Sarah Bernhardt: The Art Within the Legend 9781400871360

Table of contents :
Cover
Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
List of Illustrations
1. Voice
2. Pantomime
3. Gesture and Spectacle
4. Roles and Repertoire
5. Paradox
Bibliography
Audiography
Filmography
Index

Citation preview

Sarah Bernhardt THE ART WITHIN THE LEGEND

THE ART WITHIN THE LEGEND

By Gerda Taranow PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS, PRINCETON, N E W JERSEY

COPYRIGHT © 1972 BY PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. L.C. Card: 70-90962. ISBN: 0-691-06181-5. This book has been composed in Linotype Janson. Printed in the United States of America by Princeton University Press. Publication of this book has been aided by a grant from Connecticut College.

To my parents

Acknowledgments

WITHOUT the cooperation of a number of people, the research for this book could not have been completed, and I am grateful to them for their many courtesies. To my friend and former colleague Walter L. Welch, Curator and Director of the Syracuse University Audio Archives, I owe a debt of profound gratitude. He placed the resources of the Audio Archives at my disposal, and reprocessed for my use the recordings and rerecordings in my own collection as well as those in the collection of the Audio Archives. The method which Professor Welch has developed for reprocessing historical recordings was invaluable to my study of Sarah Bernhardt's voice, and I greatly appreciate all his many kindnesses. I am grateful to David Hall, Curator of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound of the Research Library of the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center, and to his staff for providing excellent conditions in which, during repeated listenings, I was able to study tapes which they had prepared for me. I also wish to thank Jerrold N. Moore, former Curator of the Yale Historical Sound Recordings collection, for putting on tape and allowing me to listen to a number of the Bernhardt recordings in the Yale collection. The late William Seltsam of the International Record Collectors d u b very kindly supplied me with information concerning the 1903 Zonophone disc of Un Peu de musique as well as other IRCC Bernhardt rerecordings. I am indebted to

vii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Mme Francine Bloch, Phonothecaire of the Phonotheque Nationale, Paris, for providing me with a list of the Bernhardt holdings of the Phonotheque as well as of other Bernhardt recordings. Kathleen L. McGuirk, Archivist of the Edison National Historic Site, Orange, New Jersey, has been unusually generous in supplying information concerning the Bernhardt-Edison recordings and in sending me copies of those issues of the Edison Phonograph Monthly which are relevant to my study. I am grateful to Mr. L. Brevoort Odell of Branchville, New Jersey, for allowing me to use tapes made from two Edison cylinders in his collection. To Henri Langlois, Director of the Gnematheque Francaise, Paris, I am indebted for information concerning Sarah Bernhardt's Belle-Isle film. I am grateful to Miss Margareta Akermark and Mrs. Eileen Bowser of the Department of Film of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, for their many courtesies: the private screenings of La Dame aux camelias and La Reine Elisabeth; the permission to examine the Bernhardt films on the moviola; and the permission to reproduce a series of stills from La Dame aux camelias. I am grateful to Miss Helen Willard, Curator of the Harvard Theatre Collection, for her cooperation and for her permission to reproduce photographs of Sarah Bernhardt in La Tosca. For their work in reproducing many of the photographs that appear in this book, I wish to thank Mr. Bradford Sales of the Photographic Services at Yale University and Philip A. Biscuti, Director of Photographic Services at Connecticut College. Miss Helen K. Aitner of the Palmer Library at Connecticut College has been especially cooperative, and I greatly appreciate her many kindnesses. The enthusiastic support of Miss Lalor Cadley, Managing Editor of Princeton University Press, has meant a great deal to me. I am grateful to Mrs. James Holly Hanford, also of Princeton University Press, for her careful reading of the manuscript and for her very helpful suggestions.

viii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am indeed grateful to the University of Kentucky for a summer research grant, and to Connecticut College for a grant sponsored jointly by the College and the Ford Foundation to defray the cost of the illustrations in this book. During the course of my research, I came upon a great deal of material relating to Sarah Bernhardt's production of Hamlet. Since most of the Hamlet material would have been obtrusive in a work concerned with the reconstruction of the art of performance, I have included only those aspects of the production that are pertinent, and I shall treat the others in a book on Hamlet now in progress. As this book goes to press, I remember with gratitude those professors who have taken particular interest in my work: Ernst A. Rose, Professor of German Emeritus, New York University; E. Talbot Donaldson, George M. Bodman Professor of English, Yale University; and the late Helge Kokeritz, Professor of English, Yale University. I am indebted to Alois M. Nagler, Henry McCormick Professor of Dramatic History and Criticism, Yale University, for the excellent training I received in the History of the Theatre. To Henri M. Peyre, Sterling Professor of French Emeritus, Yale University, I am deeply grateful for his encouragment and for his fine support of both this study and the one currently in progress. GERDA TARANOW

New London November igjo

ix

Preface

WHEN Sarah Bernhardt entitled her memoirs Ma Double vie, she proposed an autobiography based upon her suggested dichotomy of life and art. The life of the artist, however, is often explained in terms of her art, and her art in terms of her life. Beyond the sphere of influences, neither is possible. Both life and art require separate treatments. The confusion is further complicated by legend. Consciously creating a public personality, Sarah Bernhardt presented herself to her Parisian compatriots as a temperamental prima donna. In her memoirs she therefore preferred fiction to fact and thus established a biographical persona, the success of which is confirmed by its longevity. Existing concurrently with the biographical is the histrionic persona. So ubiquitous was the acceptance of this persona that Marcel Proust, in his description of Bernhardt's Phedre, fictionalized the legend in Le Cote de Guermantes. The poetic image of La Berma may be characteristically Proustian, but it epitomizes the histrionic persona that the actress presented to her theatrical public.1 During the course of her lengthy career, Sarah Bernhardt revealed few of the techniques inherent in her performances. Incandescent phrases concerning inspiration, emotional participation, and identification with character are interspersed throughout her writing. Technique, however, is mentioned more often by accident than by intent. Even her treatise UArt du thidtre, though providing 1

Marcel Proust, Le Cote de Guermantes (Paris, 1925), 1, 45 ff.

xi

PREFACE many insights into her technique, continued to foster the histrionic persona.2 The purpose of this book, then, is to penetrate the legend and to analyze the art which it has concealed. Analysis rests upon the reconstruction of the art of Sarah Bernhardt through the establishment and application of a method. This method entails a series of interrelated procedures. Art is separated from biography, and legend from art. The technique of the actress is then divided into its constituent elements: voice, pantomime, gesture, spectacle, and histrionic theory. Each constituent is reconstructed through the interdependent use of histrionic treatises, criticism, repertoire, photographs, films, a production book, and recordings. The resulting analysis of the art of Sarah Bernhardt reveals the actress's unique response to a theatrical heritage. Sarah Bernhardt learned the principles of acting at the Paris Conservatoire from professors who were at the same time practicing actors at the Comedie-Francaise. Several of these actor-professors wrote histrionic treatises in which they perpetuated the techniques of their predecessors. Sarah Bernhardt's own histrionic treatise contains many of these traditional precepts, dating, through such performers as Rachel, Samson, and Talma, to one of the founding members of the Conservatoire, Francois Rene Mole. One of these precepts concerns the training of the voice. Sarah Bernhardt's development of her voice is based upon classical models. The emphasis on intensive vocal training is to be found in the treatises of two of her Conservatoire professors, Pierre Regnier and Joseph-Isidore Samson, and in the pedagogy of their predecessors, Talma and Mole. Sarah Bernhardt reiterates and reinterprets their precepts in her Art du theatre. Critics, such as Francisque Sarcey, Jules Lemaitre, Auguste Vitu, Emile Faguet, and Clement Caraguel, moreover, repeatedly draw attention to the same points of vocal interpretation in the performances of Sarah Bernhardt as were emphasized in the teachings of her profes2

Sarah Bernhardt's histrionic treatise, L'Art du theatre, was published posthumously in 1923.

xii

PREFACE sional forbears. Sustaining the evidence of treatises and criticism are the recordings the actress made of selections from several of the same plays reviewed by the critics. Treatises, criticism, and recordings combine to prove that, even after her break with the Comedie-Francaise, the vocal art of Sarah Bernhardt remained a product of the classical tradition. In 1880 Sarah Bernhardt severed relations with the Comedie-Francaise and allied herself with the Boulevard. While her vocal acting remained classical, her visual acting subsequently reflected the combination of classical and popular traditions. At the Conservatoire, the actress was taught gestures that externalized the content of classical texts. On the Boulevard, however, she learned a visual style more suited to the melodramatic repertoire. So effective did her visual style become that, during climactic scenes, words were often unnecessary for comprehension. In addition to creating easily comprehensible pantomime, Sarah Bernhardt infused into all Boulevard roles the classical concept of nobility. The result was that the melodramas in which she appeared were endowed with an unprecedented tragic dimension. The merging of traditions in pantomime, therefore, produced a union of histrionic antipodes. On both the Rue de Richelieu and the Boulevard, Sarah Bernhardt learned that the prerequisite for an effective visual style was appropriately costumed attitudes. Since other actors in her productions were directed to follow her visual concept, a photograph of a Bernhardt production presents a unified artistic effect. After her alliance with the Boulevard, the actress placed increased emphasis upon spectacle. The costumed attitudes of the performers were therefore to be seen against a background of scenic opulence. The film of La Reine Elisabeth, the production book of La Sorciere, the abundance of varied photographs, and the opinions of the critics over a long period of time all combine to reveal that a Bernhardt production on the Boulevard represented a blend of opposite traditions. The repertoire of Sarah Bernhardt affords additional insight into her art. From the three periods of the actress's

xiii

PREFACE career, fifty representative plays have been chosen for analysis. Most of them form part of her repertoire, but some were consciously excluded by her. The repertorial selections include five plays by Victor Hugo, seven by Racine, three by Rostand, seven by Sardou, and four by Sarah Bernhardt. Of the dramatists excluded from the Bernhardt repertoire, Corneille and Ibsen rank foremost. Since Ibsenian and Cornelian characters proved incompatible not only with her histrionic art, but with her philosophy of the theatre as well, a study of specifically rejected plays provides unique insight into the nature of her artistic approach. Significant, too, are the adaptations she employed, for the excisions sometimes greatly altered the playwrights' intentions. The repertorial selections, omissions, and adaptations thus provide the literary background necessary for a more complete understanding of Sarah Bernhardt's histrionic art. Equally important to an understanding of the art of Sarah Bernhardt is her histrionic theory. An avowed emotionalist, the actress was opposed to the followers of Denis Diderot, and she propounded a theory based upon sensibility. Criticism, however, suggests that theory and practice clashed and that the actress employed as much technique as did the antiemotionalists whom she denounced. The disparity between theory and practice may be attributed to the fact that the actress was fostering a legend. Since Sarah Bernhardt wrote and performed for the same public, she preferred to conceal her art behind a histrionic persona. An understanding of the art within the legend therefore requires not only the separation of the dual personae, but also the penetration of the persona which conceals the art. The histrionic persona of Sarah Bernhardt can then be replaced by an art far greater than that of legend.

xiv

Contents

vii xi xvii 3 83

Acknowledgments Preface List of Illustrations ONE. TWO.

VOICE PANTOMIME

123

THREE.

180

FOUR.

229

FIVE.

GESTURE AND SPECTACLE

ROLES AND REPERTOIRE PARADOX

249

Bibliography

262

Audio graphy

271

Filmography

275

Index

List of Illustrations

FOLLOWING PAGE

108

1. Sarah Bernhardt as Floria Tosca. From the Harvard Theatre Collection 2. La Tosca, selected photographs of the stabbing scene. The first five from the Harvard Theatre Collection. The last from L'Illustration théâtrale, June 19, 1909 3. Le Film d'Art, La Dame aux camélias, series of stills from the death scene. From the Museum of Modern Art, N e w York 4. La Samaritaine, A c t I. From Le Théâtre, May 1, 1902 5. Gismonda, final scene. A . Gallus, Sarah Bernhardt. N e w York, 1901 6. Théodora, Hippodrome scene. From L'Illustration thedtrale, September 7, 1907 7. La Sorcière, final scene. From Le Théâtre, January 1, 1904 8. Andromaque, A c t I. From Le Thedtre, March 15,1903 9. Andromaque, A c t II. From Le Thedtre, March 15, 1903 10. Adrienne Lecouvreur, final scene from Sarah Bernhardt's play. From Vlllustration thedtrale, August 10, 1907 11. Sarah Bernhardt as Lorenzaccio. Le Thedtre et Comoedia Illustre (June 1923)

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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 12. Jeanne Dore, sixth tableau. From Le Theatre, January IS, 1914

13. Caricature by Charles Lucien Leandre. Jules Huret, Sarah Bernhardt. Paris, 1899 14. Caricature by Jean Cocteau. By permission of S.P.A.D.E.M., 1971, by French Reproduction Rights, Inc. 15. Caricature by Leonetto Capiello. Jules Huret, Sarah Bernhardt. Paris, 1899

xviii

Sarah Bernhardt THE ART WITHIN THE LEGEND

VOICE

SARAH BERNHARDT entered the Conservatoire in i860. Although the branch of the school concerned with dramatic declamation had been in existence only seventy-four years, the traditions it fostered had their roots centuries deep. The original faculty of 1786 consisted of three professors of declamation: Francois Rene Mole, Abraham-Joseph Fleury, and Jean Baptiste Dugazon. All three had served a lengthy apprenticeship in the provinces where they had received their training from older actors, who, in turn, had been taught by predecessors. The school in which these men were trained had its classrooms on provincial stages and its curriculum in performance. Exhibiting less interest in theatre than previously, the provinces ceased to yield the educational services formerly provided, and it was therefore considered necessary to formalize the actor's education. While preventing the extinction of a histrionic inheritance, the formation of classes in dramatic declamation at the Paris Conservatoire also concentrated into one school both present and future practitioners of the tradition. The first great actor to be trained at the Conservatoire was Francois-Joseph Talma (1763-1826), the leading tragedian of his day. He was particularly influenced by the teachings of Mole, although, according to contemporary

