United States or Paraguay ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
That night he was like a perturbed spirit seeking for rest and finding none; unable to drag himself away from that last touching and splendid vision of Adrienne Lecouvreur, and yet, almost unable to bear it. Everybody in the theater knew to whom that empty box belonged it was to the worst enemy of Adrienne Lecouvreur.
Here it was that the Marquis de Prerolles appeared in the evening after his experience at the skating-pond. He had dressed, and had dined in great haste at a restaurant near the theatre. The posters announced a revival of 'Adrienne Lecouvreur', with Mademoiselle Gontier in the principal role, in which she was to appear for the first time.
I had visited fifty cities, and given 156 performances, as follows: La Dame aux Camelias . . . . 65 performances Adrienne Lecouvreur . . . . 17 " Froufrou . . . . . . . 41 " La Princesse Georges . . . . 3 " Hernani . . . . . . . 14 " L'Etrangere . . . . . . 3 " Phedre . . . . . . . 6 " Le Sphinx . . . . . . 7 " Total receipts . . . . 2,667,600 francs Average receipts . . . 17,100 "
She speaks herself of "obligatory amusements, the insistence of men, and of love affairs." Yet how could such a woman as Adrienne Lecouvreur keep herself from love affairs? The motion of the stage and its mimic griefs satisfied her only while she was actually upon the boards. Love offered her an emotional excitement that endured and that was always changing.
Count Saxe and Monsieur Voltaire had a tacit agreement to visit Mademoiselle Lecouvreur on different days, although I believe the sense that she would soon be lost to both of them softened their feelings one to the other. All this time Mademoiselle Lecouvreur could still act, three times a week; but when she was not at the theater she was usually in her bed and always patient, gentle and smiling.
But Edwin Booth, John McCullough, and others, encouraged her to study English and appear upon the American stage. She did so, and four months later appeared at San Francisco as Adrienne Lecouvreur. She had an instant success, and for more than thirty years maintained her position as one of the greatest actresses of the day.
It would have been better for me, perhaps, if I had been born to earn my living as Mademoiselle Lecouvreur did, on the stage, than to have been the heiress of the Capellos." I was thunderstruck when she said this. I had never known her to express a wish for any other station in life than the one to which she had been born; and, indeed, she had no reason to do so.
But it was not she who was destined to win and hold the love of Maurice de Saxe. Not long after his appearance in the French capital he was invited to dine with the "Queen of Paris," Adrienne Lecouvreur. Saxe had seen her on the stage. He knew her previous history.
She was one of the glories of Paris, for she became the fashion outside the theater. For the first time the great classic plays were given, not in the monotonous singsong which had become a sort of theatrical convention, but with all the fire and naturalness of life. Being the fashion, Mlle. Lecouvreur elevated the social rank of actors and of actresses.
This is what the Figaro of August 16, 1880, said: "Sarah Bernhardt has played Adrienne Lecouvreur with a tremendous success before a magnificent audience. The royal family, the King and the Queen of the Hellenes, as well as the Princess of Wales, were present at the performance. The Queens threw their bouquets to the French artiste, amidst applause. It was an unprecedented triumph.
Word Of The Day