New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-04-14
Janauschek Mt the st. Charles The.n

that Is SO pfalnly IOresnaOOWeu.
Janauschek mt the st. Charles Thea,-.
This renowned queen of tragedy will com.
mence an engagement at the st. Charlie
Theatre tomorrow evening, and will pra
sent Mary Stuart" for the initial perform.
ance. We reproduce from the Pcayune Of
February %, 1869, we'll written criticism
of Mile. Janauschek's Mary Stuart from
the pen of that excellent journalist. Mr.
M. Baker. Then she spoke in the German
language; now she will render her part in
English.
This is what the Picayune then said:
The mantle of Melpomene rarely fa,ls
upon the shoulders OF woman. The world
has not seen many great tragic actresses
and by this term we mean women who have
been irresistibly impelled, as by the hands
Of an unseen fate; to the delineations of
those deep and serious passions that have
ever swayed the mind, and the portrayal of
which has, in all ages, been regarded with
profound interest Occasionally Siddons.
a Rachel, Cushman, Ristori rises above
the vast sea of mediocrity, like some tower.
ing lighthouse above the level ocean. and
indelibly stamps upon the age the imprint
OF her divine genius.
Great tragediennes, like great poets. are
born, not made; and though study NAV
elevate an ordinary actress into finished
artist, it can never create genius; whereas
the possession of the divine inspiration
(which we call genius) necessitates study.
and the two unite to make a perfect whole
To the mere artist, study is labor; to the
genius, knowledge comes as by intuition.
The most subtle meanings and deep conceD.
- ~. IL . 81, r
latter, even as the lghtning's flash ia
painted on the eye; to the former thew are
precious gems, deep hidden beneath the
earth or sea, that can never be wholly
gathered up, even after the most laborious
search.
Hence it is that we see the one swayinc
unanimously multitude by the mere ways
of a hand or the glance of an eye. while
the other, though finished and refined, wins
indeed the admiration of the audience
but fails utterly to stir the depths of feeling
There is mesmeric or magnetic influence
about the former which draws the listener
unconsciously along, until be no longer
forms one Of number re garding mimic
scene, but is transported to an era that ia
past, and becomes an interested spectator
of a real event. A vivid, life-like picture IL
held up to our view, and we instantly &C.
knowledge its truthfulness, as well in the
more delicate shadings, as in the rich,
warm cOloring. Even the most minute de-
tail is perfectly depicted, and we recognize
the work of a master hand.
There are those who, by dint of severe
study, have become polished actors,
thoroughly cOnversant with the business of
the stage, and their presentations certainly
are entitled to the praise they rarely fail to
elicit, but there is something wanting in
all their delineatiOns, which something ia
their natural inability to lose their indi-
vidualify, and, as the elder Booth in
Richard III, to merge themselves thorough
ly into the characters represented. Who
thinks of Jefferson, when Rip Fan Winke
stand before us; who of the younger Booth,
when he personates Lago or Shyloek.
Fanny Janauscheck is born actress
mind Of the most fastidious critic who wit
messed her PRESERVATION of Marie Stuart
last evening, in Frederick Won Schilier's
beautiful tragedy of that name.
1t Is true she spoke in language not un-
derstOod by perhaps large mum Der of the
very brilliant audience assembled within
the walls OF the St. Charles: yet even those
VINO were not only strangers to the Ian
guage, but to the drama itself. felt the
magical influence which she exerted from
the moment she stepped upon the stage,
tixedly regarding her crucitx. Instantly
the hearts OF the assemblage went out in
sympathy to the poor prisoner of Futher
ingay, and breathlessly the interview with
her keeper was listened to.
SO familiar is now the general public with
the drama of MARY Stuart" that an analy-
sis OF the play is unnecessary. Its char
acter and construction are Shakespearan,
and 1t appeals forcibly and, in the hands OF
a tine company, irresistibly to the sensibii-
ties. The poet not unfrequently sacrifices
the truth OF history in order to invest the
play with deeper interest, painting Elisabeth
worse than, Indeed she was, and endowing
Mary with virtues that she never possessed;
vet we believe there are none who will not
forgive the author on that score, in consid-
Grafton of his eminent success in giving us
a tragedy which, in point of dramatic ex-
cellence and beautiful imagery, is scarcely
excelled by any of those of the immortal
himself.
The exciting interest in the play culn-
mates IN the third act. where, in the park
of Fotheringay, Elisabeth and llo,y meet
tace to face. the one coming purposely to
insult and humiliate her rival before Leices-
ter, who has grown eloquent in speaking of
her beauty, and the other surprised and at
first utterly confounded by the presence of
the cruel tyrant Queen. What infinite
pathos Janauschek throws into the address.
0, how shall begin. O. how shallI
SO artfully arrange my cautious words
l hat they may touch, yet not offend your heart
strengthen my words, Heaven, and take from
them
" hate r might wound.
And how admirably she ngles pathos
and queenly dignity in the sentence begin
ming
o. sister, rule your realm in peace.
AT length. when Elizabeth. deaf 20 the
Of Mary-supplication so full
ot tenderness that they should have moved
heart of stone-replies with taunts and
satire; after a vain struggle to
command her rising indignation, the IN
ortunate queen haughtily replies to the in
wrongs and long suffering, she gives full
vent to the pent up feelings of her soul,
md pours forth torrent of invectiyes upon
Elizabeth. 1t is impossible to describe the
ABSOLUTE grandeur OF Janauschek in this
scene. She was the veritable Mary Stuart.
md even the most callous critic forgot the
'rtlst IN the wonderful glamor which her
genius threw over the scene.
1t Is, however, not in such scenes of tenn
'estuous passions that Janauschek appears
o best advantage, but rather in the dtiinea-
ion OF deep and quiet pathos. surh as is
equired in the fifth act.
Here she finds her true sphere and por-
rays all the wondrous depths of womauly
enderness, all the love and sweetness. all
he keen anguish which, by turns, swayed
he breast OF the captive queen; with a
witness that invests every action with in
ense interest, every scene with reality.
her interview with her maids. lust prior
her execution, was fraught with such su-
rene sadness; every action was so inetfably
ouching, that many in the audience shed
ears' ana almost wept aloud W hen finally
he babe them all farewell.
ne costumes worn by Janauschek, though