Manuel García

Manuel Patricio Rodríguez García (17 March 1805 – 1 July 1906), commonly referred to as Manuel García II, was a Spanish singer, music educator, and vocal pedagogist.

He was born in Zafra, the son of singer, teacher Manuel del Pópulo Vicente García (Manuel Garcia I). His sisters were Maria Malibran and Pauline Viardot. After abandoning his onstage career as a baritone, Garcia began to teach at the Paris Conservatory (1830–48) and the Royal Academy of Music, London (1848–95). Jenny Lind, Mathilde Marchesi, Jessie Bond, Camille Everardi, Christina Nilsson, Marie Tempest, Julius Stockhausen and Henry Wood were among his pupils.

He published the treatise Traité complet de l'Art du Chant.

According to some sources, he invented the laryngoscope in 1854 and the next year published observations of his own larynx and vocal cords made with a small dental mirror introduced into the throat and using sunlight reflected by another mirror. Garcia was interested in movements connected with the production of the singing voice and did not anticipate the importance of laryngoscopy for medicine. Still, the University of Königsberg conferred upon him the honorary degree of M.D.

He died in London in 1906 at the age of 101 years and was buried in the churchyard of St. Edward's Catholic church in Sutton Green, Surrey. His grave gives details of his many famous pupils and accomplishments.

Works

The laryngoscopy. From García, 1884

• Mémoire sur la voix humaine présenté à l'Académie des Sciences en 1840. Paris: Duverger, 1847.
• Ecole de Garcia: traité complet de l'art du chant par Manuel Garcia fils. Mayence, Paris: Schott 1840 (Teil 1), 1847 (Teil 2).
• Garcias Schule oder Die Kunst des Gesanges in allen ihren Theilen vollst. abgehandelt von Manuel Garcia. Deutscher Text von C. Wirth. Mainz: Schott, 1841; auch in zwei Teilen in der Zeitschrift Caecilia; Erster Theil, in Band 22 (1843), Heft 85; Zweiter Theil in Band 26 (1847), Heft 104 (Digitalisat)
• Ecole de Garcia: traité complet de l'art du chant. (Band 1 und 2 zusammen). Mayence, Paris: Schott 1856.
• A complete treatise on the art of singing, part two by M. Garcia II. Second part, complete and unabridged, the editions of 1847 and 1872 collated, ed. and transl. by Donald V. Paschke. Reprint of the 1872 edition. New York: Da Capo Press, 1975. ISBN 0-306-76212-9. ISBN 0-306-70660-1. (Note: Includes bibliographies).

References

• Malcolm Sterling Mackinlay: Garcia the centenarian and his times. New York: Da Capo Pr., 1976. Reprint of the edition New York 1908. (Da Capo Press Music Reprint Series).
• Byron Cantrell: Hints on singing by Manuel Patricio Rodríguez García. Introd. by Byron Cantrell. Canoga Park, Calif.: Summit Publ. Co., 1970. Reprint of the edition London, New York 1894 (Translated from French).

External links

• Free scores by Manuel García (baritone) in the International Music Score Library Project
• [1] Biography/bibliography.

This article incorporates text from an edition of the New International Encyclopedia that is in the public domain.

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