8 August 2023
By highlighting the story of Manuel García fils (1805-1906), the Centre Européen de Musique is paying tribute to a polymath, teacher, singer, scientist and researcher, a member of a unique family saga: the García dynasty. The invention of the laryngoscope by Manuel García Jr. in 1854 was no accident, and the acquisition by the Centre Européen de Musique of this priceless relic is a powerful symbol that fully embodies the missions that the CEM has set itself in the 21st century: building bridges between the present and the past; uniting the arts, sciences and humanities. Discover the first episode of our historical series, written by Thomas Cousin, PhD student in history and musicology at the Université libre de Bruxelles and Sorbonne Université.
Manuel Vicente Patricio Rodríguez Sitches García was born in Madrid on 17 March 1805 to the famous opera singer Manuel del Pópulo Vicente Rodríguez García (1775-1832) and his wife, the opera singer and actress Maria Joaquina Sitches Briones (1780-1864). Little Manuel García was unaware of it, but 1805 was a major turning point in the history of music: Manuel García senior, who had just composed his famous Yo che soy contrabandista, was certainly not yet Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville, which he created much later, in 1816, with his friend Gioachino Rossini. But the Andalusian tenor was already preparing to cross the Pyrenees and conquer the stages of Europe and America, etching the García name forever in the pantheon of the most famous dynasties in the history of opera.
Trained by his father from an early age in the Spanish method of singing and the Italian vocal traditions of the Bel canto School, Manuel García fils inherited excellent vocal training that predestined him for a great career as an opera singer. This training, which began in Naples, continued in France and then England as Manuel García père toured, publishing his famous Méthode de chant in Paris and founding his own school in London. While his sister Maria García followed in his father's footsteps, Manuel García fils continued his musical training in the harmony class of François-Joseph Fétis at the Paris Conservatoire. The birth of Pauline García in 1821 completed the lineage of a family of geniuses predestined to write the history of opera on the other side of the Atlantic.
The year 1825 marked a new turning point in the García family saga. While Maria made her debut at London's King's Theatre in Rossini's Barber of Seville, the unlikely family troupe made up of Manuel García father and son, Joaquina and Maria performed in Manchester at the end of the summer, before embarking in Liverpool for New York, where Manuel García father was expected to take part in the first season of Italian opera in America. The first performance at New York's Park Theatre on 29 November marked Manuel García fils's debut on the operatic stage in The Barber of Seville, a true family trademark. The audience included the American writer Fenimore Cooper, who published The Last of the Mohicans that same year. On 30 September 1826, the García's last New York performance marked the end of a first season lasting more than ten months and featuring seventy-nine performances.
The year 1825 marked a new turning point in the García family saga. While Maria made her debut at London's King's Theatre in Rossini's Barber of Seville, the unlikely family troupe made up of Manuel García father and son, Joaquina and Maria performed in Manchester at the end of the summer, before embarking in Liverpool for New York, where Manuel García father was expected to take part in the first season of Italian opera in America. The first performance at New York's Park Theatre on 29 November marked Manuel García fils's debut on the operatic stage in The Barber of Seville, a true family trademark. The audience included the American writer Fenimore Cooper, who published The Last of the Mohicans that same year. On 30 September 1826, the García's last New York performance marked the end of a first season lasting more than ten months and featuring seventy-nine performances.
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