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with familiar eyes of mutual understanding , to a considerable extent , such as the dog and the horse . So , in a less and lower degree , does the cow ; but the bull always looks at you with uplifted inquiry and defiance : " Man delights not him . " The sight of a woman in a red cloak ( to invert the story of the blind man , who , being asked -what idea he had of scarlet , replied that it seemed to him like the sound of a trumpet ) often appears to excite the imagination of the bull to a warlike mood . But while
various domestic animals , and birds too , regard us with a sort of " knowing " look , others stare at us with a vague wonder , hopeless of understanding our strange conformation and behaviour . Again , another set of them seem to speculate upon us ; try to make us out ; endeavour to break through the inexplicable barrier that divides us ; hold their heads on one side ; sniff , give nervous starts , and cock their ears . The majority , how * ever , either fear us , and make off ; or else take no sort of notice of us . —Science in Fable .
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RACHEL . A cbowded house welcomed the great tragic actress on Monday night ; but although she was called for at the end of the second , fourth , and fifth acts to receive the applause of her admirers , —although the murmur and the shudder -which , from time to time ran through the audience showed that she was appreciated by some present , yet there was no enthusiasm , no tumult of applause such as proceeds from an entire audience wrought to excitement by a powerful artist . Whose the fault ? Was Rachel incompetent to produce a grand effect , or were the
people incompetent to understand it ? Considering the amount of knowledge and taste usually displayed on the subject of the French Drama , and bearing in view the assiduity with which every third spectator read the play while it was going forward , our verdict is unequivocal . Of the few persons in the theatre competent to appreciate a fine work of art , there was a small section who could pretend to relish Racine . The answer is always ready : French Art is so French ( as if that were wonderful !) and so unnatural ( as if the aim of Art was to be natural !) and so cold ( especially to us who do not feel the language !) These
critics never ask themselves how it is that a work of art like the Phedre , can have withstood the tests of criticism , fluctuations of opinion , and schoolboy familiarity for nearly two centuries , incessantly performed , " incessantly read , once the delight of all Europe and ever the glory and delight of France , and yet be a cold , unnatural , uninteresting production . Excellent critics ! They form their views of Art exclusively upon the Shakspeare model , and aiding their prejudices with an adequate ignorance of the language ( though invariably ** mistaken for
Frenchmen" !) pronounce Racine no poet . " Schiller and Goethe may be tolerated because they are Shakspearean ; Sophocles also gets a good word on the same ground ; while Calderon is spoken of with reverence , because the Schlegels in a delirium of error pronounced him equal to— nay , superior to Shakspeare ! As for Alfieri , Racine , and Corneiile , they are scouted because they are not Shakspearean . In the same Catholic spirit , Titian is held of no account by some who worship Raffaelle ; Caravaggio " wants art , " because he has not the manner of
Correggio . We have indicated the current opinion to explain why Rachel is not properly appreciated . You cannot be intensely excited by a work you do not understand . Nor is it the best way to judge of an actress to keep your eyes fixed upon a book ( we once saw a lady in a private box not content with her book , but absolutely hunting out the words in her dictionary !) when so eloquent a book is before you in her face . Nevertheless , there were persons in the house who
did feel the greatness of the art they witnessed , who were moved to the very depths , whose murmurs and bursts of applause told how their souls were thrilled ; and even our friends whose eyes were fixed upon their books were sufficiently moved by the mere tones of her voice , the passion of her speech so eloquently expressing the passion of the poetry to bravo and clap their hands with something like enthusiasm .
Nothing finer could be seen than this picture of the unutterable mournfulness and yielding despair of a soul torn with an incestuous passion , conscious of its guilt , struggling with its guilt , yet so filled with it , so moved by it , so possessed by it , that the verae was realized : — " C'est VCnus touto entttre a ea proie attachde . " Her entrance as she appeared , wasting away with the fire that consumed her , standing on the verge of the grave , her face pallid , her eyes hot , her arms and hands emaciated , filled us with a ghastly horror ; and the slow deep mournful toning of the apostrophe to the sun , especially in that closing line , —
" Soleil , je te viens voir pour la dcrni&re fois , " produced a thrill , such as no spoken language seemed capable of producing : one looks to music only for such emotion . Then , again , how exquisitely remorseful and pathetic the lines : —
" Graces au ciel , mes mains ne sont point criminelles , Fldt aux Dieux que mon cceur fut innocent comme elles ;" ( which is a beautiful rendering of the line in Euripides , X « pe ? fAev ae . yya . ty < j > pyv ^' e % « piota-pat t ») . But the whole of this scene was inexpressibly affecting , and in gesture , look , tone , and conception in the very highest style of tragic art . There was but one defect ( the Times considers it a beauty ) , and that was the mode of uttering the famous c ' est ^ toi qui Vas nommi , which we take to have been a misconception of its meaning , the more remarkable from the intense truth with which she gave the hurrying horror of the preceding lines , where with a shiver between each phrase , yet irresistibly impelled to utter her thoughts , she said : — " Tu vas ou ' ir le comble des horreurs ...
