The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-09-27
S ALV ! N l..


HIS First Appearance Last Evening In
Ella AIorte Civile" At the Academy Of
Music.
Last evening SIgnor Salvni appeared at the
Academy OF Music for the nrst time in this country
as Conrado, In ia Morte Civilen ('Civil Death'p,
by GiacomettI, the author OF Marie Antoinette."
The audience was the largest OF the season, and
the effects produced by the tragedian were Of the
most singular and powerful description. The
entire Interpretation was stupendous and original
artistic success.
IA Morte Civile" is not a natural play Cha
CONFETTI is not student Of human nature, Al
that he cares TO DC Is co Produce certain Strong
eneGiA md since be has not the skill to bring these
about naturally, he forces incidents and measures
his characters on Procrustean bed OF dramatic
necessity. In writing LA Morte Civie" for Sal
VIM he has taken the measure OF the actor and
made certain mechanical approach TO It, That is
to say, he has provided scenes In which great
deal is left to the Imagination OF the actor, and
salvini's imagination Ia Just OF that order which
can transform such opportunities TO the most won-
derm account. Giacometti has provided the
grooves In which the Incidents are to move. and
Savini creates the character that gives those Incl
dents urotsens0lance and vitality.
We have said that she play Is an unnatural one,
and 80 IL Is. We gave the outline In brief yester-
day. man is sentenced to imprisonment for life
for killing his wiies brother. At the end Of four.
teen years he escapes and finds his wife living In
the house OF another man under conditions which
are made to seem to him suspicious, Though they
arc In reality innocent These suspicious are fer
mented by malicious and ofncious priest, whose
motive-not very clearly expressed IN the play-is
to be found In the repuse he has suffered from the
unhappy wife. The escaped convict suffers all the
agonies OF jealousy-all the torments of Q
doubt as to whether the child whose edu-
cation his wife Is experimenting is his
own daughter or not He at length has SUFFICIENT
demonstration OF his wife's purity and Of the fact
that the child hers and MIS- but suffers additional
anguish because the revelation OF his identity 10
his daughter would imperil her iife her health
being delicate. Finally broken heart puts an
end to his amlcttOn, his daughter calling him
father, though she knows not that he Ii SO only az
his eyes close IN death.
, anese Sdeats are very Panu ana they nave
allow Salvini full room for the display OF his won
deriul command over the passions But their &C.
vilainy is not brought out with SUFFICIENT distinct
ness to give the appearance OF adequacy to his
ing bastard as COnradois represented to be, would
with lmpanity permit even priest to accuse his
ton for Conrado in the fourth act Is contradic
ton OF the silence and iorgetiulness with which,
as Is implied, she has treated him Tor four
when Dr. Gioacchino was desiring some
and because Conrado evidently dies Tor no other
cause than that thrilling death scene was neces-
would have brought about the same results by
dinerent and more natural process; would have
substituted the motives OF mesh and blood Tor the
| mechanical intricacies and lay figures, ana would
| have flung over the dramatic composition human
nush which the incompatible acting and director
shlD or Salvinl alone enabled 1t to wear.
| IL IL q pleaSuraOe task TO write about such
ing as this; not easy, perhaps, to find words pow
guage has been SO distorted that either new terms
| must be invented or old ones must be assisted by
the readers knowledge and Imagination when
powerful artistic creations like this OF
Salvini's, are to be described His portrayal of
! COnrado, from the first moment when the wretched
Outcast enters Dr. Gi0acchln0's library to that in
which he breathes his last in his daughters arms
is one of those studies which have sounded the
pre- Raphaelitc in their elaborateness of detail and
ned with that broad and CHASTITY gloom, that pre-
ternar1fai agony anu yesrning winch 70 Illustrate
OF the strongest Efforts OF Gustav bore. II Ia the
evolvement .! an actor who has studied human
nature, as adapted TO dramatic representation, as
closely Huxley has studied the origin OF life
Darwin the theory OF evolution, or spencer the
a convict as the Jean Vatican OF Victor Hugo and
yet this conviction Is not created by merely close
and clever imitation OF the exterior indications OF
convict lite and habits we have not only con-
! Wet who has suffered terrible punishment. but a
dust by hall lifetime Of ignorance cencerning the
fate OF vile and child. We have o man who for four
mas ear Of blood and
would not assuage. We see an originally brave,
NOBLE and generous soul imprisoned among tae
contagious scum OF the earth. the putr1d rnsings
OF society greving with unspeakable despair
over tue destruction OF the best things life had to
God, an outraged conscience, and anjured wife and
child folled IN all and desperately dying because
Conrado does not appear unit the second act.
and the only point OF great interest that Is made
by MIN there Is his description to DR.. G,oacchino OF
! the manner Of his escape. This was done well-a
complete mastery OF That pantOmimic art with
consists In painting q picture by gestculation.
dental leeting with his child and the agonies Sol OF
doubt through which he passes as TO whether the
child Is really his or the ofIspring of Resale and
param0ur. 10 use his own language, he teels as
though ne could embrace and kill her In breath.
But was reserved for the fourth and NTH acts to
fourth occurs tue long scene with his wife, exqul-
sitely acted up TO by Sgnora Piamonti, In which
esr ore e
returns TO her and she agrees to ny with her hus-
band, leaving their child with Psmeri, In ignor-
both Salvni and Piamonti acted with profundity
ana truth OF fceiing such as have probably never
fists on the American stage. The great scene OF
all was, OF course, the last in which COnrad0 for
the first time Is brought INTO tender ana intimate
rant OF the tie that binds them. He is dying. He
asks her to pray for him. She kneels at his feet
pathos Of the scene. il stands almost
IN qa sf % ps CT es some ssrss
or four other conceptions presented to us by kean
Rstort Rachel and Seebach. The broken voice.
the dimmed eyes, the spent strength, the trem,
bling nerves. all the CHASTITY and terrible parapher-
malta with which death heralds it's approach, we're
tty OF the audience to tears; and finally, as the
body fell heavily forward IN death the curtain de.
ecended amid profound and fearful silence, at
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