Idols of the French Stage

I D O L S O F T H E F R E N C H S T A G E B! H T H E R L A N D E D WA R D S . S U I N T WO VO L UM E S . V O L . I I . S E C O N D E D I T I O N . fi n n d n n M I N T N C O P B L I S H E G O , U H N R I A S T R E E T C O V N G A R D N E ETT , E T E , 1 8 8 9 . C O N T E N T S . IN G U I M A R D MADEL E , UG Z ON MADAME D A , OIS C I ON MADEM ELLE LA R , A O I S C ON T T M DEM ELLE A , E OI S U C OU T MAD M ELLE RA R , M A S I N T - H U B T ! DAME DE A ER , C H RA EL , D S H B N H T . ARA ER AR , 39 9 3?O ID E E OLS OF THE FR NCH STAG . MA D E L EI N E G UI MA RD . MAD L IN G UI MA R D E E E , a dancer, who excited as much admiration , and scattered as many fortunes o n as any woman who ever appeared the stage , was o f ugly, thin, sallow complexion , and marked - . L with the smallpox ord Mount Edgecumbe, in his R emin iscen ces , tells us that when , at an advanced she fo r age , appeared the second time at the ’ ’ i she l K ng s (now Her Maj esty s) Theatre, stil “ possessed grace and gentility, adding that she had never been distinguished by anything more substantial . V O L . II . [ d / o F re m é ta 2 o s f S ge . Although by no means the last celebrated dancer o n sh e who appeared the French stage , was the last dancer of French origin who acquired celebrity o f f . C o in France amargo , one the most famous her predecessors , was Spanish by birth ; Taglioni , o n e o f o f the most illustrious her followers , was Ve stris Italian . The four members of the family , who , for about a century, directed the ballet in France, were also Italians (their original name Ve stri being ), and it would be easy to show that dancing as an art was, like gloves , fans, and other trifling but tasteful things , introduced into France . B o r ias from Italy Pope Alexander VI and the g , v ga e magnificent ballets at a time when the ballet, as a dramatic form , was unknown in France . - According, however, to Castil Blaze , who has investigated with equal care the history of the o f o f ballet and the opera in France , traces d iv ertisscmcms o r , more less in dramatic style , may be found at so early a period as that of King o f u C aribe rt Paris . This sovereign had previo sly f cared only fo r the pleasures o hunting. The his chase was sole amusement , his daily occupa the tion ; and , in pursuit of wild beasts , he quite ’ ’ M ade le in e G m ma ra . 3 n I n o b e r e eglected his Queen g g , who remained o desolate at home , and enjoyed nly an occasional o f glimpse her royal husband . In order to keep I n o b e r e him near her , g g had recourse to the c o f harms music , and instituted concerts at her palace , consisting of hymns , chants , and national o f songs , such being the only music that arib e rt e . C period , however , se ms to have found these entertainments depressing , and preferred the l - f - bug e call o his huntsme n . In despair at the little success by which her endeavours had been attended , the Queen now thought that a result might be o btained through e ntertainments o f a lighter and more engaging fkin d . Dancing and orchestral music she especially counted on ; and the King , kindly renouncing his ’ field sports for a few days , found the Queen s new idea so much to his taste that h e soon gave up hunting and shooting altogether . o f The spirit, however , the hunter was still f ari r strong W ithin the breast o C b e t. Only he had f hi c o s . hanged the obj ects pursuit Two sisters , o f ravishing beauty , dancing like sylphs , and sing in n o w g like syrens , occupied in his heart the ’ Me F f e m fi ta e 4 [ ao/s of S g . Méro place formerly held by partridges and deer. fiede and M o rco v ére were the medi aeval names o f the young women who had so completely cap ’ tiv ate d C arib e rt s their prince ; and soon wife , the I n o b e r e she too ingenious g g , saw that the remedy had contrived was worse than the evil she had L sought to avert . aws in those days were loose , and kings powerful ; and before long the singing and the dancing , the talent, the beauty , and the o f im charm the two sisters , had made such an pression o n the happy King o f Paris that he o n married them e after the other. o f Towards the end the fourteenth century, in 1 393 n o t r the year , a masquerade , but a regula ballet , was given, in which Charles VI. had a narrow escape of his life . The Duchess de Berri had given the ballet in her palace at the Gobelins , at which all the members o f her Court were o f a present. Suddenly a party masks dressed s o f savages appeared , when the Duke Orleans , who probably knew already who they were , took d up a torch in or er to examine them at his ease , h and set fire to the linen whic , seamed with h pitc , covered their corsets . The flames spread ' ’ a ra M ade le in e G a z m . 5 f o n e n rom to a other, and soon the savages , all v ablaze , were shrieking like men possessed . E ery o n e rushed towards the doors ; but, in the midst o f o f this scene terror and disorder , the Duchess , o f who was in the secret the masquerade , recog n ise d him the King, and , covering with her dress , thus preserved him from the fire . The fright, however, with which he had been seized , had the e ffect of making him fall period ically into fits o f madness , which gradually became worse and worse . Count de Jouy and the Bastard of Foix had perished miserably ; and the young Nantouillet would have been broiled like ham had he not o f thrown himself into a tub water . The Parisians c onceived violent suspicions against the Duke of O rleans , thinking that the act was premeditated a n d for many days he was obliged to remain in his palace without daring to show himself . To e xpiate his crime , he built a chapel at the Célestins , an d hastened to found a pious service for the souls o f those who had died from this accident . Good solo dancing , moreover, if not ballets in s e t form , might be seen at the Court of Francis I . ; and the graceful and ingenious Marguerite de t/z e F re ez e/z ia e 6 [ d o/s of S g . Valois has been called the Taglioni of her time . o f o f L o w Don John Austria, Viceroy the Countries - went to Paris post haste from Brussels , travelling in co . se e g , in order to Marguerite dance a minuet , after which he at once returned to his head at quarters . France, however, knew nothing this time o f such ballets as the B o rgias were in the ’ o n fi habit o f getting up . The Sovereign P ti s had 1 5 00 already, in , a theatre which was celebrated for the splendour of its decorations and the in it six ge n u y of its machinery . Throughout the te e n th century the Italian composers were much occu pied both with the ballet and with the lyric drama ; and a ballet bearing a strong resemblance to an Opera was performed in Paris, under the B altaz arin i superintendence of , rather more than three hundred years ago . B altaz arin i , who , after establishing himself in o f B e au o e u x France , took the name j y , without being introduced into France by Catherine de Medicis, was sent there at her request, and by her was received , and formally appointed to his prescribed duties . He came accompanied by a band of violins ; a n d Catherine at once arranged ' ’ M e l in e G a zma ra a d e . 7 for B altaz arin i and his musicians to give proofs of their ability as composers and executants , o f with whom were associated Beaulieu , Master i .

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