Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-12-07
ROMANCE OF FANNY ELssLER.
Another Sketch of the Life of the Great
Danseuse.


Danseuse.
Fanny Elssler, following closely to the
grave her great rival, Marie Taglioni,
''the chaste priestess Of the dance" and
the eccentric ''Chevalier'' Wykoff, whose
name was so intimately linked with her
during her American tour, was a Wen
nese, and the younger sister Of the ''tall
Therese,' who died only few years ago
IN Bavaria, Baroness Won Barnim, and
widow Of a HOhenzOlleTn, Prince Adal-
bert Of Prussia, to whom she was mar
ried, mOrganatically, in 1850. Fanny
made her debut on the stage at 6. The
encyclopedias and obituaries say that she
owed her aesthetic culture to Friedrich
Won Cent?, and stop there, being ignorant,
apparently, Of his identity, or their rela-
tons. Won Cent?, the trusted friend of
Aetternich, the platOnic adorer of the
brilliant Rahel, and the pen of the anti
NapOleOnic coalition, was in his Goth year
when he met the Elssler sisters. The
curious in such matters viii find the
whole story in Hayward. The father Of
the girls had been an attendant on the COM
poser Haydn, from whom he received a
considerable legacy, soon dissipated,
though through no fault Of Elssler's.
Their mother, ''bTed up in theatrical
company Of the lower sort, had" saws
Hayward, ''nO scTuple in agreeing with
her husband 10 turn their daughters
personal attractions and accomplish
ments to the best account" The girls
made their first hit at the san Carlos, at
Naples, and as soon as he deemed them
sufficiently advanced, Barbaja, the
director, who was also manager of the |
Opera at Vienna, sent them to the Aus
trian capital. There they created a pro-
found sensation, and indeed achieved a
European reputation.
just here it may be as well to say that |
all the romantic stories about the Duke of |
Reichstadt Napoleon IL are utterly |
without foundation. Metternich is repre- |
sented-fOr some inscrutable reason or |
other, since il was rather good card for |
Austria tOpreserve the life Of a pretender |
TO the French throne, sprung of the blood /
Of her imperial house and devoted to her |
interests-as having employed Fanny |
ElssleT TO kill off'' the feeble son of NapO- /
leon and Maria Louisa in a romantic /
manner. According to the legend she /
disguised herself as a rural beauty, Won !
his love and confidence, and then broke !
his heart by permitting him to recognize /
on the stage his innocent Gabrielle in
the famOus-it might almost be said |
observation-disclosures. The truth is that |
the Duke fell desperately in love with her,
and might be seen day after day walking !
Hp and down near her lodgings, in the hope
Of a chance such as befell Faust with
Marguerite, but lie was disappointed, and
they never met in private at all.
Cent? was similarly struck, and car
ried OFF the prize from full score OF
roung rivals. 1t was not 81 easy task,
for the theatres were under the superin-
tendence Of Count Won Gallenberg, who
alone was authorized to Introduce the !
performers to persons outside OF their
own circle, and who took malicious
pleasure in refusing an introduction to
Gentz-Or perhaps desired to save the old
djplOmatist from making fool OF him |
self. But the introduction was at last |
accorded and Metternich'S friend made /
an assiduOus and successful ''courtshlp." I
saws Hayward: she was reputed rich /
on the strength of his pTOdigal eXpendl- |
tlre: he was celebrated; he was the faml- |
liar eOmpanion of the great, and he owed /
his success. in the first instance, to the |
shameless venality of the mother. Tine |
moor girl resigned herself TO her destiny |
with a sigh. How he gradually won upon |
her may be cOllectedSfrOm hlr letters, ana |
the enduring attachment she eventually |
contracted for him did equal credit 20 her |
understanding and her heart" Cent? |
wrote TO Rahel from PresbuTg in October, |
1850: THE best instructed among the |
ordinary people around me think ana |
affirm for my connection with her IS the !
subject of endless talk in society here, |
where / am in great fayOr) that have |
conquered her only by what is called my
eloGueuce. This of itself would be singu-
lar enough, but still it is very far from
being the truth. kave gained her slngly
and exclusively by the magical power OF
nv love. When she first knew me she
neither knew nor conceived that there
existed anywhere such love, and
hundred times over she has confessed TO
me that l had unfOlded to her new
world by the manner in which behaved !
to her from the very first moment, and,
still further, by the revelation OF love
the possibility of which she had never
dreamed of, and which is, l must own,
neither frequent nor common. You VIII
understand that, as matter oil course,
never was silly enough to expect from her
a return of passion. in the narrower sense
Of the word. l never imagined that she
could fall in love with me, for even In the
full ferVOr of passion my reason does not
aband on me. 1t was enough for me to in
spire her with a sentiment floating be-
tween friendship, gratitude and love; and
l did in fact succeed-fOr men succeed in
everything which they struggle Tor with
complete energy and genuine preseVer-
arce-in so planting and confirming this
feeling in her mind that it, by degrees,
filled her whole soul, and at this moment.
unless all the evidences deceive me. 1t
cannot be supplanted or overcome by any |
other feeling whatever. Imagine what 1t |
is. at my time of life, with my few re
naming pretensions, 10 see passion Ike
mine thus rewarded! Imagine the salts |
faction of self-love, from which no human
being can disengage himself, and least OF |
all one who takes as much pleasure II I
fiatterv as l dO-imagine the blesSednesS |
Of daily, undisturbed intercourse with /
reTsOn in whom everything rayIsheS me; |
IN whose eyes, IN whose hands odd you 4
ever look at them: J, in whose single and |
SeDerate charms, my mind can absorb |
itself for hours together; whose voice |
tells upon me like magic, and with whom |
/ carry on endless conversations which /
would often astOund you, as should do |
with the most dOcile schoolgirl; Tor |
educate her with paternal care, and she
Is at once nv beloved companion and my
faithful child. Imagine this rich stock Of
enj0yments, and in addition TO II all so
much more which no tongue can tell, ana
il viii be easy for you to understand that
which to others may still appear foolish
hess"
To one who looks withclear eyes at this
liaisOn there is something ineXpresslbly
sad in the sacrifice of this girl to an aged
sensualist and egOtist. 1t recalls the
stories of the old enchanters who pro-
lOnged their lives by baths in the blood Of
children. Yet of the two the woman,
born Of a venal mother, bred amid the
temptations of the stage at a time when
morals were loose, and educated by a
man in whom all was subOrdinated to
self, proved the more sterling stuff, and
when Cent? died in 1882, deeply in debt,
whatever Of heart Fanny Elssler had was
buried in the grave, which is unmarked
save by the simple stone which she reared
to his memory.
For nearly a decade thereafter she was
one of the wonders and delights Of the
choregraphic stage in EurOpe-the most
brilliant, and, it must be recorded in all
sadness, one Of the most shameless VIC
men of her brilliant and shameless day.
An American journal could not cucumber
its columns with such episodes as the
presentation at ST. Petersburg and the
undignified rage Of the rival Fanny,
Cerrito. Fanny Elssler had taken Paris
by storm in LA Tempete7 ere she was
Joined by her more artistic and self-sacri-