3

SARAH BERNHARDT regulations, he was expected to study with the entire faculty. As a student Talma entered the Comedie-Francaise, later became a societaire, that is, a senior member and shareholder in the company, and eventually returned to the Conservatoire as a professor of declamation. Even after having assumed his professorship, Talma, like his predecessors, continued an active member of the Comedie-Francaise. While he was on the faculty of the Conservatoire, JosephIsidore Samson entered as a student. The rules having been altered since the opening of the school in 1786, students were placed in the class of a particular professor, but with permission could attend the classes of other professors as well. Samson was placed with Pierre Lafon, but he also became a faithful member of Talma's group. Following in his professors' footsteps, Samson entered the Comedie-Fran9aise, became a societaire, and then a professor at the Conservatoire. Under Samson's tutelage, Rachel entered the Conservatoire and afterwards the Comedie-Francaise where she soon became a sociitaire. A class in declamation was created at the Conservatoire especially for Rachel, but her premature death prevented her from assuming her professorship. Augustine Brohan, another pupil of Samson and a societaire at the Comedie, filled the post intended for Rachel. Both Samson and Augustine Brohan were still on the faculty when Sarah Bernhardt entered the Conservatoire. The genealogy of any of these actor-professors is not so specific that one can say Mole begot Talma; Talma, Samson; or Samson, Rachel. Rather, the Conservatoire begot them all. Although the teaching varied with the individuality of the professor, the same emphasis on declamation is to be found among all faculty members, for the formal quality of French poetic drama had, at its inception, generated a vocal approach corresponding to its elevated style.1 Encompassing all the elements of voice and speech, the art of declamation was cultivated to such an extent among actors of the 1

Maurice Descotes, Le Drome romantique et ses grands createurs: 1827-1839 (Germany, n.d.), p. 25.

4

VOICE past that the course in operatic declamation offered at the Conservatoire was originally taught by Mole and Dugazon. Mole, in fact, was appointed to the Conservatoire faculty when in 1784 it opened as a training school for opera. As founding members with sufficient knowledge to teach musical as well as spoken declamation, Mole and Dugazon were instrumental in crystallizing into histrionic principles traditions which were sustained by the Conservatoire and the Comedie-Francaise. The emphasis which the Conservatoire placed upon declamation may initially have resulted in a system known as chant, but with the passage of time, another system, veritS, took its place beside the original. According to the great actor-teacher Francois Joseph Pierre Regnier, the two systems alternated upon the French stage, each depending for its ascendancy upon the prevailing tastes of the age and upon the "brilliant faults" of the performers.2 Emphasizing music and elevating the recitation of verse to recitative, the chant system relies heavily upon such adjuncts of poetic recitation as cadence, rhyme, the caesura, and the mute e. Emphasizing content and reducing verse to prose, the verite system concentrates solely upon text. Samson contends that a genuine system of declamation is to be found in neither extreme, but in an approach that is equally faithful to sound and sense. Samson's injunction that the actor speak with nobility is grounded in the nature of poetic drama which, elevated in verbal style, demands a corresponding histrionic embodiment.3 Echoing Samson's words, the playwright Ernest Legouve denounces an exclusive reliance upon either "unctuous" melopee (recitative) or "false" verite, but affirms that verse must be read like verse and poets interpreted poetically.* Regnier admits that in his youth the highest praise accorded an actor was that he employed spoken rather than chanted declamation, but that 2

Pierre Regnier, Souvenirs et etudes de theatre (Paris, 1887), p. 50. Joseph Isidore Samson, L'Art theatral (Paris, 1863), 1, 58, Chant 11. * Ernest Legouve, L'Art de la lecture, 16th ed. (Paris, 1877), pp. 8

113-114.

5

SARAH BERNHARDT toward 1885 speech was again being superseded by song.5 Although he, too, rejects exclusive reliance upon either system, he asserts that in performance music and meaning must unite, the music made evident without elevation to song, the meaning without reduction to prose. Regnier's student Henri Dupont-Vernon may prefer speech to song, but he follows his former professor when he insists that in the recitation of verse two equally important histrionic factors are to be taken into consideration—interpretive thought and poetic melody—a neglect of either factor producing imperfect delivery.6 Sarah Bernhardt's concurrence with her predecessors, two of whom, Samson and Regnier, had been her former professors, reveals that she favored a traditional alternative to two equally traditional, but extreme, systems of declamation. In her histrionic treatise, Sarah Bernhardt expresses her theory by means of a definition: "Declamation is the art of saying, of declaiming beautiful verse with precision, tenderness, or fury. . . ."7 Instead of one verb, the use of two, dire and declamer, may be arbitrary, but is more likely intentional. Dire stresses content; declamer, music. Tenderness and jury are opposed to precision, for precision, an attribute of technique, is representative of the chant system, while tenderness and fury, emotional attributes, represent verite. Sarah Bernhardt's advocacy of a system uniting sound and sense is corroborated elsewhere in her treatise where her explanation is more traditional than she admits: "I have unwittingly created a personal technique in order to intensify the sonorous music of verse, the melody of the word, as well as the music and melody of thought."8 Despite 5 The date of publication of Regnier's treatise, 1887, provides only an approximate indication of the date of composition. Regnier died in 1885, but many of the essays in his book had been written prior to that date. 6 Henri Dupont-Vernon, L'Art de bien dire, 7th ed. (Paris, 1897),

pp. 106-107.

7 Sarah Bernhardt, VArt du theatre (Paris, 1923), p. 171. Unless otherwise indicated, all translations that appear in this book are the author's. *lbid., p. 125.

6

VOICE Sarah's lack of acknowledgment, her theory represents an outgrowth of Conservatoire concepts current in the 1860s. During Sarah Bernhardt's student days, the Conservatoire offered four classes in dramatic declamation, which were taught by Jean-Baptiste Provost, Leon Beauvallet, Augustine Brohan, and Pierre Regnier. Of these four professors, only Regnier had not been a product of the Conservatoire. He was doubtless influenced by his mother Mme Tousez, a member of the Comedie-Francaise, but as was the earlier custom, he received his training in the provinces. In addition to their activities as societaires of the ComedieFrancaise, both Regnier and his colleagues taught three two-hour classes a week at the Conservatoire. As in the past, each student was assigned a specific professor, but now he was also required to be present at the classes of all.8 When Sarah Bernhardt passed her entrance examinations, she was placed under the tutelage of Provost, and in her memoirs she states that she attended the other classes as well. In addition to the course in dramatic declamation, there were four disciplines, three practical and one academic, which the student was expected to pursue: deportment, fencing, coaching, and dramatic history and literature. The class in deportment, maintien theatral, was directed by Georges Antoine Elie, the class in fencing by Pons.10 Coaching sessions with the repetiteurs, introduced in 1786, constituted one of the oldest features of the Conservatoire system. The function of these coaches was that of rehearsing roles with the students an hour before their classes.11 The repetiteur was the professor's assistant and was often, but not necessarily, a student himself. Provost, for example, be9

"Reglement du Conservatoire de musique et de declamation," November 22, 1850, Chapter m, Section vm, Article 32, in Constant Pierre, Le Conservatoire national de musique et de declamation (Paris, 1900), 1, 256. 10

Sarah Bernhardt referred to her fencing master as Pons, but according to the records of the Conservatoire, Augustin Grisier taught fencing there from 1839-1865. 11 Constant Pierre, Le Conservatoire national de musique et de declamation, 1, 64.

7

SARAH BERNHARDT came a repetiteur after he had left the Conservatoire, and Denis-Stanislas Talbot, Sarah's repetiteur, was a societaire at the Comedie-Francaise. During Sarah Bernhardt's student days, the function of the repetiteur did not differ from that which it had served in the past. Later on, however, the teachings of the coach came to have so little connection with those of the professor that the repetiteur system was eventually abolished. The single academic discipline, a course entitled Histoire et litterature dramatique, after having been dropped from the curriculum in 1812, was reinstated in 1855 and was taught by Samson. Prior to 1855 Samson had taught declamation dramatique, and when Provost became ill late in the academic year of 1862, Samson was placed in charge of his colleague's class in declamation. It was at this time that Sarah Bernhardt became his student. In both her novel Petite idole and her histrionic treatise UArt du theatre, Sarah Bernhardt reveals her attitude toward the Conservatoire. In her opinion it was an indispensable institution whose methods, however, were in need of reform. Although the Conservatoire is depicted noncritically in Petite idole, in UArt du theatre it is censured for overemphasizing the voice and for producing types rather than well-rounded actors. Sarah Bernhardt's negative attitude was connected with her bitterness toward the Comedie-Francaise and intensified by her experiences at the Conservatoire during the period of her professorship. Upon graduation in 1862, Sarah entered the Comedie-Francaise, but a year after the customary three debuts, she left as the result of an unfortunate clash with Mme Nathalie, one of the more respected societaires. After achieving considerable success at the Odeon, she was invited to return to the Comedie where in 1872 she made her debuts anew. Soon thereafter she became a societaire. So overindulged was her temperament, however, that it was bound to jar against the long-established rules of the House of Moliere, and in 1880, after a number of stormy scenes, she resigned. Although later invited to return, she refused. In 1907, how-

8

VOICE ever, she did accept a professorship at the Conservatoire. Instead of assuaging bitterness, her year-and-a-half stay at the school served to intensify it. Ernest Pronier suggests that she resigned because of the difficulty of teaching and performing concurrently, but Sarah attributes her action to a difference of opinion with the Conservatoire. A student was placed in her class whose pronunciation was that of the Parisian faubourgs, in Sarah's opinion, the most intolerable of all accents. She maintains that her pedagogical efforts were useless against an impenetrable linguistic barrier: "With great patience I applied myself to teaching her how to recite a Suzanne scene from Le Manage de Figaro. After five lessons that I considered futile, I told the girl she would do well to resume her former profession of dressmaker."12 The student complained to higher authority, and when her appeal was sanctioned, Sarah resigned. Sarah Bernhardt's written evaluation of the Conservatoire therefore reflects subjective as well as objective appraisal. While still a student, Sarah Bernhardt had commented upon both the faculty and the curriculum of the Conservatoire. Of the eight faculty members, only three emerge respected, and of these, but one admired. For filie and Talbot she expresses a condescension that is alternately amused, annoyed, and appreciative. For Pons she exhibits irritation; for Beauvallet, contempt. She reduces Augustine Brohan to insignificance by ignoring her. On the other hand, Sarah esteemed Provost, Samson, and Regnier, and she gratefully acknowledges her debt to each of them. It was Regnier, however, whose methods she most admired and whose teachings she followed long after her graduation from the Conservatoire. There can be little doubt that the art of Sarah Bernhardt was formed, not by the ideas of one particular professor, but by the combined precepts of the Conservatoire. After extolling the virtues of Regnier, Sarah expresses her gratitude for the entire curriculum: "My art is nevertheless indebted to the variety of studies which I 12

L'Art du theatre, p. 69.

9

SARAH BERNHARDT religiously pursued."13 The Conservatoire curriculum thus became the foundation of the art of Sarah Bernhardt. In discussing the individual approaches of each professor, Sarah describes Provost's style as "broad," Samson's as "precise," and Regnier's as "true."14 Both Samson and Regnier have left their methods and ideas to posterity in the form of treatises and memoirs, but as actor and professor, Provost died intestate, and what is known of him must therefore be reconstructed from external sources. Although Provost had been trained at the Conservatoire, he did not achieve his first success in serious roles at the Odeon, but in the melodramatic roles he performed on the Boulevard. His six-year association with the Porte SaintMartin may not have converted him into a melodramatic actor, but the exaggerated grandeur of Boulevard acting undoubtedly left its stamp upon his style and pedagogy. Samson gready admired Provost's acting, but he reveals nothing of his colleague's teachings.15 Volunteering a minimum of information, Sarah maintains that in his teaching Provost favored the broad style in both deportment and declamation. She recalls only that his gestures were sweeping and that his delivery verged on pomposity.18 Although Sarah's succinct description of Provost's style implies Boulevard influence, his technique was sufficiendy classic to have made his acting acceptable at the Comedie-Francaise and his pedagogy suitable to the Conservatoire. The extent of Provost's influence upon Sarah Bernhardt is difficult to ascertain. In her memoirs she cites an anecdote which reveals her at interpretive odds with her professor. She disagreed with Provost both in choice of a tragic role for the annual concours and in the proposed interpretation. Despite her success in convincing him that Voltaire's Zaire suited her talents, she failed to persuade him of the merits of her pathetic interpretation. Edmond Got, who became 13 Sarah Bernhardt, Ma Double vie (Paris, 1907), p. 103. 14 Ibid., pp. 103-104. 15 Joseph Isidore Samson, Memoires de Samson, 4th ed. (Paris, 1882), pp. 196-198. 16 Ma Double vie, p. 103. 10

VOICE dean of the Comedie-Francaise, had studied with Provost two decades before Sarah Bernhardt and, in his memoirs, he praises his former professor, but points out that his great fault was in obliging the student to imitate him.17 Since Sarah's interpretive convictions reinforced her customarydefiance of authority, she had no intention of relinquishing her chosen interpretation. The line "Frappe! dis-je, je l'aime!" which Zaire speaks at Nerestan's knees, represented the heart of the controversy. Following a heroic interpretation, Provost insisted that the line be delivered "forcefully," but Sarah, pursuing a pathetic approach, was convinced it would be more effective if delivered "tenderly." Unable to persuade Provost, she acceded to his wishes in class, but at the concours, she played the scene with an emphasis on pathos. She fell at Nerestan's knees with a sob and, with her arms outstretched, offered herself like a victim to his dagger. With tenderness she then pronounced the controversial line.18 Careful though Sarah is to record the positive audience reaction, she fails to mention her professor's response. The interpretive conflict concerning Zaire reveals the early manifestation of the actress's extreme individuality. It would seem, then, that Sarah Bernhardt acquired the broad style later in her career when, after 1880, she abandoned the Comedie-Francaise in favor of the Boulevard. Sarah experienced similar difficulties in working under Samson. Like Edmond Got, she admired the methods of the eminent maitre, but she notes that Samson left little to the initiative of the student. "Authoritarian and unbending," he insisted that for her second concours she appear in "two very poor scenes" from "two very poor plays," both by the obsolescent playwright Casimir Delavigne.19 Unsuccessful in convincing Samson that a change of author would be beneficial, she gave a poor performance at the concours. Her failure might have been attributable to her professor, but in the previous year it was Sarah, not Provost, who had 1T

Edmond Got, Journal de Edmond Got, 3rd ed. (Paris, 1910), 1,

41.

