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    June 21, 1851.] QS>XZ )&£&&£¥* 5*0

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    tfjrt Irts.

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    OEDERB FOR THE PLAtf! " The Vanity of Hu...

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    June 21, 1851.] Qs>Xz )&£&&£¥* 5*0

    June 21 , 1851 . ] QS > XZ )& £ && £¥ * 5 * 0

    Tfjrt Irts.

    tfjrt Irts .

    Oederb For The Platf! " The Vanity Of Hu...

    OEDERB FOR THE PLAtf ! " The Vanity of Huttian Wishes" gains deeper st rength of conviction as years , « which bring the philosophic mind / ' gather in the harvest of realized hopes , and wb find ourselves still none the richer for that store ! The foregoing profound reflection occurred td me apropos of the impatience With which I reckoned up all my labburs for this week , frittering away toy life as they do , and by the remembrance of my early passion for that heated atmosphere of

    the playhouse . If any one had whispered to me that the day would come when t should be aweary of the play house , I should have smiled at his profound ignorance of human nature . If any one had whispered to me that the day would come when I should have my entrees t < 5 all the houses ^—when I should be on bowing acquaintance with the great Mr . Jones , and l > e the terror of Mr . Smith , —life Would have appeared to me „ the paradise which Mahomet promises the faithful . This dream has become a solid and very wearisome reality : and

    what am I the happier ? " Give me back my youthful days ! " is the . cry of £ aust despairingfor what to him is mastery of knowledge * or noisy reputation in the mouths of men ? what to me are ' ! orders" and bowing acquainanee with the celebrated Jones , when youthful illusions no longer make the playhouse paradise , nor hide the ignorance of Jones behind the imperial cotton velvet and catskin ? Ah ! the vanity , the vanity of this life ! I remember once as a boy being taken into the awful presence of an editor , who affably

    whom the part of Alphonso was transposed , sang as usual with intense expression , and in the "Viens Leonore pour toi j ' abandonne , " gained an encore ; " Pour tant d * amour" was more effective when Barroilhet sang it , and ought not to be given to a tenor . Grrisi was magnificent . I am never tired of admiring her ^ though I find it difficult to get language for that admiration . She looked beautiful , queenly , young . She sang and acted as no one else can sing and act such parts . A word of praise also for Taglianco whose Baldassare was a careful performance . Orchestra and chorus had nothing to bring out their usual excellence . I must now turn to

    MLLt f . DE BELLE ISLE , The production of which at the Stk James ' s Theatre has given every one the opportunity of ascertaining the superior style in which it is put on the stage fend performed at the Princess ' s ( Rachel > of course , exeepted ) , and the increased interest which Mr . Slous , the adapter , has given to the piece by deepening its drame j the comedy has evaporated in translation , but the serious interest

    has been considerably heightened . Then a 8 to the acting , no one would think of comparing M . Raphael With Charles Keanj nor M . Chollek with Wigan ; if Mile . Avenel is a trifle better than Mrs . Winstanley * she is si ill far from tolerable . On the French , as on the English Stage , I miss the elegance and parfnfn de bonne sdcUte , which the Subject imperatively demands , in order that vice , in losing all its grossness , should lose half its deformity .

    Rachel I except . The high-bred elegance of her manner is as remarkable as the finesse and truth of her emotion ; and 1 will take advantage of the occasion to say a few words on the The Natural in acting , of which her performance was an example . To play a part naturally you must not drag it down to your nature , but project yourself into the nature of the character represented . You do not pourtray nature by laying aside the Mask , and allowing the audience to see your commonplace features ; but by selecting the Mask which represents the character . The nature of Maebeih is not

    asked me if I should like to go to the play 5 whereat I blushed , trembled , grinned , but could not speak . He Wrote an order , with a careless indifference , as if it were a mere nothing ; and I thought I never beheld so majestic a being . To write orders when one liked , — that certainly appeared to me an Oriental magnificence of power : and yet how indifferent he seemed to it ! I understand him now . I am the boy who vowed he Would have pliim-puddifcg every day when he was a man , and haven't the digestion to attempt it more

    to be represented by the nature of Mr . Smith . A woman may wring her hands and redden her nose with grief , which would be natural enough in the back kitchen ; but this nature cannot be accepted as the expression of Cordelia ' s agony . In Art we must never forget the Beautiful , unless when striving after the Grotesque j and grief—or any other emotion in acting—which copies too servilely the grimaces of vulgar nature , should be avoided by all serious artists . You speak in rhythm , you must temper even gestures with a certain artificial grace . The Roman Gladiator died in a picturesque and graceful attitude to the applause of the

