The New York herald., 1870-07-24


Mime. Carvalho." The insinuatlon being that Nilsson
had failed In the impersonaton, and that Mme Car
yalho, who had formerly been identined with Mar
guerite would be pleased at her rivals disaster.
Now among all Christine Nilsson's trumphs there
is none perhaps SO strikingy illustrative OF geniu
az this attempt In Paris TO personate Marguerite
Herein she was doomed for the first time In he
career TO encounter vast opposing farce OF preJu
dlces anu to be defeated by them at first and at las
conception OF Gretchen. They had formed theil
own ideal OF Gretchen-an ideal OF the Bouevards
they had imagined her as sort OF saucy soubrette
with the manner OF a shop Qlrl--a trne unfortunate
perhaps and therefore In some measure to be ptied
OF sentiment upon girl OF that class who has been
victmlzed by q gent eman and devil in partner
ship. Any underlying formation or character any
tone OF sentiment beyond or above this Boulevard
appreciation OF the young person, was not In the
French mind. II IL existed, 1t was foreign, 1t was
German, and therefore not worth analyzing or
botherlng about In any way. the Germans were
queer, mystical, transcendental OF theOrzers;
they smoked more tnaa was good for them and ate
rees, and not a little stupid and cloudy AS
for them-the French-accepting a German point OF
nod, had incorporated and Galliclzed, it was not
to be Thought OF. tarisan audiences had seen Mar
were satisfied, and wanted nothing more
yI IN this nnnor they were unprepared for Mile.
be left In the hands OF Mine. CarvaliIo, who had
graced 1t before, and VINO was always associated
reluctantly attempted the task She undertook It,
however, In her own fashion, embodyIng her own
KaSwedge OF German ,o literature and German
the artless girl such as Goethe created,
and AIRY schener and Kaulbach depleted.
dress, the fldehty Of spirit, We're presented as we
are accustomed to see them In the bearing OF
Christine Nilsson. II was the same sweet, tender
conception which subsequently made her famous In
Paris and has counted among her triumphs in this
country. "She Is The impersonatlon, (" wrote the
Paris correspondent OF New York paper aI the tlme
"of unsuspecting purlty-guileless, sweet, candid,
modest AID sefrestralned-but with tinge per.
aps, OF melancholy In her face and bearing, as il
the gentle mirror OF her soul already reflected the
dark shadows OF evil gathering about her. and soon
TO- wrap her away in storm and darkness and death.n
Nevertheless this conception offended the French
critics at that time, and dspleased the audience.
They accused Nilsson OF dulness, OF colduels; she
fallen or; and-gravest fault in Partisan eye-she
was becoming stupid. Something more alert, more
saucy, more bouncing" was what they had looked
Carvalh0;' but signal failure for Nilsson. One
critic demanded the instant withdrawal OF the opera.
Even the Recue des Detr Mondes stopped to blame
It seemed, indeed, as If the great artist had failed
upon the very issue which should have earned her
greatest glory. Unaccustomed 10 such harsh treat
have lost heart -,
Luckily for her, luckily also for the subsequent
pleasure OF Paris, the verdict was not unanimous,
Theophie Gauter one Of the keenest intellects and
readest pens in the service OF dramatic literature JUS
titled Nsson's rendering in the the Journal OGlcel,
Ernest Feydea In the columns OF Reuue Ndtiofde.
stemmed the tide OF dsapprobaton; and among
spectators the English and American compOnents OF
the audience stood by Christine. TO them German 1T
erature was not such sealed book tO the Parsians
pa sang: they thus could appreciate tho truthful
ness of the rendering. There were German resi-
dents also IN Paris who naturally knew that Nilsson
was right and her detractorS wrong. Lastly the
critic OF Gall0nd1at Dattled bravey for the Swedish
artist ayeIrlng that ne mad seen the part played by
every eminent sanger IN Europe, and not or them
could approach Christine Nilsson In spirituality and
loving fidelity TO the poet. ~
The tide turned. The opposition had mad one
QOOQ effect: Lt advertised the SINGER. Aa n
during the last twenty or thirty nights Of the
every seat IN me theatre was se-
not standing room even but was eagerly TAKEN long
In advance; the audiences were delighted, the
critics veercd round 10 man. Rarely II ever, has
O fuller conquest been obtained over ignorance and
prejudice and national jealousy.