18

Ma Double vie, p. 97.

19

Ibid., p. 104. I I

SARAH BERNHARDT chosen the role and the interpretation, and at that time she had been awarded only a second prize in tragedy. The positive attitude toward Samson of other students and colleagues, including Rachel, indicates that the problems experienced by Sarah Bernhardt and Edmond Got were doubtless personal. In his tribute to Samson, Conservatoire administrator and playwright Ernest Legouve pinpoints the talents of Samson by comparing his histrionic and pedagogical endowments. As a performer, observes Legouve, Samson possessed " 'genuine talent,' " but as a professor, " 'genius.' "20 Sarah Bernhardt's difficulties with Samson were doubtless attributable to a clash of temperaments. Of the three professors to whom Sarah expresses her gratitude, Regnier ranks foremost. No possible grounds for conflict, personal or artistic, could exist between Regnier and Sarah Bernhardt, since, as she asserts, he was "gentle, well-bred, and taught a 'true' approach to delivery."21 Writing in 1876, the critic Francisque Sarcey refers to Regnier, not merely as a professor of declamation, but as the professor.22 Even prior to 1876 Regnier had attained the reputation formerly held by the revered Samson. In matters of articulation, Legouve considered him the "maitre des maitres."23 Although as an actor Regnier did not possess such natural gifts as a beautiful voice, a mobile face, or effective stage movement, Sarcey maintains that he had the intelligence and taste to cultivate various techniques by means of which his defects might be concealed.24 As a professor he modeled his pedagogy upon his own histrionic approach and insisted that his students concentrate upon masking their defects with substituted strengths. Precise articulation, for example, might so effectively reinforce a delicate voice that an audience would be unaware of the 20 Ernest Legouve, as quoted in Rene Coursaget and Maximilien Gauthier, eds., Cent ans de theatre par la photographie (Paris, 1947),

p . i(5. 21

Ma Double vie, p. 103. Francisque Sarcey, Comediens et comediennes (Paris, 1876), p. 4. Legouve, L'Art de la lecture, p. 54. 24 Sarcey, Comediens et comediennes, p. 9. 22 23

12

VOICE actor's substitution. Sarah Bernhardt's unqualified admira­ tion for Regnier's methods indicates that she recognized her weaknesses as well as her strengths. Broad, precise, true, the three terms which the actress employs to characterize the respective styles of her profes­ sors, indicate individual approaches to declamation within the framework of a general Conservatoire style. In their comments concerning voice, Samson and Regnier are amply supported by Legouve, whose extensive knowledge of the theatre Regnier greatly admired. Although concerned in his writings with the art of recitation, or dramatic reading, Legouve derived his knowledge of vocal training from his long and intimate association with the Comedie-Francaise and the Conservatoire.25 Many of the vocal principles re­ corded by Samson, Regnier, and Legouve can be traced to Talma and from Talma to Mole. One of the traditional vocal principles concerns the in­ strumental possibilities of the speaking voice. Legouve explains that the trained speaking voice is an instrument possessing two octaves and three registers, and like the piano, contains both light and dark tones. The untrained voice provides the material from which an instrument can be wrought, but not until fashioned into a finished instru­ ment can the voice, like the piano, be "played." Legouve is confident that with persistent study the compass of the speaking voice can be increased by the addition of both high and low notes. Although he recognizes that each of the registers is necessary, he insists that "the most solid, the most supple, the most natural" of these three voices is "the 26 middle register." Invoking the authority of Mole, Legouve quotes the famous maxim of his predecessor: " 'No middle 27 register, no immortality.' " Legouve goes on to point out that the other registers are to be used sparingly and with deliberated intent. While brilliance is to be found in the upper register and power in the lower, natural tones are the 25 28 27

Regnier, Souvenirs et etudes de theatre, p. 80. Legouve, VArt de la lecture, pp. 28-29. Franjois Rene Μοίέ, as quoted in Legouve, p. 29. J

3

SARAH BERNHARDT province of the medium. The high notes, he continues, are more delicate and fragile and, if overused, "will wear out, get out of tune, and be transformed into shrieks."28 The voice itself will then undergo complete alteration. Overuse of the low notes will prove no less disastrous, resulting in monotonous delivery. Legouve's conclusion is that the ideally cultivated instrument will utilize all three registers, the medium as the foundation, the upper and lower as sources of variety and flexibility. In his dual capacity of actor and professor, Samson was in accord with Legouve. Deriving his precepts from tradi­ tion and performance, he formulated his ideas in his Art thedtral, which, unlike Legouve's secondary school text­ book, is a learned treatise written in Alexandrines. Al­ though Samson does not refer to the voice as an instru­ ment, his vocal terminology reveals complete agreement with that of Legouve. Samson maintains that the actor must exercise his voice and make it supple, developing tonal shadings of great diversity. He must gauge the volume so that it can be heard even by the most distant member of the audience. Cultivated to the point of being neither too weak nor too powerful, the voice is to be led smoothly from tone to tone, always returning to the middle register, for only there can the "natural tone" be found. Samson warns the actor to avoid the piercing sounds produced in the upper, or head, register, for these tend to be "more heard than heeded." Only the medium register "pleases, touches, moves, kindles"; only the medium "can possess the soul by means of the ear." Samson's assertion that vocal artistry is dependent upon the middle register offers conclusive evi­ dence of both his histrionic and his pedagogical practice.29 Samson's recognition of the importance of the middle register derives from his student days at the Conservatoire where he was asked to give a dramatic recitation in the presence of the director and a group of professors that in­ cluded Talma. After hearing the recitation, Talma praised 28 29

Η

Legouve, p. 29. Samson, L'Art thedtral, 1, 44, Chant 11.

VOICE Samson's delivery, but admonished him for not making more frequent use of the middle register.30 Samson attributes his subsequent histrionic progress to his careful observance of Talma's advice. Since theory reflected practice, Samson placed great emphasis in his treatise upon the most necessary vocal register, the medium. Talma's advice to the young Samson recalls a similar suggestion that Mole once offered Talma. When Talma first entered the Comedie-Francaise, he appeared one evening as Saint-Albin in Denis Diderot's play Le Fere de famille. In one of the scenes, Saint-Albin's uncle is opposed to his nephew's marital plans and threatens to disinherit him. Realizing that he will remain with an annual income of only 1,500 livres, Saint-Albin expresses his agitation by interspersing throughout the argument the triumphant retort "J'ai 1,500 livres de rentes!" Having expended all his energy in this scene, Talma was surprised at the lack of audience response. Mole, who was standing in the wings when Talma came off stage in complete exhaustion, explained that his voice had been " 'continually placed in the upper register, and did not for a single moment descend into the medium.' " 31 He therefore advised Talma to deliver the role through the alternation of registers: It is perfectly all right for you to place "J'ai 1,500 livres de rentes!" in the upper register, but you must then return to a deeper tone when you say: "Je travaillerai, elle sera vetue, nourrie, je n'ai besoin de personne!" [middle] The uncle answers: "£coute-moi, malheureux!" and Saint-Albin must again deliver his "J'ai 1,500 livres de rentes!" with more force, [upper] "Mais, insense . . ."—"Je sais bien que le monde me blamera, mais que m'importe? Sophie sera avec moi." [middle] Then, with the greatest passion, cry out again, this time with the most force: "J'ai 1,500 livres de rentes!" [upper] Since Mole's suggestions were interpretive as well as technical, they were designed not only to alleviate vocal strain, 30 31

Samson, Memoires, p. 100. Mole, as quoted in Samson, Memoires, p. 251.

15

SARAH BERNHARDT but to avoid auditory monotony. Talma was greatly impressed by Mole's advice. He later attributed "half" his artistry to the middle register and considered its proper use one of the basic principles of his pedagogy.32 So concerned were Mole and his colleagues with the elevation of the medium over the head voice that they failed to explain fully the nature of the precarious upper register. Mole more closely approached an explanation than did his colleagues, for implicit in his advice to Talma is the suggestion of a relationship between pitch and volume. Since a mere ascent of the scale delivered piano would neither tax the actor nor result in tonal distortion, a combination of head voice and forte or fortissimo would have been necessary to produce both the shouts and exhaustion described by the Conservatoire proponents of the medium. Talma's faulty delivery in the role of Saint-Albin was based upon this attenuating combination, and Mole's corrective therefore consisted in the alternation of pitch as well as volume. Integral to the Conservatoire approach to declamation, the tradition of the middle register was practiced so consistently by the actor-professor that the same lesson was repeated from generation to generation. Provost, too, followed the example of predecessors when he pointed out to Edmond Got that during the recitation of a scene at the Conservatoire his voice was placed "slighdy in the head." In his memoirs, Got records Provost's comments, and he adds his own observations on the occurrence of the unintentional upper register. Emotion, Got asserts, causes contraction of the vocal cords and generates sound both higher and louder than the actor intends. Unable to produce the natural tone of the medium, he is then forced to employ monotonous delivery. Got suggests a remedy consisting of breathing, articulation, and the "initial placement of sound" toward the middle register.33 Although Regnier was equally concerned with the medium register, his terminology differs from that of his 82 Ibid., pp. 251-252.

33 Journal de Edmond Got, 1, 69.

l6

VOICE predecessors. Violently opposed to the "forced" or "artificial" voice, he greatly admired the actress Adrienne Lecouvreur for her skillful use of her "natural" voice.34 Were Regnier's comments transposed into traditional terminology, the forced or artificial voice that he denounces would be represented by the upper register; the acclaimed natural voice, by the medium. That Regnier's ideas represent the traditional Conservatoire attitude toward the medium is further substantiated by his student Henri Dupont-Vernon, professor at the Conservatoire and lifelong admirer of his former teacher. In a treatise on dramatic declamation which he dedicated to the memory of Regnier, DupontVernon calls attention to the necessity of the middle register, designating it alternately as the "natural voice," the "chest voice," and the "medium."35 Agreement between student and professor on the first of these synonymous terms reveals that, in referring to the natural voice, Regnier intended the middle register. The results of vocal mismanagement experienced by Talma, Samson, and Got occurred once again, and the victim this time was Sarah Bernhardt. When in 1879 the actress appeared in England with the Comedie-Frangaise, she developed a case of stage fright preceding her initial performance before the London public. She was scheduled to appear in the second act of Phedre, and the openingnight trac from which she suffered throughout her lifetime seized her before the curtain rose. Employing le bal as the spoken equivalent of the singer's vocalise, she began to practice her customary preperformance exercise. In the presence of trac, her voice did not respond: I closed my eyes in order to listen to the sound of my voice. What I find most suitable for vocalizing is le bal. I usually begin in the low notes by opening the a to le baaaHl, and I usually lead into the high notes by closing the a and emphasizing the I to produce le balll. So much for customary procedures. That night, however, I did not find le bal in either 34

Regnier, Souvenirs, p. 132.

**L'Art de Men dire, pp. 45-51.

17

SARAH BERNHARDT the high or the low notes. In the chest notes my voice was hoarse; in the soprano notes it was veiled. I cried from sheer rage.38 Trac was clearly in command, and when the actress appeared on stage, she became the captive of her own voice: "By the time I began my scene, I had lost all self-control, and my attack was a little too high. Having begun at such a pitch, I could not then change to a lower one. The race was on. Nothing could stop me."37 Supplementing the actress's description of her trac are the observations of Francisque Sarcey, who had followed the Com6die-Frangaise across the Channel and who was present at the opening night in London. While Sarah attributes her vocal alterations to a combination of accelerated tempo and high pitch, Sarcey also notes her use of increased volume. In describing the causes of tonal distortion, he therefore establishes an explicit relationship between pitch and volume: "As is natural in times of powerful emotion, she attacked the first note too high. Once this keynote was adopted . . . it had to be retained as the fundamental note of the entire passage. The voice had to emanate from there, and it had to grow in proportion to the growing power and pathos of the sentiments to be expressed. The artist was consequently obliged to shout. She accelerated her delivery; she was lost."38 On the basis of the comments of Sarah and Sarcey, it is clear that the actress delivered the entire second act of Phedre presto, fortissimo, and in the upper register of an overtaxed instrument. It is thus scarcely surprising to learn that she experienced the same type of exhaustion as did many of her predecessors under similar vocal circumstances. At the end of her performance, the actress professed to have fainted. In 1909-1910, Sarah Bernhardt recorded the principal speech of the declaration scene from the second act of Phedre. Between her London performance in 1879 and the 3a

Ma Double vie, p. 401. Ibid., p. 402. 88 Le Temps, June 9, 1879.

