Pauline Viardot inspired Brahms, Berlioz and Turgenev, so why is she forgotten?
By Jessica Duchen [The Independent, 21 February 2006]
Pauline Viardot-Garcia was more than just the greatest diva of the 19th century. The Spanish-born mezzo-soprano transformed 19th-century opera and song, inspiring everyone from Berlioz to Brahms, and Clara Schumann to the young FaurÈ. Yet her own compositions have been virtually forgotten since her death in 1910.