The Express.
London, England, 1856-05-13 00:00:00

MADAME IUSTOIU.

If the world of critics and playgoers in London
were as excitable as the ootrespooding world in Paris,
we should anticipate a kind of artistic convulsion
next month. The Ristori is coming to London to
carry a, it is anticipated, similar honours to those
which she has gained in France. By the bye, tho
use of the definite article, to denote the preammenc•
of the goddesses of art, has a significance, which
speaks strongly for the enthusiasm of oar continental
neighbeeirs. " Oriel" sounds but coldly in the ears of
• Frenchman or Italian. He is satisfied with
nothing less than " Lo Orin " or " La Diva," and a
like principle animates him in his designation of
most of his favourites. Thus the Marches& del Orillo,
who has suddenly placed herself at the summit of his-
trionic fame in France, after some years' practice of
her art in Italy, is known to the impassioned French-
man only by the appellation La Ristori. Our
emaciation of artists in England is generally shown
in atomiser rather mere &obi, and perhaps not lam
flattering, than that in which the admiration of con-
tinental connoismare is displayed and we shall,
therefore, drop the article and speak of the gifted
artiste simply as Made= Ristori.
It may give our readers some idea of the enthu-
siasm which Madame Ristori has excited in Franco
if we my that, in the division of the favours show-
ered on her and Mae. Rachel, Madame Ristori now
takes the lion's share. With how much justice the
English nation will soon have an opportunity of
deciding—the French critics have quietly deposed Ma.
Rachel from her throne and have installed
Madame Maori in her place. It is not for us to
endeavour to forestall the judgment of the public in
En land. Madame Ristori will appear before an
atadianee at least us capable as any in Europe of
coming to a proper declaim on her merits. We shall
content ourselves with • rapid sketch of her previous
ewes.

Site was born in Venetian Lombardy, but wee
educated in Rome, when her talents were first deve-
loped. her admirers ars food of assuming that it
was in the long galleries and the vast squares of the
Eternal City, crowded with works of genius, that
she first received those impulses which drove her
to the study of the art by which she has
acquired her fame. What amount of truth there
may be in this assumption it is difficult
to say. There is little doubt, however, that it was
not until late in life that her vocation towards tra-
gedy was determined. We hear, indeed, that at the
age of fourteen she appeared in the part of Fran-
cesca in Sylvia Pellioo's tragedy, but we find that at
a still later period, in 1840 namely, she played
simple parts in the company of comedians attached
to the coast of the King of Sardinia. In 1848, at
the age. of twenty-loar, she married the Marquis
Capranica del Grillo, and as a consequence quitted
the stage. But the perfume of the incense which we
may presume had been offered up before her hanated
her sense; the impulse of the genius of which
she was conscious was perpetually goading her
to action, and at the end of a repose of two
years she appeared again before a public only
too glad to welcome an old favourite. The
occasion of her re-appearanos is variously told. It is,
however, generally believed that the newly-made
marchioness cootrived to consult both her inclination
aad her benevolent feelings by consentiog to act for
a manager in distress—a ruined impresario. The
effect was electrical; the public voice was pro-
nounced decidedly, and the marchioness ones mere
took her place as the actress. Adelaide Riatori
was henosforth to be known to fame by her maiden
name.

We. Sr. afraid that this story, which, although it
ham been differently told, is, without doubt, founded
on truth, does away with the claims put forward by
the French as the discoverers of the genius of
Ristori. The French critics are really so clever,
so dishing, so filled with that most graceful
of all egotism. which identifies their country with
themselves, that it goes against the grain to deprive
them of any jewel of the crown with which they so
jauntily adorn themselves. Nevertheless, there eau be
no doubt that Madame Ristori bad a reputation
before she came to Paris—that this reputation was
sufficient to justify the company of which she was the
chief actress in engaging one of the largest theatres
in Paris for her first appearance, and that her talents
alone were supposed to be sufficient to make amends
for the shortcomings of an imperfect troop. How-
ever, the French claim for themselves the credit of
discovering Ristori's genius. "It was reserved for
the criticism of Paris," says one writer, " to reveal the
intellectual portion of the talent of the artist, a prodigy
which neither Turin, nor Milan, nor Naples could
ever have accomplished." The ignorant Italians only
saw the great pAysical capabilities of the actress.
" What happened," says the same writer, " what
this lady presented herself before a public calm and
kind, but thoroughly in earnest, losing not one in-
flection of the voice, not a single detail ? She was
obliged to concentrate her forces, to become inspired
with the situation, and, working with intense love
and labour, she gave, like Pygmalion, life to what
would otherwise have been an inanimate statue."
" Bee what the advice of some distinguished indi-
viduals and the lofty sagacity of the Parisian public
have effected."

Whatever part the Parisian public played in ex-
citing the talents of the artist, it is certain that Ma-
dame Ristori benefited by it very quickly. At the
end of the third act of " Francon& di Riegel," is
which she made her first appearance, she was rem-
aimed as the greatest actress in the world. "We ex-
pected little better than a sweet crestime," said
Jules Janin, "when in a moment the audience,
awakened and roused to admiration, recognise the
miracle. They listen, they gaze, they weep, they
admire. It is an electric shock. All of a
sudden the action busts into life, the tragedy is
accepted, and the tragedian, who before was trem-
bling, sees that the public comprehends her suffer-
ings. Seldom have I seen public enthssium ma-
nifested in a more unexpected manner. The
actress and the audience at first were strangers.
There was a wall between this woman and the
public, when, lo! in an instant, everything is under-
stood ; silence, words, actions, looks. A moment be-
fore, a well-educated public was listening courteously
to a foreigner. Now she is an accepted, a grand
artist. Every one feels the influenee of her charms.
recognises her beauty." This triumphal debut
took plans on the 22nd of May last, and since that
tints Madame Ristori has reigned triumphant over
the playgoing world in Paris. She has at present a
limited repertoire, her principal characters being
11-ant-ewes di Rimini, l'io, Mgrra, in Alfiert's tragedy
of that name ; and Maria Sguarda, in Maffei 's
translation of Schiller's play. In these, ea
in other characters, she has shown powers of
, the very highest kind. She is, moreover, endowed by
nature with qualities which, although not absolutely
necessary to the accomplished artist, add materially
to her capabilities of exciting the sympathies. Her
face is beautiful and expressive, and even in repose is
marked with intelligence. In figure she is tall, and
magnificently proportioned. Her voice is full, and
marvellously flexible. Her beauty, it is said, owes
nothing to art for the power which it exercises upon
the spectators, as she refuses to make use of any of
those
.preperations by which actresses in general en-
deavour to hide defects, or to heighten graces. She
appears in her natural complexion. It remains to be
seen what effect Madams Ristori's beauty and artistic
excellecce will hays upon an English public. In the
meantime we may congratulate ourselves that we
shall enjoy the advantage of seeing the tragedian in
a theatre when we shall not lose the minute graces
of her action by distance. The Lyceum is far
better calculated for the dieplay of tine acting than a
larger theatre. Distance lends no enchantment to
the view when a great actress is the object of
attraction.