37

18

VOICE recording of the Edison cylinder of 1909-191 ο were some thirty years of extensive theatrical experience, including numerous performances in the title role of Phedre. That the actress did not succumb to trac on the recording could be anticipated, since recording sessions eliminated the pres­ sure imposed by the single opportunity of performance. It would be a reasonable assumption, then, that she main­ tained emotional control of her instrument and was not the victim of a runaway upper register. Such is certainly the case in the first two sections of the tirade. The last three lines of the second section, in particular, exhibit the skillful alternation of middle and upper registers, delivered lento, piano, and in sustained lachrymal recitative. The third section of the speech which concerns the en­ counter between Phedre and Hippolyte begins calmly with the queen's gradual identification of father and son and ends violently with her frenzied seizure of the prince's sword. It is here that the actress employs her upper regis­ ter, no longer lento and piano, but presto and fortissimo. This last section can be divided into three subsidiary parts, the volume and tempo increasing with each successive part and culminating in the concluding shout of "Donne." The first part begins "Que dis-je" and is delivered with rapidity and pathos; the second begins "Venge-toi" and is charac­ terized by increased volume and passion. "Crois-moi" ini­ tiates the third part with a passionate shout higher in pitch and louder in volume. Both pitch and volume are aug­ mented and increased four lines later in "Frappe," and again four lines further in the grating and bisyllabic "Donne" that accompanies seizure of the sword. The com­ bination of high pitch, increased volume, and accelerated tempo, then, results in the production of strident, rasping tones. The difference between the use of the upper register in the 1879 performance and the 1909-1910 recording is that in the former it was uncontrolled and constant; in the latter, preconceived and partial. Thus the causes inhere, not in trac, but in the actress's interpretation of the passionate de­ mands of Racine. The fact remains, however, that in the

!9

SARAH BERNHARDT passionate section of the speech the actress continued to derive from her upper register effects which, in 1879, both she and Sarcey had agreed were aesthetically unsuccessful. Sarah Bernhardt's recording of the principal tirade from the declaration scene therefore reveals both artistic and inartistic use of the much-decried upper register.se Unlike the recitation from Phedre, the 1903 recording of the song from Victor Hugo's "Un Peu de musique" exhibits no strain in the actress's use of her upper register. The song is romantic and, after the first stanza, functions on two levels: the literal and the symbolic. From the lover's proposal that he and his beloved create a dream come the horses which will transport them from reality. While remaining literal, the young man's horse represents happiness; the girl's, love. The song continues to intermingle reality and symbol in the lovers' journey through the nocturnal forests of the world. It concludes with the youth's wish to give cosmic dimension to their dream by imparting it to the stars. Sustaining the romantic impetuosity of the poem is the rapid tempo the actress employs. The basic pattern of two major stresses to the heptasyllabic line also provides a recurrent rhythm to which the ear becomes accustomed and therefore sensitive to occasional variations. Combined with the ascending and descending vocal runs used throughout the selection, the accelerated tempo and recurrent accentuation convey both the repetitive gallop of the literal horses and the rhythmic exuberance of the symbolic ones. Even more than through rhythm and tempo, the romantic content of the poem is expressed through the lyrical use of the upper register. Since the balanced pairs of ascending and descending runs serve as one of the rhythmic devices of the recitation, examples of the culmi39 Two rerecordings of Edison cylinder 35008: IRCC, no. L-7028; unpublished reprocessing of IRCC, no. L-7028 by Professor Walter L. Welch, Curator and Director, Thomas Alva Edison Foundation Re-recording Laboratory, Syracuse University Audio Archives, Syracuse, New York. Future reference to any unpublished reprocessing made by Professor Welch will be referred to as W. L. Welch reprocessing.

20

VOICE nating head voice are numerous. One such example occurs in the last two lines of the second stanza where the horses are symbolically defined: "Mon cheval sera la joie,/ Ton cheval sera Pamour." Preceding the four-syllable descend­ ing run of sera Pamour is the four-syllable ascending run of sera la joie, the last word of which is in the upper register. More unusual than the runs beginning in the medium and culminating in the head voice is a brief pyrotechnic run produced exclusively in the upper register. Executed on the monosyllable Ο of the line "O les verts taillis mouilles," the run encompasses four head notes, the first three ascending, the last descending. The resulting sound is high, clear, and unstrained. After delivering the run in the upper register, the actress immediately returns to the middle register in Les verts taillis mouilles, delaying the breathing pause until the end of the line, and connecting through legato the descent from Ο to les. The result is un unbroken line whose smoothness enhances the alternation of registers. One of the earliest available recordings of the actress's voice, then, exhibits both dramatic and aesthetic use of the upper register.40 The recordings of Sarah Bernhardt indicate that she had been given careful training in registration. Despite Sarah's frequent complaint that the Conservatoire overworked good voices, the supple response that her own instrument retained at the age of fifty-nine, when she recorded Un Feu de musique, or at sixty-five, when she recorded Phedre, scarcely indicates poor training. Had the actress been sub­ mitted to faulty instruction in her youth, the extensive tour­ ing which she undertook after her break with the ComedieFrancaise would have been destructive vocally, for she had to abide by a demanding schedule while on tour. During her first appearance in the United States in 1880, for exam­ ple, she gave twenty-seven performances in a period of thirty-seven days, including a matinee in New York on the day she was to leave for Boston. Since her managers were 40 Two «recordings of Zonophone disc X-2130: IRCC, no. 3047-B (9083); W . L. Welch reprocessing of IRCC, no. 3047-B (9083).

21

SARAH BERNHARDT very eager that she meet Thomas Edison, the Boston trip was circuitously routed via Menlo Park. She arrived there at 2:00 A.M., left at 4:00 A.M., and proceeded on to Boston.41 While other offstage commitments were neither so rewarding nor so exhausting as this historic visit, the combination of acting, traveling, and attending social functions was not conducive to vocal longevity. One might therefore be inclined to think that the actress's instrument would have shown signs of early deterioration. So contrary is the evidence provided by the Bernhardt recordings that it seems incredible the voice belongs to a woman of her age. Such preservation indicates the superior vocal technique acquired through the proper grounding in the middle register which Sarah Bernhardt learned as a student at the Conservatoire. Like her predecessors at the Conservatoire, Sarah Bernhardt emphasized in her teaching the importance of the middle register. On the stage of the Theatre Sarah Bernhardt, she offered a course in acting during 1911-1912, and the English actress May Agate became one of her students. In her book on Sarah Bernhardt, May Agate speaks of her personal vocal problem and of the remedy suggested by her teacher. During the recitation of a scene from UAiglon when her voice continued rising, Sarah insisted that she repeat the scene and pitch it about an octave lower. She also wished her to practice a scene from Iphigenie, the vocal characteristics of which would help bring her voice down from the upper register.42 May Agate's experience does not concern the artistic alternation of registers, but the inartistic use of the uncontrolled head voice. What the actress therefore sought to impart to her student was her personal corrective for a traditional vocal malady. When evaluating the vocal performances of Sarah Bernhardt, critics usually concentrate upon discussion of the middle and upper registers to the virtual exclusion of the chest voice. Only three critics offer concrete evidence that 41 42

22

Ma Double vie, pp. 491-497. May Agate, Madame Sarah, 2nd ed. (London, 1946), p. 27.

VOICE her voice contained some development of the lower regis­ ter. Reynaldo Hahn points out that the actress eventually acquired several deep chest notes.43 Doubtless she em­ ployed these low notes in the masculine travestt roles of Lorenzaccio and La Beffa. Anatole France praises the altered vocal timbre which characterized her performance in the title role of Lorenzaccio, and the critic of Les Annates du theatre notes the voice of "bronze" which she employed in La Beffa** It is significant that the earliest of the three comments occurs in 1896, for it indicates that the actress developed her chest register comparatively late. One is led to assume, then, that in her earher period Sarah Bernhardt had limited use of the lower part of her voice. The actress's 1909-1910 recording of a speech from Les Bouffons presents auditory evidence that she used her low­ er register only sparingly. In the masculine travestt role Jacasse, Sarah delivers the entire speech in the middle and upper registers, except for a single passage which emanates from the chest. Here Jacasse describes the jealous rage of a Zephyr who loses the object of his affections to a hand­ some nobleman. Sarah achieves the desired effect of anger in two ways: she grounds the entire passage in the lower register, and she reinforces her chest voice with a combina­ tion of increased volume and uvular articulation of the r's. The resulting auditory impression is one of impassioned but lyrical rage, the effectiveness of which derives from its lim­ ited application.45 Equally limited was Sarah Bernhardt's occasional use of abrasive low notes to designate emotional intensity. Al­ though recorded examples are few in number, one is to be found on the 1909-191 ο Edison cylinder of La Samaritaine, 43

Reynaldo Hahn, La Grande Sarah (Paris, 1930), p. 94. * Anatole France, La Revue de Paris (December 15, 1896), 905906; Les Annates du theatre et de la musique, ed. E. Stoullig, 1910 (Paris, 1911), p. 265. Hereafter cited as Les Annates du theatre. 45 Two W . L. Welch reprocessing» of Edison cylinder 35011: one, in the collection of the Audio Archives, Syracuse University; the other, from cylinder in the collection of L. Brevoort Odell, Branchville, N.J. 4

23

SARAH BERNHARDT and another on the 1903 disc of Phedre. While in La Samaritaine the abrasive lower register is employed to indi­ cate anger, in Phedre it serves to express elation. During her lengthy rejoinder to Jesus' request for water, the embit­ tered Photine responds with a series of taunts, one of which —"Tu dois avoir bien soif'—is delivered from dots to soif in delicately abrasive chest notes. Reinforcing the sand­ paper quality of the sound is the liaison between dois and avoir.™ The actress uses a similar technique in delivering the concluding word of the first section of the declaration scene from Phedre. Counterbalancing the ascent of her voice into the upper register on descendue is the descent upon the rhyming perdue into the abrasive depths of the chest voice. The effect emphasizes the amorous elation of Phedre and provides finality to the actress's recitation.47 Since the delivery of Les Bouffons indicates that abrasiveness was not necessarily integral to the chest voice, it would be reasonable to assume that the effects obtained in Phedre and La Samaritaine were deliberate. Although Sarah Bernhardt eventually abandoned the citadel of classicism, she clung tenaciously to its vocal prin­ ciples. Her voice was developed according to the methods of the Conservatoire and the Comedie-Francaise and was a musical instrument trained to convey meaning through sound. A considerable part of her Art du theatre is, in fact, devoted to the discussion of the voice. In this treatise, a "beautiful voice" is listed among the three qualities pre­ requisite to the performer, the others being memory and good physical proportions.48 The actress maintains that the voice is an "indispensable instrument," since it "captures the attention of the spectator and effects contact between artist and audience."49 She goes on to insist upon the importance of developing the voice: "Regardless of the artist's intelli­ gence, if he has any holes in his voice, he will never be able 46

Rerecording of Edison cylinder 3J013: CRS 043153. W . L. Welch reprocessing of HMV, Ε 326 (Matrix 1552 F - n ) . 49 *s L'Art du thidtre, p. 23. Ibid., p. 45. 47

2

4

VOICE to achieve total development of his art."50 Equally important, in Sarah Bernhardt's opinion, is a "very slight amount of nasality" that serves to enhance vocal timbre.51 Although the actress regards the voice as an instrument "which the artist has to learn to use with the suppleness and certainty of a limb," she cautions that it is never to become an end in itself, for actors "who are slaves of their voices," who are "seduced by the sound of words," and who are continually seeking vocal points, may succeed in currying public favor, but their habit will remain no less pernicious for its popularity.82 Sarah Bernhardt's contention, then, is that the actor convey dramatic content through a well-trained, infinitely flexible, and appropriately employed vocal instrument. La voix (Tor, a term now synonymous with the voice of Sarah Bernhardt, was coined by Victor Hugo at the tooth anniversary performance of the revival of Ruy Bias in 1872 to describe the timbre of the actress's instrument. The color golden, however, ultimately proves more poetic than descriptive, for whenever critics describe her timbre accurately, they employ terminology indicative of a silver voice. In his discussion of vocal color, Ernest Legouve maintains that the timbre of the voice is dependent upon its metal— silver, gold, or brass—a different tone quality corresponding to each. Elaborating upon his theory, Legouve suggests a number of color correspondences from the visual and musical arts. He parallels the golden voice, for example, with scarlet and the horn, and though he finds no visual equivalent for the silver voice, his musical parallel is the flute. Continuing his contrast of golden and silver voices, Legouve attributes brilliance to the former and charm to the latter.58 When describing Sarah Bernhardt's voice, the more perceptive critics do not compare her instrument with scarlet and the horn, but with silver, crystal, and the flute. Most frequent among vocal adjectives found in criticism are so 63

B1 Ibid. Ibid., p. 48. ^Ibid., pp. 52-53. Ernest Legouve, La Lecture en action, 5th ed. (Paris, n.d.), pp.

251-261.

