The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-03-24
THE ORIGIN or TRILBY.
Du Maurier's Heroine Was Famous
English Prima Donna.

From the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Speculations as to the original from
which Du Maurier drew his Trilby O'Fer-
rail- and Svengan have been rife since
the publication of the most popular book
that has appeared for many years. All
sorts of exemplars have been quoted, but
none of them bore a sufficient resemblance
to the heroine of the novel to be worth
consideration.
The musical history Of the time in which
Trilby's extraordinary career is dated
has been ransacked for the names of
singers whose careers, in many ways.
touched upon the meteoric fight of that
extraordinary girl through the upper re-
gions of the musical world. Trilby was in
deed a shooting star, coming no one
knew whence, shining with rare effulgence
for a short time and suddenly losing her
brilliancy and fading into nothingness.
She came from nothing an to nothing she
returned.
The lives of other great prima dome
of the period offer no parallel to this ex-
traordinary story. The greatest singer
of that day, Giuha Grisi, began life as a
chorus girl, showed remarkable talent
and an exceptionally beautiful voice.
studied hard under good masters, was
gradually promoted on her merits, was
for many years the reigning prima donna
of Europe, declined in popularity with the
advance of age and died in retirement
peacefully and quietly.
Trilby, on the other hand, Ieaped to ce-
lebrity at a bound. blazed forth as a star
of the first magnitude and was suddenly
extinguished when the magnetic force
he orb oil To
So it was with the other great vocalists.
Their lives have been written, even to
the minutest detail. Their history is the
common property of the world; there is
no mystery about it.
One singer, however, whose fame was
worldwide, but who now is well-nigh for
gotten, offers in her career a striking re-
semblance to that of Trilby. In fact, as
far as her professional life is concerned,
Ann Riviere afterward Lady Henry Bish-
op, then Nine. Anna Bishop, and at last
Mrs. Meyer Schultz, stands out in bold re-
lief as the only artist from whose life il
was possible to incarnate the eccentric
but delightful heroine Of Du Maurier's
wonderful romance.
OF course, the story previous to her pub
lie appearance as a signer is pure mag
mary and the product of the brain of Du
Maurier. Ann Riviere never was an art
lists model. never wore a soldiers coat,
never knocked ABOUT the streets OF HdflH
as a waif and stray, but was born and
bred lady and maintained through life
the respect and love of all who knew her.
Her father, a musician of talent, was Of
good descent, being a scion of the ancient
and noble French family de Crecy, who
had emigrated to England during the
reign of terror in the first French revO-
luton. She was well brought up and
well taught, and at an early age was mar
ried to a man very much her senior. the
celebrated Sir Henry Rowley Bishop, the
well-known composer, whose name is
made familiar by his famous glee, THE
Chough and Crow" the popular songs,
should He Upbraid?" MAID Marion"
and MY Pretty Jane" and the adaptation
from an old Italian air to Home, Sweet
Home" which in the after career of his
wife held the same position as a stand
ing musical dish that England's ballad
"Oh, don't you remember sweet Alice, Ben
Bolt?" held in the vocal repertoTy OF
Trilby O'Ferrall.
The married life Of Sir Henry and Lady
Bishop was troubled always by the ambi-
tions Of her ladyship. who insisted upon
being prima donna, while her husband,
a musician Of vast experience, always de-
clared that, although she had voice, she
had neither talent nor aptitude for th2i
position.
About this time there appeared on the
musical horizon OF London "A strange and /
eccentric Individual whose genius though