After all, Paris publiC Is not unaccustomed to
verse its Judgnents It did 80 In the notorious In.
stance OF RossinIs "Guillaume Teu utterly taDooed
vt its first performance. Superadded to the pro.
verbal nckleness OF the multitude, there IL always
inc hostile force OF private rivalry and envy aud
dislike, which is sometimes permitted to suggest, II
not to organize, the outward opposition. What q
world OF intrigue and bitter strife s the world behind
The scenes! what innumerable enemies must rising
artist conquer before his empire Is secured Victor
Hugo though personally he has mad little to complain
Df IN his career dramatist, knows tile meanness
and the bitterness OF the faction fight which every
great man must encounter In that arena, be he
author or composer or artist; and on the life 70 be
there undergone the poet has fixed his broad, en-
phatic mark. "God grant me-" he writes In one Of
his preaces, 'proper repentance for having exposed
the virgin obscurity OF my name and person to the
snares and squalls and tempess Of the theatre, and
ABOVE ALL to the wretched brolls Ofthe cOuSseS; for
having entered into that most atlul, l0ggy, stormy
atmosphere, where ignorance d0gmatlzes, where
envy hisses, where caba regns or crawls where the
prObity OF talent Is SO often unrecOgnzed where the
noble candor OF genius Is so generally displaced,
where mediocrlty triumphs by reducing superiority
to Its own level In short, where there are so many
little men for one great man, 90 many nulliies for
each Talma, so many myrmid0nS Tor each Aciileso
NILSSON LEAVES THE LYkIQUE.
Mile. Nlsson's reputation had bythis time grown
N n n Z no lvrin
She had sweled 1t IN appearances al many concerts
and private salons, and now the opera coveted so
country ike France, where the State Is the patron
OF national art, great artist becomes ali object OF
national importance. 1t had become, too, a matter
OF greater exigency TO secure the Swedish Singer
NJ. Anlbr0ise Thomas had just finished his opera OF
"Hanletr upon librett0 adapted from Hhaks-
peares play. In It's original formor rather through
versions which more or less departed from ShalSs-
peares text, but were sufficiently original to satisfy
French criticism, "hamler' was fairly enough known
had had O turn at it, doing the blank verse into
rhyned acxandrlnes, and clipping and trimming
the stout English into nnicking French conceits
Like all his fellow dramatstS Dumas had not
scrupled to improve Shakespeare where Ia his ludg-
ment such process became necessary. The Gallo
mind IL never even to this day fully erlancpated
from tue influence of Voitaire and Shakespeare con-
tlnues TO be regarded as somewhat barbarous; as
rough; as wanting tAat polish which Is The special
rhymed; to be divested OF his strong materlastic
way Of treating things; to be sentimentazed to be
and perfuined before the cultured sense or France
can endure him. In his barbarOus defiant originality
he Is much too "sh0klng.n
great Improvement was introduced into Ham.
let' In the shape OF q classic urn, containing the
ashes OF the defunct King OF Denmark. Over this
urn the Partisan Hamlet poses himself elegantly,
and delivers some very Drettliy turned sentiments
Of the 'Ahlicti0n sore long time bore, order.
This improvement on the unreGned English poet
commended itself to French intelligence as being
true alike 10 nature aud art-especially the art
Of Peres la Chaise. When therefore the
knowledge spread that AMBROSE Thomas had
turned the tragedy into an opera, and that
this opera was to be produced OF the chief lyrical
house, everybody knew pretty well the nature Of the
subject and tile sort Of artists who would be required
for Its Interpretation. People knew that the hero OF
the tragedy was sombre, melancholy, br00ding
parsonage. whose character could only be deneatod
through bass voice. and that among bassi Faure
was preeminent; to Faure therefore Hamlet would
fall. Tney fnew also that the fair and gentle attrt
butes OF Ophelia demanded one interpretress-one
whose birth and education. whose natural bias and
art training alike suited her to the part. Who 80
thoroughly fitted TO present the sweet Danish lady
as the Swedish sngerf All eyes were instincttvely
turned to Christine Nilsson.
In due time 1t was known that Christine would