2

5

SARAH BERNHARDT cristalline (Francisque Sarcey, Emile Faguet, and Louis Verneuil),54 argentine (Beatrix Dussane),55 and silvery (May Agate and Tom Taylor). 56 Jean-Jacques Weiss attrib­ utes to Sarah Bernhardt's instrument "the dazzling clarity of crystal."57 Henry James refers to her "silver accents" in the title role of Andromaque, and Tom Taylor speaks of her voice as "the most silvery ever heard in the theatre."58 Both Oscar Wilde and Francisque Sarcey compare the timbre of her instrument with that of the flute.59 When in 1887 Hugues Le Roux attended a performance of La Tosca, he lamented the violence of her vocal effects. Nostalgically, he recollected her performances at the Comedie-Francaise when her voice produced, not the shrieks of a wounded panther, but the melody of a "crystalline song." Having heard her previously at the Comedie as Andromaque, he recalled the tears she extracted from her audience by means of "a tremor of the Ε string in her throat." 60 When in later years Sarah Bernhardt overtaxed her instrument, the term brass was frequently applied to her voice, not in Legouve's sense of a specific timbre, but as a pejorative extension of the poetic gold. Successful vocal performances, however, were always described in terms of silver, crystal, or the flute. Sarah Bernhardt's vocal category is suggested by the timbre of her organ, and it can be determined in three s i

Francisque Sarcey, Le Temps, July 5, 1875, and May 20, 1889; fimile Faguet, Revue Hebdomadaire du Journal des Debats (February 17, 1905), 316; Louis Verneuil, La Vie merveilleuse de Sarah Bern­ hardt (New York, 1942), p. 71. 55 Beatrix Dussane, Reines de theatre (Lyon, 1944), p. 174. Be May Agate, Madame Sarah, p. 9; Tom Taylor, London Times, May 26, 1880. 57 Journal des Debats, December 24, 1883, rpt. in Jean-Jacques Weiss, Le Drame historique et le drame passionnel (Paris, 1894), p. 279. 58 Henry James, "Paris Revisited," Galaxy, 25 (January 1878), 12; Tom Taylor, London Times, May 31, 1880. 59 Letter to London Times, March 2, 1893, rpt. in Complete Works of Oscar Wilde, x: Miscellanies, ed. Robert Ross (New York, n.d.), 170; Francisque Sarcey, Le Temps, January 6, 1890. 60 La Revue Bleue (December 3, 1887), 732.

26

VOICE ways: through comparison with the instrument of Rachel, through supplementary information supplied by her student May Agate, and through her numerous recorded recitations. Described as deep, dark, and powerful, the voice of Rachel has frequently been called an instrument of bronze. Samson's pronouncement that she was a contralto, while providing an ex cathedra judgment of her vocal category, sustains the usual critical descriptions of timbre.61 Equating a voice of this nature with both the colors of Rembrandt and the timbre of the cello, Legouve refers to its metal, not as bronze, but brass. Although indicative of a darker timbre than brass, bronze possesses similar connotations of power. It follows, then, that if Rachel's instrument was a bronze or brass contralto, Sarah's was not a golden mezzo, but a silver soprano. May Agate's description of a concluding scene in Rostand's Samaritaine further corroborates the soprano category of Sarah Bernhardt's instrument. The actress employed vocal casting and was the last character to speak in a three-voice progression from contralto to soprano. Delivered in melopee, the scene was begun by an actress with a deep contralto voice and continued by May Agate, who had to "take up the chant" from the contralto and "rise in pitch" on each of her four lines in order to "arrive at the note, about an octave higher, upon which Madame Sarah would want to take it up."62 Clearly, May Agate served as the mezzo who led from contralto to soprano. The Bernhardt recordings repeatedly sustain critical dicta. Among those which best preserve the crystalline timbre of the actress's voice are the 1903 discs of Fhedre and La Samaritaine and the 1909-1910 cylinders of La Samaritaine and Les Bouffons. A description of her voice in these recitations warrants the customary critical vocabulary: silvery, crystalline, delicate, flutelike, and melodious. Sarah Bernhardt's recordings therefore provide conclusive evidence that her vocal category was soprano. 61

Samson, Memoires, p. 312.

62

May Agate, p. 118.

27

SARAH BERNHARDT Twelve years after Sarah Bernhardt left the Conserva­ toire, Emile Perrin, director of the Comedie-Francaise, in­ formed her that she was to appear in the title role of Phedre, and apprehensive at the prospect, the actress con­ fided her fears to Regnier. The cause of her apprehension can be determined from his remedial advice: " 'All you have to do is refrain from forcing your voice. If you emphasize pathos rather than passion, everyone, including Racine, will benefit from your interpretation.' " e s In keeping with his method of concealing a weakness behind a substituted strength, Regnier suggested the replacement of unattain­ able vocal passion with the actress's increasing propensity toward pathos. Sarah's interpretation of Zaire at the Con­ servatoire was as indicative of her predilection for pathos as Phedre would subsequently prove of her vocal limita­ tions. As a consequence, her only artistic alternative was to follow Regnier's advice and render the passion of Phedre with the pathos of Zaire. In operatic terms, the role of Zaire is more lyric than dramatic, and it therefore demands finesse and flexibility rather than sustained vocal power. Phedre, on the other hand, may contain many lyric passages, but it remains with­ in the province of the dramatic voice. It is not without cause that Jean-Louis Barrault, considering operatic casting for Phedre, suggests the title role be placed in the dramatic category, for he believes that the spoken Phedre can easily be transposed into a "dramatic mezzo soprano."64 Since Rachel had approached the role as a contralto, and Sarah as a soprano, the mezzo casting is not essential. Dramatic vocal quality, however, has always been considered pre­ requisite to the role. This quality Rachel had at her dis­ posal, for as criticism indicates, her voice possessed not only bronze timbre, but brazen power as well. Phedre, therefore, was perfectly suited to her voice. When in 1874 Sarah Bern83

Pierre Regnier, as quoted in Sarah Bernhardt, Ma Double vie, pp. 348-349. βί Jean-Louis Barrault, Phedre: Mise en scene et commentaires (Paris, 1946), p. 34.

28

VOICE hardt made her initial appearance as Phedre, Francisque Sarcey, Auguste Vitu, and Qement Caraguel agreed that her achievement was considerable, but all maintained that her voice lacked the physical power necessary for the effec­ tive rendering of passion and violence.65 Five months earlier when Sarah had appeared in the title role of Zaire, the same critics expressed unqualified approval: the role, they observed, was tailored to her face, her style, and her voice.66 Lily Langtry's comment that Sarah Bernhardt pos­ sessed a "lovely silken voice" sustains the conclusion that Sarah's instrument was lyric.67 Zaire, then, was as compati­ ble with Sarah's lyric soprano as Phedre had been with Rachel's dramatic contralto. In lyric roles, such as the Racinian princesses Junie, Aricie, and Monime, Sarah was praised for the languishing, mournful tenderness she derived from her instrument. Re­ viewing Mithridate in 1879, Auguste Vitu and Qement Caraguel agreed with Paul de Saint-Victor that the role of the jeune princesse was " 'written for her voice.' " e s Vitu reiterates and expands the words of his colleague: "De­ manding grace, tenderness, and a touching type of charm rather than power, passion, and shouts, the role of Monime is admirably suited to Mme Sarah Bernhardt. One might 69 even say it was written for her." Qement Caraguel sup­ ports the evaluations of both critics: "This delightful artist seems to have been created expressly for reciting the melodious verses of Racine. She may not have power, but 70 she is grace incarnate." Although critics considered 65

Francisque Sarcey, Le Temps, December 28, 1874; Auguste Vitu, Le Figaro, December 21, 1874, rpt. in Vitu, Les Mille et une nuits de theatre, in, 2nd ed. (Paris, 1886), 190-192; Clement Caraguel, Journal des Debats, December 28, 1874. ββ Sarcey, Le Temps, August 10, 1874; Vitu, Le Figaro, August 6, 1874, rpt. in Les Mille et une nuits de theatre, m, 58-62; Caraguel, Journal des Debats, August 10, 1874. 67 Lily Langtry, The Days I Knew (New York, 1925), p. 116. 68 Paul de Saint-Victor, as quoted in Les Annales du theatre, 1879 (Paris, 1880), p. 83. 69 Le Figaro, February 7, 1879, rpt. in Vitu, Les Mille et une nuits de theatre, vn (Paris, 1890), 52. 70 Journal des Debats, February 10, 1879. 2

9

SARAH BERNHARDT Racinian princess roles suitable to her lyric voice, Sarah herself was far from pleased with their limited histrionic opportunities. Had Sarah Bernhardt confined herself to lyric roles, she would have focused critical observation upon her talents. By seeking roles outside her vocal category, however, she directed attention toward her limitations. Even in so essentially lyric a role as Dona Maria in Ruy Bias, her voice could not support the strain of excessive passion in the last act. Sarcey may have praised her languishing and tender delivery, but he was forced to admit that, when challenged by the emotional upheaval of the last act, her voice proved inadequate.71 Eight years later, Vitu noted that her voice possessed charm only in the middle register and that so long as she grounded her roles there, her instrument would respond to her demands.72 Dramatic roles, however, required more power than she possessed in the middle register of her lyric soprano voice. Sarah's solution to her vocal problem was twofold: either she emphasized pathos, or she sought for unattainable power. Critics indicate that she often did both in the same role. Sarah Bernhardt's approach to dramatic roles resulted in her alternation of lyricism with shouts. Of such frequent occurrence was her mingling of melodic pathos with cacophonous passion that sympathetic as well as inimical critics disapproved. While the usually antagonistic Paul de Saint-Victor denounced her vocal technique, the admiring though open-minded Ernest Pronier was obliged to agree with him. Reviewing La Fille de Roland in 1875, SaintVictor wrote a caustic evaluation of her delivery: " 'She always imposes the same musical lamentation, the same singsong and doleful delivery on all types of speeches. As the situation progresses in power and intensity, the monotonous chant of the recitative is pitched one note higher, but the song is the same. The performance of this everlasting tune n

Le Temps, February 26, 1872. Le Figaro, April 11, 1880, rpt. in Les Mille et une nuits de theatre, vra (Paris, 1891), 28. 72

30

VOICE is interrupted only at violent moments by stifled and mournful screams.' "73 Free though Pronier's comments may have been from the venom that Sarah attributed to SaintVictor, he arrived at the same conclusions as did the earlier critic. Pronier maintains that Sarah Bernhardt's delivery always contained two distinct mannerisms: melopee and le cri sauvage, the former used in passages of tenderness, the latter substituted for unattainable intensity in passages of violence. Melopee, however, served as a means of interpreting dramatic as well as lyric passages. Even prior to her interview with Regnier, the actress had employed recitative so extensively in scenes of passion that the cause of her substitution was evident. Vitu pinpoints the matter in attributing her "lugubrious singsong" to a lack of physical power that "condemns her to remain longer than necessary in the hollow, grieving, mournful scales. . . ."7* Her approach to dramatic power was therefore characterized both by her substitution of recitative and by her abortive attempt at dramatic passion. Although Sarcey was more tolerant of Sarah's overreliance upon melopee than was Vitu, both critics agreed in their censure of her cri sauvage. Vitu sensed the disparity between artistic vision and vocal limitations: "The misfortune is that, called upon by temperament to perform in drame or tragedy, she is almost always betrayed by her physical powers when intense emotions are required."75 Sarcey did not ignore the influence of trac, but he realized that her vocal limitations could not be attributed entirely to stage fright: "I doubt whether Mile Sarah Bernhardt's delightful instrument will ever possess those ringing dramatic notes which express outbursts of emotional intensity. . . . " Aware though he was that practice would be beneficial, 73 Saint-Victor, Le Moniteur Universel, February 1875, as quoted in Ernest Pronier, Une Vie au theatre: Sarah Bernhardt (Geneva, Switzerland, n.d.), p. 182. 74 Le Figaro, February 9, 1872, rpt. in Les Mille et une nuits de theatre, 1 (Paris, 1884), 173; Le Figaro, January 6, 1872; ibid., 1, 127. 75 Le Figaro, November 6, 1872, rpt. in Les Mille et une nuits de theatre, 1, 321.

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SARAH BERNHARDT Sarcey recommended that the actress confine herself to "noble, touching, and tender sentiments, to proud but re­ strained irony, and to the melancholy of reserved and chaste love," since these emotions were more suitable to her instrument than "outbursts of anger or the frenzy of un­ bridled passion." He holds that her vocal forte is the noble and tender young Racinian heroine: Iphigenie and Aricie, whom she had already performed; Junie, whom she was soon to perform; and Monime, whom she would perform in several years.76 Approximately a year later when suggest­ ing Sarah's proper casting to Emile Perrin, Sarcey added Esther and Berenice to his list of Racinian jeunes princesses roles.77 Sarah, however, did not wish to remain a jeune princesse. Clamoring for leading roles, she convinced the man­ agement of the Comedie-Francaise to yield to her desires. The result was vocal incongruity that invited adverse criticism. Sarcey asserted in 1873 that Sarah Bernhardt was still unprepared to assume leading roles and, though uncertain as to whether her voice would ever be suited for dramatic intensity, he insisted that at that time it lacked the neces­ sary power.78 In spite of his pronouncement, less than a year later, the actress was cast in the title role of Phedre. When Clement Caraguel attended the opening night of Sarah's Phedre, he anticipated an evening both frustrating and rewarding. In his review, he drew attention to a tirade in the sixth scene of Act IV which fulfilled his expectations. In the section emphasizing jealousy, the actress attempted passionate delivery: ". . . her voice, overtaxed, lost its sup­ pleness. Only through agonizing exertions did it issue from her throat, and she experienced the cruel punishment of being unable to express emotions she understood so well and felt so deeply because of the shortcomings of an un­ yielding organ." In contrast with the strained delivery of the section concerning jealousy was the unimpeded flow of τβ 77

32

Le Temps, November 11, 1872. Ibid., September 1, 1873.

r8

/fo'i, March 31, 1873.

