Pauline Viardot - Compositions

Compositions

Viardot began composing when she was young, but it was never her intention to become a composer. Her compositions were written mainly as private pieces for her students with the intention of developing their vocal abilities. She did the bulk of her composing after her retirement at Baden-Baden. However, her works were of professional quality and Franz Liszt declared that, with Pauline Viardot, the world had finally found a woman composer of genius. As a young girl she had studied with the musical theorist and composer, Anton Reicha, she was an outstanding pianist, and a complete all-round professional musician. Between 1864 and 1874 she wrote three salon operas - Trop de femmes (1867), L'ogre (1868), and Le dernier sorcier (1869), all to libretti by Ivan Turgenev - and over fifty lieder. Her remaining two salon operas - Le conte de fées (1879), and Cendrillon (1904; when she was 83) - were to her own libretti. The operas may be small in scale, however, they were written for advanced singers and some of the music is difficult. She also wrote instrumental compositions, often for violin and piano. Among her arrangements are vocal arrangements of instrumental works by Chopin, Brahms, Haydn and Schubert.

Opera

• Trop de femmes (Ivan Turgenev, 1867)
• L'ogre (Turgenev, 1868)
• Le dernier sorcier (Turgenev, 1869)
• Le conte de fées (1879)
• Cendrillon (1904)

Choral

• Choeur bohémien
• Choeur des elfes
• Choeur de fileuses
• La Jeune République

Songs

• Album de Mme Viardot-Garcia (1843)
• L'Oiseau d'or (1843)
• 12 Mazurkas for voice and piano – based on Frédéric Chopin's works (1848)
• Duo, 2 solo voices and piano (1874)
• 100 songs including 5 Gedichte (1874)
• 4 Lieder (1880)
• 5 Poésies toscanes-paroles by L. Pomey (1881)
• 6 Mélodies (1884)
• Airs italiens du XVIII siècle (trans. L. Pomey) (1886)
• 6 chansons du XVe siècle
• Album russe
• Canti popolari toscani
• Vocal arrangements of instrumental works by Johannes Brahms, Joseph Haydn and Franz Schubert

Instrumental

• 2 airs de ballet for piano (1885)
• Défilé bohémien for piano 4 hands (1885)
• Introduction et polonaise for piano 4 hands (1874)
• Marche militaire for 2 flutes and piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 brass choirs (1868)
• Mazourke for piano (1868)
• 6 morceaux for violin and piano (1868)
• Second album russe for piano (1874)
• Sonatine for violin and piano (1874)
• Suite arménienne for piano 4 hands

Source: Rachel M. Harris, The Music Salon of Pauline Viardot