Viardot was of Spanish origin and was quite noted for her mezzo-soprano voice. Though she did not have an immediate impact on popular audiences she greatly enhanced the intellectual and artistic circles in which she participated. Because of her singing abilities she performed in works by Massenet, Gounod and Faure helping to bring solid beginnings to their careers. She had studied music initially with her father, Manuel Garcia, who died when she was eleven. She continued her studies with her mother and was able to study piano with Meysenberg and Liszt and composition with Reicha. Viardot sang in operas by Rossini, Glinka, Dargomizhsky, Meyerbeer, Berlioz, Gluck and songs by other composers including Brahms, Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky. She was the first foreigner to sing the Italian repertoire in Russia and helped to bring Russian music to the West. As a composer Viardot wrote numerous songs and transcribed works by other composers for voice. Chopin was especially pleased with her renditions of his mazurkas. ~ Keith Johnson