VOICE the passage treating penitence. Reinforcing poetry with pantomime, the actress achieved tragic power by emphasizing the inherent pathos of the scene: "Mile Sarah Bernhardt gave a perfect rendering of the feeling of terror which pervades these beautiful verses. And her manner of falling on her knees at the word Pardonne!—as if she were prey to some kind of vision—caused a shudder to run through the audience. She saw Minos, her judge, and the spectator saw him as did she."79 Sarah Bernhardt's Phedre therefore fulfilled the critic's positive and negative expectations. CaragueFs conclusions were reinforced by those of Vitu and Sarcey, both of whom emphasized the lyrical success and dramatic failure of Sarah Bernhardt's Phedre. Vitu records the results of the actress's alternation of pathos and passion: "Whenever the role required weariness, melancholy, or vibrant but restrained emotional intensity, her interpretation was perfect. . . . But when it concerned the delivery of scenes of violence, Mile Sarah Bernhardt ran beyond the limits imposed by the scantiness of her physical powers and, above all, by the compass of her voice, which, when overtaxed, sounds shrill and strident and conveys only an imperfect impression of the artist's intentions."80 Although Sarcey was basically in accord, he was, by turns, more critical and more tolerant than his colleague. So long as the individuality of Sarah's interpretation remained artistic, he did not contest its validity; he even praised her attempt to approach the declaration scene through lyrical substitution. When in the first act, however, she took questionable interpretive liberties, the critic's open-mindedness was transformed into vexation: "What she presented was far less a Phedre consumed by incestuous passion . . . than a young and likable schoolgirl in a Carmelite convent whose father refuses to give his consent to her marrying the brother of one of her friends who used to visit her at the 79

Journal des Debats, December 28, 1874. he Figaro, December 21, 1874, rpt. in Les Mille et une nuits de theatre, in, 191-192. 80

33

SARAH BERNHARDT grating of the parlor."81 Again in the first act, her unsuccessful attempt at dramatic intensity during the confession is attributed to the nature of her instrument, but during the remainder of the play, to an uncontrollable case of stage fright. Sarah Bernhardt's performance of Phedre therefore sustains Sarcey's earlier pronouncement that her lyrical voice was unable to bear a dramatic burden. Phedre, the touchstone of the French dramatic voice, became one of the triumphs of Sarah Bernhardt's career, but it did so despite her vocal limitations. Approximately four years after her initial appearance in the role, Vitu again reviewed her Phedre and was obliged to reiterate his former evaluation: the mournful and melancholy parts of the role were compatible with her vocal talent; the dramatic and passionate parts greatly exceeded her limitations. Particularly apparent in the middle register, her lack of power caused her to alternate between "the murmur and the shout": the murmur again represented both lyric pathos and a chanting substitution for dramatic passion; the shout was once more an abortive attempt at dramatic intensity. Although Vitu insisted that Sarah Bernhardt's Phedre was an artistic creation, he could not repress his nostalgia for what he, together with Sarcey, considered a greater work of artistry: "How much more finished and natural was her performance as Aricie, a role in which I consider her truly delightful!"82 Vitu's suggestion that Sarah Bernhardt's acting category was the jeune princesse reaffirms his belief that in the leading role of the play her vocal talent was misapplied. The last part of the 1909-1910 recording of Phedre corroborates Vitu's judgments concerning the actress's misuse of her voice. While delivering this section presto and fortissimo, she nevertheless retains the lachrymal tone used in the previous sections. The result is an anomalous blend of passion and pathos that placed additional strain upon her 81

he Temps, December 28, 1874. Le Figaro, May 7, 1878, rpt. in Les Mille et une nuits de theatre, vi (Paris, 1889), 200. 82

34

VOICE already overtaxed instrument. The recording contains no extreme examples of the murmur, but the last section does exhibit vocal stridency.83 No sooner had Sarah Bernhardt assumed the role of Phedre than she became obsessed by the memory of Rachel. Sarah's performances reveal that her vocal approach to the role was as much influenced by the ominous histrionic ghost as by the Regnier advice she but partially followed. Since Rachel had died only sixteen years prior to Sarah's first Phedre, her interpretation lingered in the minds of both public and press. Preconception on the part of the audience was therefore understandable, but in attempting to emulate her predecessor, Sarah gave further impetus to existing propensities. Sarcey reacted to the situation by censuring actress and audience alike, the audience for making unjust comparisons, the actress for fostering criticism that could easily have been diverted. He therefore advised Sarah to extricate herself from the controversy by de-emphasizing those passages stressed by Rachel. The denunciation of Oenone in Act IV exemplifies the critic's advice. Since the passage had been delivered by Rachel with "unequaled power," Sarcey's suggestion of deblayage would have been the only means of concealing the absence in her own performance of Rachel's more appropriate "deep voice and bronze throat."84 During Sarah's second performance of Phedre, she made a conscious, although temporary, effort to avoid imitation of her predecessor. Only in her delivery of the word miserable was Rachel's influence still evident, for, unwilling to relinquish intensity, but unable to master it, she produced a distortion of sound. Although Sarcey complimented her second Phedre, he was provoked by even her limited attempt to vie with Rachel: "With the exception of a miserable! . . . which she might well leave to Mile Rachel, 83 Two «recordings of Edison cylinder 35008: IRCC, no. L-7028; W. L. Welch reprocessing of IRCC, no. L-7028. 84 Le Temps, January 4, 1875.

35

SARAH BERNHARDT who extracted an awesome effect from it . . . we were enraptured by this long passage which she interpreted in the most varied and sensitive vocal nuances."85 The admonition of the critic remaining unheeded, Sarah persisted in her cacophonous miserable, and in the passionate parts of the role, returned to a dramatic interpretation. Sarcey responded with paternal severity, warning Sarah that her own endowments differed from those of Rachel and that she would therefore be obliged to fashion her art out of her own rather than her predecessor's talents.86 Not until four years later was Sarcey able to compliment Sarah for rejecting Rachel's miserable, but he again censured the remainder of the fourth act. Since the nature of her instrument precluded emulation of Rachel, Sarcey suggested that Sarah transform the role to fit the proportions of her "fragile and charming organ." Instead of shouting the concluding couplet of the tirade in which Oenone is cursed ("Detestables flatteurs, present le plus funeste/ Que puisse faire aux rois la colere celeste!"), she would have been more successful had she imbued the verses "with the type of piercing superciliousness consonant with her vocal resources."87 Thus in 1879, five years after Sarah Bernhardt's initial Phedre, Sarcey's criticism sustained Regnier's original advice. Not only in Paris was Sarah's Phedre compared with Rachel's, but in London as well. In 1879, more than a quarter of a century after Rachel had performed Phedre there, Sarah Bernhardt made her opening London appearance with the Comedie-Francaise in the same role. Unfamiliar though the English critics were with the technicalities of French vocal criticism, they had a general impression of the accomplishments of one French actress, and when another appeared in the same role, they naturally compared the two. In contrasting the vocal interpretation of both actresses, Tom Taylor, by far the most articulate of the London critics, arrived at conclusions similar to those of his 85 87

36

Ibid. Ibid., June 23, 1879.

S6

lbid., July 5, 1875.

VOICE Parisian colleagues. He maintains that Rachel's Phedre was stately and somber, Sarah's pathetic and tender. Rachel's organ encompassed the deeper, stronger notes necessary for the explosive outbursts of passion in the fourth act; Sarah's organ lacked power. Both the third and fifth acts of Sarah's Phedre were suited to her voice: the third act exhibits "her full command of pain and pathos"; the fifth act is as "infinitely pathetic and as exquisitely beautiful as it is touching." The fourth act, on the other hand, illustrates that her physical endowments serve her "but imperfectly," and the cursing of Oenone, characterized by a lack of the type of notes necessary "for this changed current of emotion," was not appropriate to Sarah's "silvery" instrument, but to the "deeper, stronger, and more sombre resources of voice" possessed by Rachel.88 London, then, was in accord with Paris. Despite the preference in London for Rachel's vocal interpretation, critics and audiences remained enthusiastic about Sarah Bernhardt's Phedre. Their response is attributable partly to her mastery of pathos, and partly to the aura of her offstage personality, for Sarah Bernhardt's initial London appearance had been heralded by a much publicized reputation in which professional artistry and personal eccentricity were indiscriminately mingled. Although Taylor greatly admired Sarah's artistry, he was sufficiently perceptive to recognize that her treatment of the more intense passages in Phedre could be improved, not through publicity-seeking, but through "patient self-schooling." He insists that "the more impulsive her nature," the greater her need for "stern and continued discipline."89 Taylor's advice remained unheeded, and Sarah, who arrived in London a celebrity, returned to Paris a prima donna. Less than a year following her London appearance, Sarah Bernhardt severed relations with the Comedie-Frangaise. Temperamental though she had been prior to her visit to London, after her return she became intractable. Her per88

London Times, May 31, 1880. Ibid., June 16, 1879.

sa

37

SARAH BERNHARDT formance in V Aventuriere was a fiasco, and blaming the management of the Comedie-Francaise for her failure, she departed angrily, her flight soon to be followed by publicity and a lawsuit. Sarcey was provoked by her petulance. He recognized that her loss would greatly exceed that of the Comedie and therefore suggested that she return: Mile Sarah Bernhardt's absence will certainly create a substan­ tial, although temporary, gap in the repertoire, but this will soon be remedied. . . . A theatre as prestigious and renowned as the Comedie-Frangaise cannot stake its existence upon the whims of any one artist. Its reputation depends upon two unshakable principles: an enormous repertoire and a large company. . . . [Sarah Bernhardt] is not one of those whose powerful shoulders can bear the brunt of a whole perform­ ance. . . . Exquisite though she may be as the Queen in Ruy Bias, what good is the second act without the rest of the play? . . . Look at her repertoire. Examine each and every role. It will soon become apparent that none of her roles can be separated from the plays in which they occur without disastrous consequences.90 Disregarding all admonitions, Sarah formed her own com­ pany, and after returning to London, expanded her geo­ graphical boundaries to encompass America, then the re­ mainder of what she considered the world. In Paris her theatrical home was no longer the Comedie-Frangaise, but the Boulevard. Sarah Bernhardt's break with the Comedie-Francaise may have liberated her rebellious temperament, but it failed to exorcise the spirit of Rachel. In 1890, eleven years after she had abandoned her dramatic delivery of misera­ ble, Sarah again challenged her predecessor in seeking to duplicate her recitative. According to Theophile Gautier, Rachel, on one patriotic occasion, had declaimed the Mar­ seillaise in such forceful melopee that it produced an awe­ 81 some effect on the audience. Although Sarah Bernhardt 9

° Le Temps, April 26, 1880.

91

Theophile Gautier, Histoire de Van dramatique en France depuis vingt-cinq ans, ν (Paris, 1859), 242.

38

VOICE had also given a public recitation of the Marseillaise, the only commentary concerning her use of dramatic melopee is associated with Jules Barbier's Jeanne d'Arc. Attempting in the title role to emulate Rachel's dramatic recitative, Sarah also won the adulation of her audience, but not of the critical minority. Sarcey, in particular, was irritated by her unsuccessful "bellowing" of a musically accompanied passage which concluded the second act: "Mme Sarah Bernhardt does not have the voice for these Marseillaises . . . and despite the applause she arouses, she remains trapped by her artistic limitations when she . . . tries to extract trumpet blasts from a melodious flute."92 In 1900, ten years following Sarcey's perceptive observations, Rene Doumic evaluated Sarah's vocal performance in UAiglon in terms similar to those of previous critics: "Exquisite in dreamlike and melancholy . . . passages, she is too often obliged to force her voice and shout."93 Eight years later, the 74-year-old Sarah Bernhardt recorded La Priere pour nos ennemis, and the recording serves as a culmination of the long-familiar conclusions of the critics. Her lack of dramatic intensity is especially noticeable in the seventh line of the last stanza, where the passionate hatred of the enemy reaches a climax of violent denunciation: "Du monde pour jamais abolira leur race!" Du monde is delivered in one passionate outburst; the voice is still clear. Four jamais is then hurled forth with augmented passion, and jamais is slightly hoarse. Every word of abolira leur race is passionately hoarse, but race, the most passionate of all, possesses a gravel-like roughness that might have obscured intelligibility had articulation been less precise.84 At the end of her career, then, Sarah Bernhardt was still tempted to misuse her instrument. Although the actress seldom followed Regnier's advice concerning Phedre, she did employ vocal pathos extensively. In her discussion of the voice, the actress maintains 92

Le Temps, January 6, 1890. Revue des Deux Mondes (April 15, 1900), 703. Two rerecordings of Vocation 22035: CRS 10; W. L. Welch reprocessing of CRS 10. 93

91

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SARAH BERNHARDT that it must possess four qualities which she designates as "harmonies." She describes these harmonies as "deep, lachrymal, vibrating, and metallic."95 Since, in two cases out of four, her terminology is obscure, it is difficult to determine exactly what she intended. The deep and metallic harmonies may have been the two tones which, in addition to registers and resonance, the practitioners of bel canto applied to the singing voice. Corresponding approximately to the tones of the organ, these vocal tones were called diapason, the result of a lowered position of the larynx, and flute, the result of a slightly higher position.96 Further clarification of Bernhardt's deep and metallic harmonies may be provided by the English actor Louis Calvert (18591923). Renowned for his splendid voice, Calvert emphasizes vocal training in his treatise, and he explains that in addition to a compass of two octaves, the actor's voice ought to possess "two primary tones" that shade into "the manifold variety of which the human voice is capable." He refers to these tones as "sonorous" and "metallic." The sonorous tone is "deep" and "easy," and from it are derived the "softer tones" which best express vocal pathos. Contrasting with the sonorous tone is the metallic tone, "sharp" and "incisive," and well suited to the expression of sarcasm and bitterness, and to lines whose inherent dullness requires tonal stimulation.97 Probably Calvert's sonorous tone represents the bel cantists' diapason, and his metallic tone, their flute. It can be inferred, then, that Sarah Bernhardt's "deep harmony" was the equivalent of the sonorous diapason, and her "metallic harmony" of the metallic flute tone. Less confusion exists for the vibrating and lachrymal harmonies. The vibrating harmony is vibrato, the lachrymal harmony a vocal tone of intense pathos. Sarah Bernhardt's recordings contain numerous examples of the use of vibrato, the lachrymal tone, and at several climactic points, an interpenetration of the two. 85