J ' aime ... a ce nom fatal je tremble , je frissonne . J ' aime ... CEnone . Qui ? Phedre . Tu connois ce fils de TAmazone Ce prince si long temps par moi mime oppnm < S ... CEnone . Hippolyte I Grand dieux ! Phedre . Cest toi qui Vas nomme ! " This she uttered in a sorrowfully reproachful tone , " which , " says the Times , " was beautifully touching . " It was so ; but is that Racine ' s meaning ? Ought not the line to be uttered with a sort of eager the horror of the
throwing upon CEnone of all thing by naming it ? She has kept her love long a secret ; it is a crime ; to utter it is horrible ; and CEnone utters it by naming Hippolyte . The meaning is , 'Tis you , not I , that have dared to mention his name . This meaning we take to be also that of Euripides in the passage from which Racine translated it < rov TotF ovk iyi . ov KXveiq . Otherwise a fine dramatic touch is lost ; and instead of a subtle exhibition of the sophistication of passion we have a commonplace line .
In the second act , where she declares her passion , Rachel was transcendant . There was a subtle indication of the diseased passion , of its fiery but unhealthy—irresistible and yet odious—character , in the febrile energy with which she portrayed it . It was terrible in its vehemence and abandonment ; eloquent in its horror ; fierce and rapid , as if the thoughts were crowding upon her brain in tumult ,
and varied with such amazing compass of tones , that when she left the scene our nerves were quivering with excitement almost insupportable . The storm of rage , jealousy , and despair lit up the fourth act as with flashes of lightning . Every one who has seen Rachel will remember the intense expression she throws into single words , varying thus the music of her delivery ; but we never remember anything so terrific as her
« Miserable ! etje vis ! " Other passages we have been accustomed to hear her deliver with more effect than on Monday—indeed the traces of ill health or of declining power were very visible—but this one passage reached the very height of passionate power . The other performers were indifferent . Now , indifferent acting can be put up with in Shakspeare ,
but in Racine it is fatal . Unless those beautiful verses are spoken with an excellent gusto , a sort of song—which unhappily those who strive after it mistake for sing-song—and unless this ideal world be represented in an ideal manner , it becomes excessively uninteresting . This is not the poet's fault , however . Give Racine to actors of anything like the calibre of Rachel , and what a consummation of delight would result !
On Wednesday Rachel performed " Roxane" in Bajazet . It is in striking contrast with her " Phedre . " She is a born empress . Her grace , her- distinction , her simple dignity , the ineffable majesty of her attitudes and gestures , crowned as they are by that small but singularly intellectual head , make her the most queenly womannow to beseen anywhere . Where has she learnt her dignity ? It was given her by God ! This little Jewess , picked up from the streets , whose face would be common and insignificant were it not lighted up with an expression which makes it evermemorable , she carries herself with more queenly grace of deportment than any throned monarch . Her most enchanting quality is after all perhaps her grace . 11
Roxane " is a fine part , but not one of her finest . Who ever will forget the tone in which she utters the words " une rivale , " a tone so pregnant with the exasperation of jealous scorn ? Or the intensity of her reproach : " Ldchc , indigne du jour que je t ' avais laiasais . " 6 r the calm settled irony , making one ' s blood run cold , of her reply to " Atalide ' s " assurance that he loves her still , " II y va de sa vie , au moins , que je le croie . "
The famous point— "Sortcx f" —was given with incomparable dignity ; and equally fine in its way her handling of the letter which is brought to her as found upon " Atalide" and written by " Bajazet . " She shadowed out the marvellous tampering with the heart , the irritable sophistication of one dreading to be undeceived yet unable to shut her eyes to the horrible fact , crumpling the letter , trying to despise it , yet irresistibly attracted towards it . On Friday she was to clay " Polyeucte : " but this
was too late in the week for us , and we must recur to it in our next . On Monday she is to play in Scribe ' s new piece Adrienne Lecouvreur . Of English theatricals we have nothing to chronicle . Benefit nights are frequent and tell of closing seasons .
