García, Manuel Patricio (EN)

García Manuel Patricio Rodríguez, *17 March 1805 Madrid, †1 July 1906, son of Manuel del Popolo Vicente, Spain opera singer (baritone) and pedagogue. He was taught singing by his father and harmony by F. J. Fétis. He made his debut in 1825 in the role of Figaro at the Park Theater in New York, singing with his father, mother, and sister in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. After retiring from the stage (1829), he taught singing and took an interest in the physiology of the human voice. He presented the results of his study (Mémoire sur la votó humaine) to the French Academy of Sciences in 1840. He included his own and his father’s vocal experiences in Traité complet de l’art du chant (1840), which was a continuation and extension of Vicente García’s Metodo di canto Manuel del Popolo. García was a professor at the Paris Conservatoire from 1847–1850 and at the Royal Academy of Music in London from 1848–1895. His students were E. Frezzolini, J. Lind, H. H. Nissen, M. Marchesi, among others. García invented the laryngoscope (1855). The University of Königsberg awarded him with the title Doctor Honoris Causa.

Literature: A. G. Tapia M. García su influencia en la laringología y en el arte del canto, Madrid 1905; H. Klein M. García and the „Coup de glotte”, “Zeitschrift der Interenationalen Musikgesellschaft” XIII, 1912.