L'Art du theatre, p. 45. Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th ed. (New York and London, 1954), nc, 50. »7 Louis Calvert, Problems of the Actor (New York, 1918), p. 53. 96

40

VOICE In the second and essentially pathetic section of the declaration scene from Phedre, the actress blends the lachrymal tone with selective vibrato to produce intense vocal pathos. The emotional climax occurs in the middle of the section. Prior to the climax are twelve lines in which individual words are emphasized through vibrato, three of which occur in final positions, and of these, two in a rhyming position. Although, textually, the twelve-line passage is begun in passion, it soon changes to pathos through Phedre's explanation of the divine origin of her love: "Ces dieux qui se sont fait une gloire cruelle/ De seduire le coeur d'une faible mortelle." The key line is the second, and it contains three words—coeur, faible, and mortelle—delivered in varying degrees of vibrato, coeur being the most intense of the three. The actress makes several alterations which contribute to the pathetic impact of the line. She eliminates the mute e at the end of seduire and substitutes an elongated sob at the caesura following coeur. The sob emerging from the combination of lachrymal tone and vibrato with which coeur is invested preserves the artistic concept of "tears in the voice" that May Agate considers one of her teacher's most valued vocal achievements.98 Occurring in the middle of the Une, the auditory pathos of coeur is echoed in faible and mortelle, faible carrying lighter vibrato, mortelle heavier, though still less intense than coeur. The fusion of vibrato and lachrymal tone, together with the sob, conveys vocally the intense pathos of Ph£dre's plight as victim of hostile divinity." No matter how beautiful the voice, Sarah Bernhardt affirms that it will not be effective if improperly placed. In discussing techniques of delivery, the actress expresses her preference for "mask" placement. She explains that after sound is emitted by the vocal cords, it is modified by the successive resonance of throat, mouth, and nose. If, however, any of these resonators is used either preponderantly or exclusively, the voice will issue from the place which 98

May Agate, p. 32. " T w o «recordings of Edison cylinder 35008: IRCC, no. L-7028; W. L. Welch reprocessing of IRCC, no. L-7028.

41

SARAH BERNHARDT produces it, injuring that place and impairing the quality and projection of the sound. A voice produced exclusively in the throat, for example, will cause congestion in the vocal cords and result in hoarseness. Although the effects of nasal placement are not recorded, Sarah maintains that correct placement can be achieved only through palatal resonance: "If, after having struck the hard palate, the voice rebounds on the teeth, it will unquestionably possess greater clarity, suppleness, and resonance. It will be free from tremolo; it will readily attain homogeneity; and it will carry better. The voice will, then, be properly placed."100 The actor who successfully employed palatal resonance was said to possess "la voix dans le masque," and Sarah insists upon the necessity for such placement. Mask placement, however, can occur only in the middle register where the predominant resonator is the hard palate. In the upper and lower registers, where the resonators are head and chest respectively, mask placement is inappropriate and ultimately injurious to the voice.101 It is therefore unlikely that the actress would either advocate or employ palatal resonance for all three registers. Although Sarah Bernhardt considered the concurrent study of acting and singing detrimental to the actor's voice,102 she was convinced that only a musical ear could determine correct vocal placement: "The musical ear coordinates the natural sounds which the vocal cords emit. It guides them, disciplines them, and keeps them vital and pure. It enables the speaker immediately to adapt himself to acoustical changes encountered in different theatres and to variations in the size of the audience."103 The actress's theory about musicianship is substantiated by her own performances where it was her striking musicality that evoked critical encomia. 100

VArt du theatre, pp. 221-222. Q.v., Blanche Marchesi, The Singer's Catechism and Creed (London, 1932), pp. 16, 17, and 31; Viktor Fuchs, The Art of Singing and Voice Technique (New York, 1964), pp. 60-61. 102 Q.v., May Agate, p. 81. 103 L'Art du theatre, p. 54. 101

42

VOICE Sarcey ranks foremost among the critics who first drew attention to the musical quality of Sarah Bernhardt's performances. He considered her voice an instrument, the verses she recited musical phrases, and the effects she achieved similar to those produced by singers. In 1871 he observed that her voice resembled music, adding, however, that she neither sang nor resorted to the "obvious and studied artifice of recitative."104 Approximately a year later, he complimented the actress for delivering a verse passage in such a manner as to make it seem like a musical phrase.105 When a month later Sarah appeared as Junie in Britannicus, Sarcey reacted enthusiastically: "She has the extraordinary gift of making her audience quiver with delight through the sheer melody of her captivating delivery."106 Not long afterwards, the actress was cast in the role of another jeune princesse, that of Aricie in Phedre, and Sarcey expressed unqualified approval of her vocal performance: "Her voice is music incarnate, and her delivery is characterized by unimaginable attainments of limpid clarity." He observed that during several well-known passages, tremors of delight again ran through the audience.107 Thus by 1873, eleven years after graduation from the Conservatoire, the musical quality of Sarah Bernhardt's voice had already become renowned. Appearing at the same time as Sarcey's feuilleton in Le Temps was a review by Jules Janin (1804-1874) in the Journal des Debats. Janin, who was then approaching the end of his career, was the first critic to have recognized the artistry of the young Rachel and, throughout her lifetime, had assiduously followed her artistic development. According to Janin, Rachel's technique was similar to that of great singers and consisted mainly in the "precise emission of sound, the science of gradations, and the exact observation of nuances. . . ." Janin affirms that both Mile Rousseil as Phedre and Sarah Bernhardt as Aricie employed the same 104

Le Temps, October 16, 1871. i° 5 Ibid., November 11, 1872. 107 Ibid., September 22, 1873.

10B

Ibid., December 23, 1872.

43

SARAH BERNHARDT method as Rachel. He also notes the lyric quality of Sarah's instrument: "Her delivery is excellent; her melodic voice seems to be made expressly for sighing the elegiac poetry of Racine." Sarah Bernhardt's vocal interpretation, moreover, stimulated in a seasoned critic a newly acquired awareness that the role of Aricie need no longer be considered insignificant.108 Each new role that the actress added to her repertoire was followed by criticism that praised her musicianship. In 1874 Sarcey described two performances in almost identical terms. He referred to a tirade in Zaire as a "delightful cavatina" and to a love scene in La Belle Paule as a "cavatina of love sung by a delightful voice."108 Sarcey even attributed the actress's success as Dona Maria in Ruy Bias to her musical delivery: "With her melodious voice she has sung, indeed sung, these verses which are emitted like a lament drawn by the wind from an Aeolian harp." The critic was so captivated by the musicality of the famous "Blesse" passage that his description grew ecstatic: "Mile Sarah Bernhardt sighed forth this delightful cantilena in a mournful voice. Avoiding any trace of interpretive nuance, she presented a sustained caress of sound, the very monotony of which possessed indefinable delicacy and magnetism. All she had to do was add the music of her voice to the music of the verse."110 Reinforcing the conclusions of Sarcey and Janin were those of other critics in Paris and London. When comparing Sarah's fiasco with Adeline Dudlay's success in Mithridate, Auguste Vitu praised Mile Dudlay in proportion to her achievement, but regretted that she did not possess the instrument of her temperamental, but eminently musical, predecessor.111 So enthusiastic was Qement Caraguel about Sarah's musicianship in the role of Dona Maria that he in108

Journal des Debats, September 22, 1873. he Temps, May 18 and August 10, 1874. 110 Ibid., April 7, 1879. 111 Vitu, Les Mille et une nuits de theatre, rx (Paris, 1894), 316-317. 109

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VOICE sisted the visual aspects of performance could have been eliminated and the entire role conveyed solely through voice.112 Across the Channel, critical opinion was in accord with the French. Tom Taylor of the London Times was particularly impressed by Sarah's acting in the last scene of Hernani because her delivery fashioned it into "one of the most perfect passages of spoken music" he had ever heard upon the stage.113 Even Bernard Shaw, who took violent exception to Bernhardt's histrionic style, could not help admitting, although disparagingly, that her voice was a musical instrument. When he compared her talent with that of Eleonora Duse, he had not the slightest doubt that the Italian actress was a greater artist, since as Marguerite Gautier, Duse "immeasurably dwarfs the poor little octave and a half on which Sarah Bernhardt plays such pretty canzonets and stirring marches."114 Through his very disparagement, then, Shaw sustains the opinions of his more admiring colleagues. After Sarah Bernhardt had begun extensive touring, Sarcey lamented the changes noticeable in her "golden voice." When reviewing La Tosca in 1887, he decried the "voice of brass" with which she then spoke, and it was not until ten years later that he became reconciled to its brazen aspect.115 Attributable to continual touring, the coarsening of vocal effects ultimately proved temporary. In reality, the actress's voice had not lost its former timbre, for even during the period when Sarcey denounced her vocal alterations, there were performances characterized by her customary musicianship. Les Annates du theatre of 1885, for example, praises Sarah Bernhardt for employing in the tender passages of Theodora "all the musical resources of her legendary golden voice."116 The musicality of her voice was extolled in 1897 by yet another critic, Jacques du Tillet, 112

Journal des Debats, April 7, 1879. u s London Times, June 11, 1879. 114Bernard Shaw, Dramatic Opinions (New York, 1928), 1, 139. " 5 Le Temps, November 18, 1887. lie Lei Annates du theatre, 1885 (Paris, 1886), p. 338.

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SARAH BERNHARDT who writes that Sarah Bernhardt transformed verse into music: "It sings; it resounds; it opens like a flower; it caresses the ear; and it works its way to the heart. . . ,"117 It was the English critic and poet Arthur Symons, however, who in 1903 most precisely evaluated the musicality of the actress's voice: "To Sarah Bernhardt acting is a performance on a musical instrument. One seems to see the expression marks: piano, pianissimo, allargando, and just where the tempo rubato comes in."118 Final evidence is provided by Noziere, who, in his 1907 assertion that the actress was an "incomparable musician," reveals that while strained temporarily, Sarah Bernhardt's voice was not permanently impaired.119 Not until 1912 does the vocabulary of the critics alter sufficiently to reveal that age has influenced voice, but even then, the nuances appropriate to the singer are still evident. Adolphe Brisson, Sarcey's son-in-law and successor on Le Temps, refers to Sarah Bernhardt's voice as "broken," and a year later Henri Bordeaux describes it as "bruised."120 In subsequent years both Brisson and Bordeaux continued to evaluate the actress's voice in the same terms, yet despite vocal alterations, both critics remained impressed by her musicianship. In 1915 Sarah Bernhardt appeared in an adaptation of the dramatic poem Les Cathedrales. It consisted of a scene between three cathedrals—Paris, Reims, and Strasbourg—with Sarah in the role of Strasbourg. When the actress began to speak, her voice slightly broken and resembling the "wail of a cello," Bordeaux questioned her reasons for continuing to appear on stage. At first skeptical, he was soon convinced that Sarah Bernhardt's voice had not completely lost its former musicality, for "she modulated the verse like a cantilena and brusquely altered its monotonous rhythm by taking it up again in a minor 117

La Revue Bleue (April 24, 1897), 539. Arthur Symons, "Rostand, Sarah, and Coquelin," Plays, Acting and Music (New York, 1903), p. 37. us Le Theatre, no. 197 (March 1, 1907), 6. 120 AdoIphe Brisson, Le Temps, April 15, 1912; Henri Bordeaux, La Vie au theatre: 1913-1919, v/ (Paris, 1919), 73. 118

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VOICE key."121 When five years later Brisson reviewed Sarah's performance in Maurice Rostand's play La Gloire, he confirmed his colleague's opinion by acclaiming the actress's ability to modulate verse as if it were music.122 Indeed, Charles Dullin's pronouncement that "she spoke in song, or sang in speech" epitomizes many preceding decades of musical criticism.123 The recordings of Sarah Bernhardt once again sustain critical consensus. Of the numerous examples of her musicianship, one of the most arresting occurs in the Puits de Jacob scene from La Samaritaine, for this selection is delivered not only in speech and recitative, but in song as well. The scene concerns the encounter of Jesus with Photine, the woman of Samaria. Her role is divided into two parts: songs and dialogue. While the actress conveys dialogue through speech, she delivers the two love songs—"Je dormais" and "Mon bien-aime"—in recitative. In the concluding line of "Mon bien-aime" ("Comme un cachet d'airain, comme un sachet de myrrhe!") the recitative is actually heightened into song. In the first hemistich, the five initial syllables are delivered on a single repeated note, the sixth on a lower note; in the second hemistich, the same pattern is followed, except that the terminating mute e is ignored and the y of myrrhe lengthened for finality. The caesura following airain is carefully observed, but no breathing pause interrupts the flow of the song, which serves as a striking contrast with the ensuing dispute.124 121

Henri Bordeaux, La Vie au theatre, iv, 342-343; Sir George Arthur (Sarah Bernhardt [London, 1923], p. 132) relates that the famous singing teacher Mme Marchesi gave the following advice to a student preparing for an operatic career: " 'Go and hear Sarah say the letter she knows by heart in the last act of the Dame aux Cornelias. It will be an object lesson to you how to sustain the voice in the minor key.'" Since Mathilde Marchesi taught in Paris, the teacher referred to was probably her daughter Blanche Marchesi, a famous singing teacher in her own right, who for many years lived and taught in London. 122 he Temps, October 24, 1921. 128 Charles Dullin, Souvenirs et notes de travail d'un actew (Paris, 1946), p. 106. 124 Rerecording of Edison cylinder 35013: CRS 043153.