    Amphithan once a year ! The appetite is gone ; the keen relish of youth , the willingness to be pleased , the belief that actors are beings of superhuman virtue , grace , and genius—gone , gone for ever ; and the " orders" abound ! Instead of flushing and trembling now at the notion of going to the play , it is ten to one that I grumble and wish the Puritans Would return and shut up all the theatres . If you imagine , because I write sometimes in a

    theatre : what he did in terrible earnest , you must imitate in earnest art . Indeed , the proposition is self-evident , that " to represent a character naturally" means to represent it according to its nature , not according to your own . Bouffe and Charles Mathews , amidst all their amazing Varieties of character , are always natural j Kean was natural in Shylock , Othello , Sir Giles 5 Macready was natural in Werner ; Grit-i is natural in Norma ; Viardot in tides ; Ronconi in the Podesta . That is to say , each selects a Mask more or less typical of the character to be represented ; and having selected it , does not once let it fall *

    strain of enthusiasm about plays and players , that I often go willingly to the theatre , you are mistaken . The old passion will break out sometimes , it ' s true ; and I believe that good plays and good acting are as great enjoyments to me as to a school-boy . But when do we see good plays and good acting ? How many nights am I forced to give up to Melpomene and bad breath , and only to be wearied ? Talk of Prometheus and his vulture

    by that fallacious standard !) might regret the dkl not make a " point" of it . 6 ut whoevef has BMft Rachel must know how easy it is for her to make a " point ' * if she choose ; and must see that her nOH doing so was in obedience to her high artistic taete * Of the whole part I may say that it affords little scope for great effects , and some of the Rachel admirers were disappointed in it j but , for myself ) I think it as rare a piece of art as can be sfeertj and I prefer it to Adrienna Leeouvre & r with its great " effects . * " Such dignity , such gtace , each tenderness , one does not often see anywhere * The whole of that interview with her lover , where he taxes her

    with infamy and gives her the Due ' s letter , was as fine , in its way , as the fourth act of Canaille * Her reading the letter , — the bewildered expressions flitting across her face , like cloud-shadows ov « r a meadow land , —the struggling of her mind to appfe * hend the meaning , —and the dignified touching pain with which she met that meaning when it rose Into her mind , —were such as only a great actress cVuld have rendered . And then how subtle , and hotr true her manner of saying , Ah ! que je suis heureuse ! when all is explained * and her loVer once more is circled in her loving arms . Instead of being joyful at the words , * Ah ! how happy I feel ! " she drew the back of her hand across her

    forehead j and , with drooping eyes and faltering voice , expressed that joy itself Was a sort of paint in its intensity—which we all know to be the effect of sudden joy . It is impossible for me to describe the delight with which this performance filled me . The little nothings were made exquisite bj manner . He very curtsey was an effect . The simplest speeches acquired a significance which was surprising ; attd if any interest could have been excited by the play itself , or by the other actors , I should have set Saturday evening last among my Calendar of

    Enjoyments . One pleasant thing about the St . James ' Theatre is the absence of claqueurs ; and I mention it , because at the Opera and at our own theatres , I anl sorry to see a growing tendency in the direction of claque , which promises to make it as great a nuisance as in France . In Berlin , the Government has interdicted all sounds of approbation or disap- > probation in the theatre ; but that has been done from political rather than artistic motives , and

    must materially diminish the enjoyment of the audience , to say nothing of the actors . I would rather have a bawJing claque with its beery enthusiasm , than not be allowed to shout my own approval at a touch of art . Yet , why is this express sion of emotion so necessary to us ? We do not applaud in churches , be the preacher never so eloquent . That is , we do Hot now applaud ; in Jeremy Taylor ' s time applause and hisses were as common in the church as in the theatre—tnais nous

    avons change tout cela . Now we sit quiet in pewg and noisy in our boxes . Applause stimulates the actor , and relieves the oppressed bosoms of tb . 6 audience ; but you can always distinguish genuine applause from the claque , so that this latter is but a paltry invention after all ! Paltry as it ie , it has its history . The Greeks had their a-o < potc'ket 4 , or paid eulogists , as Pliny the Younger informs us

