She was a mezzo-soprano, with fine clear upper notes, and a wonderful execution in bravura passages. Moreover, as an actress she was equally successful in tragedy or comedy, besides being a perfect musician. And yet, as Señor Garcia would remark, there was not in her case a "phenomenal voice," as there had been in that of the lamented Malibran. It was, according to her brother, by no means a great one, and the voice alone would in ordinary circumstances have been placed in the second class.
There is a well-known story of a certain painter being asked by one of his sitters: "Tell me, with what do you mix your paints to get these wonderful effects?" "Madame," was the reply, "I mix them with my brains." So, too, Pauline Garcia may be said to have sung with her brains.
It was indeed the triumph of mind over matter. With her it was another case which went to uphold the truth of the well-known dictum that "Genius is the capacity for taking infinite pains." She possessed the will-power and determination to rise above all obstacles, as Demosthenes had possessed it centuries before, when he made up his mind to become a leading advocate, and, in order to attain greater clearness of enunciation, spent hour after hour by the seashore, where he would recite, his mouth filled with pebbles. With what a result! The Athenian ended by becoming one of the world's greatest orators: Señor Garcia's youngest sister became one of the world's greatest dramatic singers.
In the autumn of 1839 she went to Paris for a season at the Théâtre Italien, for which she had been engaged by the impresario, Mons. Louis Viardot, a distinguished writer and critic, and founder of the 'Revue Indépendante.' Here she shared in the triumphs of Grisi, Persiani, Rubini, Tamburini, and Lablache; while her principal parts were three rôles as different as they were characteristic—in the operas of "Otello," "Cenerentola," and "The Barber of Seville."
Many tributes were paid by those who heard her. Liszt, under whom she had studied the piano, wrote of her in these terms—
"In all that concerns method and execution, feeling and expression, it would be hard to find a name worthy to be mentioned with that of Maria Malibran's sister. In her, virtuosity serves only as a means of expressing the idea, the thought, the character of a work or a rôle."
George Sand called her "the personification of poetry and music," and set down her impressions on listening to the singer thus: "The pale, still,—one might at the first glance say lustreless,—countenance, the suave and unconstrained movements, the astonishing freedom from every sort of affectation,—how transfigured all this appears, when she is carried away by her genius on the current of song!"
Her first appearance in Paris was greeted by Alfred de Musset, the poet of Romanticism and warm friend of Victor Hugo, in those well-known lines—
| "Ainsi donc, quoi qu'on dise, elle ne tarit pas |
| La source immortelle et féconde |
| Que le coursier divin fit jaillir sous ses pas." |
When de Musset wished to crystallise in prose his feelings on hearing her sing, he expressed himself in these words—