Violin & Piano Recital “à Madame Viardot”

In the heart of the 19th century lived the legendary diva Pauline Viardot, a woman whose artistry captivated the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Chopin, Liszt, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Berlioz, Gounod, Meyerbeer—you name it, they tremendously admired her. Robert Schumann dedicated his very first song cycle to her, and Camille Saint-Saëns honoured her with the dedication of his only opera, Samson et Dalila.

Pauline’s life was no less fascinating than her voice. Born into a celebrated Spanish musical family, she rose to stardom by the age of 18. She later married a Parisian theatre director who helped elevate her presence among the cultural elite. Her personal life was the subject of intrigue as well—most notably, her lifelong affair with the Russian writer Ivan Turgenev. She established the Théâtre Viardot, a private opera house, in Baden-Baden. There, she hosted artists, intellectuals, and political figures, including Prince Wilhelm and Princess Augusta of Prussia and Otto von Bismarck. Her matinées featured renowned guests such as Anton Rubinstein, Richard Wagner, and the poet Theodor Storm, making her salon a shining centre of 19th-century European artistic life.

This recital offers a portrait of Viardot through her own music and that of her admirers. Six Pieces and the Sonatina are her only known works for violin, written for her son, a talented violinist. Both Schumann and Saint-Saëns composed their first violin sonatas late in life, works filled with richness, mastery, and perhaps—somewhere between the notes—the memory of Madame Viardot.