Mlle. Garcia was now fairly embarked on the hereditary profession of her family, and with every prospect of a brilliant career, for never had a singer at the very outset so signally impressed herself on the public judgment, not only as a thoroughly equipped artist, but as a woman of original genius.  But she temporarily retired from the stage in consequence of her marriage with M. Viardot, who had fallen deeply in love with the fascinating cantatrice, shortly after his introduction to her.  The bridegroom resigned his position as manager of the Opera, and the newly married couple, shortly after their nuptials in the spring of 1840, proceeded to Italy, M. Viardot being intrusted with an important mission relative to the fine arts.  Mme. Viardot did not return to the stage till the spring of the following year.  After a short season in London, in which she made a deep and abiding impression, in the part of Orazia ("Gli Orazi ed i Curiazi"), and justified her right to wear the crown of Pasta and Malibran, she was obliged by considerations of health to return to the balmier climate of Southern Europe.

While traveling in Spain, the native land of her parents, she was induced to sing in Madrid, where she was welcomed with all the warmth of Spanish enthusiasm.  Her amiability was displayed during her performance of Desdemona, the second opera presented.  Pleased with the unrestrained expressions of delight by the audience, she voluntarily sang the rondo finale from “Cenerentola.”  There was such a magic spell on the audience that they could not be prevailed upon to leave, though Mme. Viardot sang again and again for them.  At last the curtain fell and the orchestra departed, but the crowd would not leave the theatre.  The obliging cantatrice, though fatigued, directed a piano-forte to be wheeled to the front of the stage, and sang, to her own accompaniment, two Spanish airs and a French romance, a crowning act of grace which made her audience wild with admiration and pleasure.  An immense throng escorted her carriage from the theatre to the hotel, with a tumult of vivas.  During this Spanish tour she appeared in opera in several towns outside of the capital, in the important pieces of her repertoire, including “Il Barbiere” and “Norma,” operas entirely opposed to each other in style, but in both of which she was favorably judged in comparison with the greatest representatives of these characters.

When this singer first appeared, every throne on the lyric stage seemed to be filled by those who sat firm, and wore their crowns right regally by the grace of divine gifts, as well as by the election of the people.  There seemed to be no manifest place for a new aspirant, no niche unoccupied.  But within three years’ time Mme. Viardot’s exalted rank among the great singers of the age was no less assured than if she had queened it over the public heart for a score of seasons, and in her endowment as an artist