3 1210 01712 6168 \Ji 1 ^^i<!ii<f^>l^iSlSISIililllSff0i<f<^i^^^^^ y^D&LAIDE p^STOR^ ;^. UBRARt DIVERSITY OF CALIFOf RiVEfiSlOE JTamoii5 Momeiu ADELAIDE R I S T O R I. : Already published George Eliot. By Miss Blind. Emily Bronte. By Miss Robinson. George Sand. By Miss Thomas. Mary Lamb. By Mrs. Gilchrist. Margaret Fuller. By Julia Ward Howe. Maria Edgeworth. By Miss Zimmern. Elizabeth Fry. By Mrs. E. R. Pitman. The Countess of Albany. By Vernon Lee. Mary Wollstonecraft. By Mrs. E. R. Pennell. Harriet Martineau. By Mrs. F. Fenwick Miller. Rachel. By Mrs. Nina H. Kennard. Madame Roland. By Mathilda Blind. Susanna Wesley. By Eliza Clarke. ^LAJiGARET OF Angouleme. By iNIiss Robinson. Mrs. Siddons.' By Mrs. Nina H. Kennard. Madame de Stael. By Bella Duffy. Hannah -More. By Charlotte M. Yonge. Adelaide Ristori. An Autobiography. ADELAIDE RISTORI STUDIES AND MEMOIRS. ^n ^utoluograpjjix-. BOSTON: ROBERTS BROTHERS. iS8S. Copyright, 1888, By Roberts Brothers. University Press; John Wilson and Son, Cambridge. PREFACE. "Life is a journey,'- they say. Certainly this proverb could be applied to me. My existence has been wholly passed in long journeys, and I have carried on my art in all countries. Under every sky I have personated the immortal heroines of immortal masterpieces, and I have seen the powerful accents of human passion thrill with intense emotion the most different peoples. I have brought into this task, often very heavy, my whole art conscience ; I have sought even to live the actual life of the personages I represented ; I have studied the manners of their times ; I have gone back to historical sources, which enabled me to reconstitute faithfully their personality, sometimes gentle, sometimes terrible, always grand. The applause bestowed upon me has rewarded my honest efforts; but I must say again that I have experienced the most lively pleasure when I suc- ceeded in identifying myself sufficiently with the (v) VI PREFACE. characters of the tragedies which I was playing; when I felt myself inspired by the great breath which animated them, and my whole soul vibrated to the passions I was to interpret. I have often left the stage, after extreme tension of nerves, half dead with fatigue and emotion, but always happy. —— CONTENTS. Chap. Page. I. Childhood and Debut in Italy . i II. First Journey to France . 23 III. My First Tour in Europe . .50 IV. Long Tour in Europe, and First Visit TO America . -70 V, Second Visit to America, and other Artistic Journeys . 102 VI. Journey round the World . .109 VII. Mary Stuart . 140 VIII. Myrrha 17s IX. Medea 197 X. Phaedra 222 XL Lady Macbeth , . 249 XII. Queen Elizabeth .... 267 ADELAIDE RISTORI. CHAPTER I. CHILDHOOD AND DEBUT IN ITALY. Born a member of an artistic family, it was nat- ural that I should be dedicated to the dramatic art, and this being, as it were, my natural destiny, it is not surprising that my parents should have accus- tomed me to the footlights even from my birth. For I was not yet three months old when, a child being wanted in a little farce called The New Year's Gift, the manager availed himself of the services of the latest addition to his company, and I, poor baby, with my mother's consent, made my first appearance in public. The subject of the comedy was extremely simple and common-place. A young lady having been for- bidden by her father to marry the lover to whom she was passionately attached, wedded him clandestinely, and in due time had a son. Not having the courage to communicate this terrible fact to her inexorable parent, the young mother de- cided to confide in an old man, who was a dependent of the house, and who had helped her in other diffi- culties. He sympathised greatly with the troubles (i) ! 2 ADELAIDE RIS TOR I. of the two delinquents, promised to assist them to obtain the paternal pardon, and for that purpose decided on a singular stratagem. It was the custom then, as it is now, to give pres- ents at the beginning of the New Year. In country districts the proprietors of estates and owners of houses are considered as the principal people of the neighborhood, and their tenants are in the habit of then offering to their master the best of their fruits, their largest fowls, and their finest eggs. So the worthy servant in the comedy determined to place the poor child in a large cov^ered basket among the fruit and poultry (taking, of course, every precaution that it was neither crushed nor suffocated), and sent it by a peasant to his master. The