ABSTRACT
Singing was but one of the many artistic talents of Michelle Ferdinande Pauline Viardot-Garcia and not the first of her musical activities that she pursued. Viardot-Garcia experienced the manifold languages and cultures within which she moved with a distinctly open mind. Altogether 16 of the Russian romances by Viardot-Garcia published in St Petersburg are based on texts by Pushkin the most commonly set Russian poet. Although Pauline Viardot-Garcia swiftly developed to become one of the leading female singers of the nineteenth century, her manifold cultural interests extended far beyond music. Heitmann notes of Viardot-Garcia that it was nicht nur ein Anliegen, verschiedene nationale Musiktraditionen in ihre Arbeit zu integrieren, sondern auch, von verschiedenen Nationen verstanden zu warden. Viardot's song compositions must be regarded as independent contributions to national manifestations within the genres of German Lied, French mlodie and indeed Russian romance.
