The only explanation why those that were published have remained unknown and why so many were unpublished is that this admirable artist had a horror of publicity.

She spent half her life in teaching pupils and the world knew nothing about it.
During the Empire the Viardots used to give in their apartment on Thursday evenings really fine musical festivals which my surviving contemporaries still remember.

From the salon in which the famous portrait by Ary Scheffer was hung and which was devoted to ordinary instrumental and vocal music, we went down a short staircase to a gallery filled with valuable paintings, and finally to an exquisite organ, one of Cavaille-Coll's masterpieces.

In this temple dedicated to music we listened to arias from the oratorios of Handel and Mendelssohn.
She had sung them in London, but could not get a hearing for them in the concerts in Paris as they were averse to such vast compositions.

I had the honor to be her regular accompanist both at the organ and the piano.
But this passionate lover of song was an all-round musician.