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THE LYRIC DRAMA . I Capttletli ed i Montecchi has been the novelty at Her Majesty's Theatre , for the purpose of bringing out Mademoiselle Parodi in one of Pasta s great parts . It is an early work of Bellini—coming between the Straniera and La Sonnambula—and beaxa his signature on every page of the score . Inose whose ears have been tortured by the pretentious confusion of Verdi and Halevy , will listen with delight to its flow of simple melody ; and , if there are no airs in it so touching , so lingering in their
sweetness , so tender and graceful that they never satiate , such as make Norma , La Sonnambula , and I Puritani eternally delightful , there are , nevertheless , the germs of much that Bellini subsequently developed , and phrases of melody which caress the ear , and carry one through the opera without weariness . The instrumentation is bald even to naivete . Bellini cared for nothing but melody , and the orchestra to him was the simplest of accompaniments . It is fortunate for English audiences that Signor Romani has written a libretto of his own , and not
travestied Shakspeare . At the rising of the curtain the partisans of Capulet are assembled in his palace to receive the news that " Romeo , " the head of the Montecchi ( there is no " old Montague " ) , is coming to propose terms of peace . All are for resistance , and " Tebaldo , " to whom the hand of " Giulietta " is promised , is among the most ardent . The entrance of *« Romeo , " offering to terminate the hostility of the two houses by marrying " Giulietta , " produces a spirited scene , the refusal of his offer calling forth a defiance from " Romeo " in a really dramatic scena , admirably declaimed by Parodi ,
who here rose to the climax of her power . The next scene introduces " Giulietta * ( Madame Frezzolini ) , with a pretty cabaletta , prettily sang . " Lorenzo" ( a physician , not a friar ) brings " Romeo " to her , and a commonplace duet finishes the scene . The next scene is very striking . " Giulietta " and " Tebaldo" are about to be married , when " Romeo " endeavours to carry her , off by force ; the quintette in this finale was finely sung by Parodi , Frezzolini , Gardoni , Belletti , and Lorenzo , and produced an unanimous encore . The second act is occupied with thej incident of the sleeping- draught . " Giulietta " in vain endeavours to shake the resolution of her father , whose transient tinge of remorse eive 3 occasion to the only bass aria of the piece .
" Romeo" and " Tebaldo" meet near the palace , and are about to fight , when the funeral procession , with " Giulietta's " bier , passes along , and converts the rage of the rivals into sorrow . The duet between these two characters , first expressing mutual defiance and afterwards grief * affords excellent opportunities to the vocalists , and brings this act also to an effective conclusion . The third act is in the cemetery of the Capulets . When " Romeo" has swallowed the poison , and before he dies , " Giulietta " has an interview with him , and , after a highly dramatic scene , falls on his dead body . This is the great dramatic act of the Jpiece , and the one on which its success mainly depends , when a first-rate histrionic artist sustains the character of " Romeo . "
Mademoiselle Parodi played this scene , as indeed throughout—with intelligence and care . But she is never great , at her best . In acting , as in singing , she wants abandon , power , and charm . She is always intelligent , never entrancing . Her defiance in the first act was the greatest " hit" she made . We have no hopes of ever seeing her develope into a worthy successor of her illustrious mistress and friend-Pasta . The uncertainty of her intonation is not compensated by any flashes of genius , nor by daring grace of execution . Frezzolini is a handsome woman , with a flexible soprano ; but she was little more than respectable as " Giulietta . " In " Tebaldo" the audience welcomed their young favourite Gardoni . who has returned with increased
vigour and finish , and without any loss of that freshness which is the main charm of his voice . The air " L ' amo , ah I'amo , " in the first scene , he sang with delightful expression , and phrased it better than we have been accustomed to hear him . We could not but regret , however , to see him spoil the effect of its finale , by pausing in the climbing crescendo of emotion to introduce one of the vulgarest turns of modern tenors , who seem to think every cavatina must have the same closing phrase . We have very little doubt that this one conventionalism checked
an encore . On Thursday a great public favourite , Signor Puzzi , on the occasion of his annual benefit , treated us with Cimarosa ' s chef d ' oeuvre , II Matrimonio Segreto . Sontag was the " Carolina , " Parodi the " Fidalma" ( what a falling off from Alboni 1 ) , and Frezzolini the " Elisetta . " Lablache , of course , playing *• Geronimo" as only he can play it . The house was crowded with fashion ; but want of space forbids our this week entering into details .
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July 6 , 1850 . ] ffft « QLe&tftV . J & 85
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Leader (1850-1860), July 6, 1850, page 355, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1845/page/19/
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