success with the publication of 'Les Derniers Chouans,' about a year after Señor Garcia had arrived from Mexico, soon following this up with the earliest of his great works, 'La Peau de Chagrin'; Théophile Gautier, whose first long poem, 'Albertus,' was published about the same time, to be followed, in 1835, by the celebrated novel, 'Mademoiselle de Maupin,' with its defiant preface; Alfred de Vigny, whom Manuel Garcia, as a young man of twenty-five, saw abandon for good in 1830 the publication of his exquisite poetry, and confine himself after that date to works in prose alone.
Then there were Alphonse de Lamartine, statesman, poet, and historian, who, in 1829, had declined the post of Foreign Secretary in the Polignac Ministry, and by his 'Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses' achieved his unanimous election to the Academy; Lamercier, one of the three chief exponents of the Romantic school, with some of his detached passages equal in beauty to anything in the language, and others so bizarre as to border on the ridiculous; Delavigne, representative of the golden mean of French literature, the half-classic and half-romantic school; Béranger, the "Horace" of French poetry, whose outspoken ballads achieved such immense popularity, that in turn Louis XVIII. and Charles X. threw him into prison because of his freedom of ideas,--for probably no poet has ever exercised such a power over the destiny of a nation; Victor Hugo, engaged in bringing out 'Notre Dame de Paris,' 'Le Roi s'amuse,' 'Les Voix Interieures,' in which the poet's diction is held to have found its noblest expression, 'Ruy Blas,' almost the most famous of his stage rhapsodies, and many another work of world-wide fame; Eugène Sue, whose first hit was made in 1842 with the too famous 'Mystères de Paris,' followed three years later by 'Le Juif Errant'; the elder Dumas, who, during these years, published such works as 'Monte Cristo,' 'Les Trois Mousquetaires,' and 'Les Mémoires d'un Médecin'; while in the year of the maestro's departure for London, Alexander Dumas the younger was bringing out his immortal 'La Dame aux Camélias.' Nor must one forget Paul de Kock, Henri Rochefort, who was then only sixteen years old, Zola half that age, and François Coppée a child of six.
When we turn to the painting world there is an equal _embarras de richesse_. What can one say to such a dazzling list of artists as Rosa Bonheur, Horace Vernet, Paul Delaroche, the founder of the modern "Eclectic School," Prud'hon, Gericault, Delacroix, Gros, Scheffer, Decamps, Corot, Rousseau, Troyon, Duprè, Diaz, Jean François Millet (who took his place with Garcia on the barricades during the Revolution of '48), nay, even Meissonier himself, whose first contribution to the Salon in 1834, a water-colour and an oil-picture, the centenarian remembered to have seen, followed two years later by the "Chess-Players," the precursor of that long series of elaborate genre-pictures, in which he depicted the civil and military life of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries.
Truly, had Manuel Garcia passed away in the year of the Revolution, in accordance with the modern cry of "too old at forty," his career and experiences would have still been of surpassing interest. But with this year we only see the scene of his triumphs shifted from France to England, and have yet to watch him not only carrying through a further forty-seven years of work as teacher, but appearing in the new _rôle_ of inventor, and then passing on to that last period, ten years of wonderful old age.
THIRD PERIOD
LONDON
(1848-1895)