    It waa all very well for him to fling his clamorous at a' i upon the Grecian air , but what were his sufferings to mine P—his benevolence must have beeh gratified with the reflection , that his evergvowing liver at least afforded sustenance to an interesting individual of the animal creation , whereas my sufferings benefit nobody—not even Jones , who thinks me au " enemy , " because I don t admire his " heavy father . " Alas ! alas ! and has it come to this ? orders for the play no longer a rapture-giving sound ! sic transit gloria ! 1 have so much to tell you this weik that I don ' t know how to begin , and I prelude till I can get into the riirht key .

    when speaking of the Laudicceni in Rome ; and , indeed , it was but just that if the Poet or Orator remorselessly insisted on reading you his produc * tions , he should at least recompense your halfstifled yawn and energetic bravo with a supper , or a present of some kind . A terrible and remorseless race the Poets ! As Piron says , you cannot escape the Poet :- ^ -

    Applying these general principles to Rachel , I say that anything more exquisitely natural than her Mile , de Belle Isle cannot bo named . The young naive provincial it was not in her power to represent ; her physique forbade it , no less than the attitude of her mind . But she was the young , simple , high-bred lady , to whom sorrow had given a gravity tempering the buoyancy of youth—who , bred up in the country , was perfectly innocent of all the intrigues of court ; but was , nevertheless , a high-born

    " I ) u torrent de sea vera sans cesse il tous inondtf . Tout le premier lul m £ me il en raille , il ei \ tit . Grimuce ! l ' auteur peree " . . . Such being his malady , the least set-off lie could make was a decent supper . But , now-a-days > the claque is hired in a more systematic manner ; opera boxes have replaced suppers ; ' * orders " purchase the sweet voices " ! NOT SO BAT ) AS WE SEtiAf . You never read Petrotiius Arbiter , of course : he in loo improper ? I have . But to the pure all

    LA FAVOlilTA ought to draw from me an elaborate article ; but it i » , musically speaking , so trivial that I shall say nothing , but pass at once to the singers who may quickly be despatched . Mario is still in delicate health , and sang Fernando with such obvious avoidance of the high notes that 1 do not think ho ought to Have appeared . The cavatina , " Un ange , une femme inuonnue , " was poorly given , the

    woman with all the elegance and refinement of her enste . This # ave an exquisite charm to her first scene , as , indeed , to the whole performance , and rendered peculiarl y effective that scene with the Due de Richelieu , m which , overcome by his apparent effrontery in asserting that lie was the night before in hev room , she exclaims , Vous mentez ! Here Mr . Slous has committed an unpardonable translation ; for he has coarsened vouh mentez into " tbou liest . " I beg to assure him that vous tnenten has no hugIi use in French 1 and that when Mrs .

    things are pure ! This , however , I will say , that although scholars may priori the Natyrlctiti fbr its pictures of llonrnn life 11 mi its occasional glimpses of elegAnce hhd poetry , the careful parent will not place it in thti hrtntln of His daughters . Among th * few things I noted in that chaos of pruriency waft one pnsHHgw about the poverty of authors , where our ill-clad poet proudly drupes himself in his rags , and answering thfe rtttttetioft of wherefore hft is so ill-clad , replies with a dignified Ba . tinen »—Jtomuie the lore of lettefH nettf ytt ttatAt mftn

    jjrand passage of ascending scale where lie snaps hi * sword in the King ' s face , "Car vouh eteu rois " which Duprez made ho trcincnriouh , Mario ( ook in falsetto , and endeavoured by irony to produce the effect—and failed . But in the last act it was evident he had reserved himself for tile ' ' Ange si P » r , " which , bating a little huKkiheKS , he » an £ with enchantin g effect , and in the final dud With GriBi hie wad also him & elf utain . Tamberlik , for

    Kean uttered the words , I felt my flesh creep , and was literally " shocked" to hear a younff , highbred lady make ho outrafffcotis a speech . The quiet , hiinghty indignation of Rachel ' s vdus mentez was marvellous : it did not draw forth a storm of applause , 60 that an English actor ( testing everything

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 21, 1851, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_21061851/page/17/