Musicology Annotation << Back Pauline Viardot reads Schubert Naumov Alexander V. A notable place in Pauline Viardot’s creative legasy is occupied by collections of works by different authors, compiled by her since 1860 mainly for the purpose of application in the educational process. Such editions are embedded in a long tradition of French vocal culture (the works of J.-A. Berard, J.-L. Dupré etc.), and it may be an object of special consideration. They are also marked by some characteristic features of the era and the personality of the compiler. Viardot, it’s very importantly, acted in the lively part of the editor of the sheet music texts. The anthology 50 Melodies de Schubert published in 1873 is similar in its internal organization and presentation of material to the mentioned above publications. Unlike them, it is not closed in the framework of instructional and methodological tasks. A look at the composition of the collection and the editorial notes made by P. Viardot provides an opportunity to clarify which Schubert songs formed part of the singer’s own repertoire and which were only taught in class with her students. Based on the same details, we can reveal the general principles of interpretation of the late 19th century, and on this basis we can put forward a number of larger problems relating to the sphere of historical stylistics of the performing arts. Among them are the performance of chamber music in its original language or in translation, permissible measure of theatricalisation of the concert genre, tempi and rubato, qualities of cantilena, timbre and others. Polina Viardot’s work has become a bibliographic rarity, but it could be considered as one of the arguments (or counterarguments) to a «discussion about Schubert’s authenticity». Audio recordings and individual statements of singers demonstrate different approaches to the interpretation of both the musical text and the figurative content in many works. Positions are historically changeable, they are influenced by many artistic factors. Viardot’s Shubert-collection can be served as an example of an approach to opuses that have the status of classical masterpieces under the infl uence of a specific creative experience of an artist and teacher. Keywords: Pauline Viardot, Schubert, 50 Melodies de Schubert, French vocal school, vocal performance. DOI: 10.25791/musicology.4.2022.1243 Pp. 03-08.