stage was duly prepared for the arrival of the customary offerings. All the family and the guests who had been dining with the master of the house collected round the basket as soon as it was brought in, ready to admire its contents, and in the back- ground appeared the comic countenance of the good servant, who rubbed his hands with a smiling and self-satisfied air as he waited patiently for the success of his stratagem. At last his master opened the basket. With real satisfaction he began to take out and examine the various gifts. First the fowls, then the eggs, then the fruit ; but it seemed as though the excessive fra- grance of this latter had affected me, for before there was time to lift me from the basket I began to shriek in lusty tones. Imagine the amazement produced by such an appearance on the stage — CHILDHOOD AND DEBUT IN ITALY. 3 The grandfather, in his surprise, took an involun- tary step backward, while his good old servant, with- out much ceremony, lifted me from the basket and placed me in his arms. The spectators stood with their mouths open, the husband and wife tried to justify themselves ; but my cries increased so much in intensity, and gave such evident proof of my good lungs, that I was hastily carried off to my mother's chamber, where I found what alone would quiet me at that moment. The public, of course, went into a fit of laughter especially as it seems that my voice was then so loud and shrill as completely to drown the actors' words. Whenever my mother related this incident to me and Heaven knows she was never weary of repeat- ing it—she always laughed until the tears came into her eyes. On another occasion, when I was about three years of age, a play called Bianca and Fernando, by Avel- loni, was put upon the stage. The time was the Middle Ages, and I had to take the part of the little boy belonging to the widowed mistress of the castle, who was passionately beloved by a noble knight. But another great personage in the neighborhood, to whose care her dying husband had confided his wife, and who possessed the supreme power in that country, was also in love with the lady, and desirous of gaining her hand. There was one scene in the play in which this lat- ter nobleman, seeing himself constantly repulsed by the widow, and finding she was determined to unite herself to the man of her heart, cost what it might, 4 ADELAIDE RIS TOR I. resolved to raise such a tumult as would frighten her into compliance with his wishes. The partisans of both combatants were ready to come to blows, when the lady thrust herself between them to try and avert the conflict. Thereupon the tyrant seized the child who had been left alone for a moment, and threatened to murder him unless the mother did as he desired. Then ensued a general panic. It was in vain they tried to snatch me from his arms. The cries of my poor mother ascended to heaven. The tumult and noise terrified me. I began to cry, to fight about in my captor's grasp, to pull his beard with my little hands, and scratch his face in my attempts to free myself. And with such success that at last he let me slip from his arms, and I scampered away as fast as my legs would carry me, screaming at the top " of my voice, Mamma ! mamma! he is hurting me!" and eluding all the efforts of the actors to catch me, while they exclaimed, "Stop! stop! It is a joke! " it is nothing ! I was speedily behind the scenes, where I threw myself into the arms of my mother, and clung to her in spite of all the efforts of those who came in search of me to continue the act. Alas ! they were obliged to drop the curtain amid universal laughter. Seeing myself such a favorite with the public, although a little girl, I had already acquired a good share of the cunning of the stage, and, understanding that I bore an important part in our little company, I had begun to take the tone and airs of a grown-up woman. I remember it was then the custom for the most " CHILDHOOD AND DEBUT IN ITALY. 5 fluent and easy-mannered of the company to come before the curtain in the interval before the last act and announce the play for the following evening to the public, indicating also which actor or actress would sustain the principal character in it; and, ac- cording to the interest the public took in the player announced, there would be either a murmur of ap- probation or a hearty applause. The members of the company crowded with curiosity to the curtain to listen to this manifestation of the public.