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SARAH BERNHARDT Sarah Bernhardt's interest in vocal musicianship is also revealed through her comments on several of the great voices in contemporary theatre. She evaluates Coquelin's voice, for example, as both magnificent and complete: "It included every possible note and every shade of resonance." Of the instrument of her former acting partner Jean Mounet-Sully, she writes that it was "capable of producing any sound" and was characterized by "melody," "power," and "vibrato."125 The most beautiful voice of all, however, she ascribes to the great Italian artist Tommaso Salvini.128 She observes that his voice was as dramatic as it was complete: "It represented an entire orchestra. All the notes emanated from the throat as a perfect embodiment of textual content. Anger, sorrow, and tranquillity were succeeded by brittle irony, and the vocal manifestation of these emotions was so modulated that it was impossible to perceive the connecting bridge."127 Reynaldo Hahn recalls Sarah's mentioning that of all the actors whose art she had witnessed, she considered Salvini the greatest.128 The actress's descriptions of these outstanding voices confirm her sensitivity to musical nuance. Sarah Bernhardt realized that no matter how musical the ear and how beautiful the voice, effective delivery is dependent upon breath control: "Even the most beautiful voice cannot function without the support of breath. Although the actor must exercise uncompromising discipline in the development of his instrument, unless he learns the strategy of breath control he will remain unsuccessful."129 In emphasizing the strategic function of breathing, the actress expressed principles similar to those recorded by her predecessor Talma. While still a young actor at the Comedie-Francaise, Talma was afflicted with undue fatigue 125 128

VArt du theatre, p. 48.

The name given in L'Art du theatre is not Salvini, but Solidini. Since the latter fails to appear in other theatrical documents of the period, it is to be assumed that the Solidini-Salvini confusion is attributable to faulty transcription from the actress's manuscript. 127 128 L'Art du theatre, p. 49. La Grande Sarah, p. 35. 129 VArt du theatre, p. 56.

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VOICE after delivering a tirade. He noticed that Georgesfidouard Dorival, an actor of only average ability, remained unaffected by long speeches, and he therefore decided to consult with him. When begrudged the desired information, Talma determined to uncover Dorival's technique by concealing himself in the prompter's box and scrutinizing his colleague's performance. Recording his clandestine observations, Talma notes that Dorival's skill lay in his breathing. In order to conceal his inhalations from the audience, " 'he invariably placed them in front of the a, the e, or the o, that is, at intervals where the mouth, already opened, would permit easy and unobserved breathing.' "130 Talma also observes that Dorival inhaled before the air was completely exhaled from his lungs and therefore exhibited neither shortness of breath nor its attendant exhaustion. Sarah Bernhardt experienced less difficulty than Talma in coming upon the secrets of breath control, for as a student at the Conservatoire, she was well schooled in the principles of breathing by her repetiteur Talbot. Although she considered his methods eccentric, she admitted that she derived invaluable vocal reinforcement from his exercises. Both her comments and those of Sacha Guitry reveal that Talbot emphasized the same type of abdominal breathing advocated by many singing teachers. Sarah recalls that he would make his pupils he flat and, placing the marble slab of his mantelpiece upon their stomachs, he would command them to inhale and then recite their roles.181 The purpose of the exercise was to develop breath control through the strengthening of abdominal muscles. Talbot's preference for abdominal over clavicular breathing is further corroborated by an anecdote found in the memoirs of Sacha Guitry. Seeking professional advice, the young Guitry paid a visit to the octogenarian Talbot. After presenting his credentials, he began to recite the famous tirade of Rodrigue from Le Cid, only to be interrupted at the fourth verse: 130 Frangois-Joseph Talma, as quoted in Legouve, L'Art lecture, p . 41. 131 L'Art du theatre, p . 56.

de la

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SARAH BERNHARDT " 'My boy, your problem is that you do not know how to breathe. You are breathing with your chest. You must breathe with your stomach.' "132 The former societaire and professor then proved to the novice that his breathing was faulty through a contrasting demonstration of correct technique. Employing abdominal breathing, he took a deep nasal breath, waited half a second, and slowly exhaled the air through the mouth.188 Both the exercises of the practicing repetiteur and the demonstration of the retired professor reveal the superiority that Talbot always accorded abdominal breathing. Although Sacha Guitry regarded his visit with Talbot as an amusing and, for him, disconcerting encounter with a bizarre old man, the principle of abdominal breathing which he learned is one that singing teachers have often recommended. Elizabeth Schumann, for example, insists that effective breathing must be abdominal. Considering breathing the foundation of singing, she continued the advice of the bel cantists by equating the two in the now axiomatic dictum, " 'Singing is breathing.' "134 For speaking as well as singing, then, controlled abdominal breathing prevents the shortness of breath so disastrous to sustained delivery. Two other aspects of Talbot's demonstration are significant: he paused briefly before beginning exhalation and he employed nasal rather than oral inhalation. Sarah Bernhardt mentions neither of these techniques in her treatise. Whether or not it was her practice to pause before exhalation is unknown, but pauses are not evident on her recordings. It would appear equally doubtful that she employed nasal breathing. She maintains that young actors unschooled in breath control generally fill their lungs to capacity, only "to let all the air escape on the very first 132 Denis-Stanislas Talbot, as quoted in Sacha Guitry, Si fat bonne memoire (Paris, 1940), p . 175. 133 Ibid., p . 174. 134 Elizabeth Puritz, The Teaching of Elizabeth Schumann (London, 1956), p . 13.

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VOICE sentence."135 She goes on to say that the necessity to inhale again results in the hoquet, a gasping sound akin to a sigh. Since the hoquet is derived from oral inhalation, the actress obviously made her observations on this assumption. Had she believed in the superiority of the nasal method, at this point in her treatise she would doubtless have commented to that effect. Her silence may be taken as an indication that her own method of inhalation was oral. Sarah Bernhardt agreed with Talbot that the most crucial aspect of breathing is exhalation. Serving two important functions, controlled exhalation prevents the much descried hoquet and facilitates delivery that is both effortless and effective. Although the hoquet has often served for tragic effect, critics have never failed to censure its use. Legouve de­ spairs that "he who listens suffers as much as he who speaks."136 Samson, too, opposed the cultivated hoquet, and he rejoiced in the fact that by 1863 it had become obso­ lete.137 Samson was premature in his optimism, for Legouve continued to inveigh against it, and as late as 1925 Pierre Veber indicates in his biography of Samson that the inten­ tional hoquet had indeed survived its anticipated demise.138 It is the unintentional hoquet of the novice, however, which Sarah Bernhardt describes and for which she offers re­ medial advice. Indispensable for the prevention of the hoquet, controlled exhalation is equally essential to effective delivery. Sarah Bernhardt believed that breath control could easily be learned. To the actor seeking proficiency in exhalation, she therefore recommends the following exercise: a deep in­ halation followed by the recitation of a specified number of verses. Gradually, the number of lines per breath can be increased, but the actress insists that the same quantity of air eventually should support four lines of verse or a minil s s L'Art du theatre, p. 223. ΐ3β Legouve, L'Art de la lecture, p. 38. 137 Samson, L'Art theitral, 1, 51, Chant II. 138 Pierre Veber, Samson (Paris, 1925), p. 143.

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SARAH BERNHARDT mum of twenty-six words: "Four lines of verse cannot be supported by a single inhalation at the first attempt, but this goal can soon be reached if the exhalation process is so controlled that the air escapes gently and slowly with the words."139 The actress may leave her reader with the impression that the persevering actor ultimately will be able to support four lines of verse on a single breath, but she was doubtless aware of the extreme difficulty of the task. Her own proficiency in this matter was considered so unusual that in her treatise she herself drew attention to it. The Unes associated with her breathing accomplishment are those spoken by Phedre at her realization of Hippolyte's love for Aricie: Helas! ils se voyaient avec pleine licence. Le ciel, de leurs soupirs approuvait l'innocence; Ils suivaient sans remords leurs penchant amoureux; Tous les jours se levaient clairs et sereins pour eux. (iv, 6, lines 1237-1240) According to the actress, these four lines were recited "in melodious melopee."140 Jules Lemaitre, however, in observing that the verses were delivered in a " 'perpetual purl of sound,'" supplies a crucial addendum in the implication that the recitative, though melodious, was totally unaccented as well.141 Far more important in delivery than the use of recitative was the lack of accentuation, for it gready facilitated the process of slow exhalation. That Sarah Bernhardt was aware of the fact she achieved not an average, but an unusual, effect is confirmed by her quotation of these lines in a totally different context. In the last act of her own play Adrienne Lecouvreur, she assigns to her heroine the recitation of the famous four lines.142 The actress obviously "9 L'Art du theatre, p. 56. 1*» Ibid., p. 57. 141 Jules Lemaitre, as quoted in Sarah Bernhardt, L'Art du theatre, P-57142 Sarah Bernhardt, Adrienne Lecouvreur, in L'lllustration Thedtrale, no. 65 (August 10, 1907), vi, 9, p. 31.

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VOICE took pride in her accomplishment, but as she fails to explain to her reader, her achievement rested not upon breath control alone, nor even reinforcement in recitative, but upon her elimination of all retarding elements of delivery. She was nevertheless correct in emphasizing the relationship between exhalation and delivery, for if breath control were absent, the delivery of these lines, even with the addition of accelerating techniques, would have produced results similar to those experienced by the young Talma. Sarah Bernhardt's recordings reveal the great facility the actress attained in breath control. Unfortunately, no recorded evidence exists for any part of the fourth act of Phedre. While other recordings do contain unusual breathing accomplishments, none among those examined exhibits the delivery of four Alexandrines upon a single breath. Those recitations which, in their breathing skill, more closely approach the renowned example from the fourth act of Phedre are the selections from the second act recorded in 1903 and 1909-1910.

Parallel passages on the two Phedre recordings exhibit similar breathing techniques. The main difference is that the 1903 recitation contains fewer breathing pauses, hence greater fluidity, than does the recitation of the same passage on the later recording. Among the similarly interpreted passages is a three-line section in the first part of the declaration scene. The lines suggest Phedre's identification of father and son: "Cette noble pudeur colorait son visage,/ Lorsque de notre Crete il traversa les flots,/ Digne sujet des voeux des filles de Minos." To create nonstop delivery within the three lines, the actress eliminates punctuation, caesurae, and mute e's. Following visage and flots, she substitutes enjambement for the comma pause and thus expedites flow without resorting to an unduly rapid tempo. In contrast with such techniques of acceleration, the very slight word emphasis placed upon noble and voeux does not contribute a compensatory balance of retardation. The three-line passage thus illuminates both the actress's tech-

53

SARAH BERNHARDT nique and her comment on the importance of controlled exhalation.143 Sarah Bernhardt was equally concerned with the dra­ matic function of breath control. " 'Breathing is dependent upon thought,'" she asserted to her students.144 Illustrative of her conviction is the 1918 recitation of Louis Payen's poem "La Priere pour nos ennemis." This patriotic poem, quoted in Sarah Bernhardt's one-act play Du Theatre au champ cThonneur, presents a vindictive variation on the theme of "Forgive them, Father," for according to the poet, the enemies are indeed aware of their actions. In her reci­ tation, the actress may expend a single breath either on a key phrase or on a distich of subsidiary importance. Since "toutes les cruautes" characterizes the inimical Germans, it is stressed through a combination of increased volume, re­ tarded tempo, and the articulation of the mute e of toutes. An entire breath is therefore devoted to the three-word phrase. Contrasting with the delivery of the phrase is that of the distich, "Vous qui savez peser et juger Pideal/Dont un peuple se fait le lige et le feal." The two lines provide background, and the actress therefore de-emphasizes them by employing only a single breath for the entire distich. The resulting delivery is both unaccented and rapid. Numerous recordings corroborate the dependence of breathing upon 145 interpretation. Sarah Bernhardt's use of interpretive breathing made possible a wide range of descriptive effects. Although sup­ ported visually, such effects as love, anger, laughter, and even blindness were primarily vocal. The seductive quality that the actress imparted to her voice was noted during her early days at the ComedieFrancaise. Completing her series of debuts in 1873 with Le 143 Three rerecordings: W . L. Welch reprocessing of HMV, Ε 3α6 (Matrix 1552 F - n ) ; rerecording by IRCC (IRCC, no. L-7028) of Edison cylinder 35008; W . L. Welch reprocessing of IRCC, no. L-7028. 144 Sarah Bernhardt, as quoted in May Agate, p. 34. 145 T w o rerecordings or Vocation 22035: CRS 10; W . L. Welch reprocessing of CRS 10.

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VOICE Mariage de Figaro, she offered an original interpretation of Cherubin. Much to Sarcey's delight, she did not model Beaumarchais's page upon Mozart's, but replaced the sentimental stargazer with what the critic considered the more accurate "charming young rake." Through both movement and voice, she emphasized the youthful roguery of Cherubin, and her recitation of the page's song made it obvious that "she was not consumed with love, but desire."146 Slightly less than a year after her performance in Le Mariage de Figaro, Sarah appeared as Aricie in Phedre, and after praising her musical delivery, Sarcey went on to acclaim the vocal combination of tenderness and seductiveness with which she sighed the famous lines expressing her love for Hippolyte.147 He observes that "a thrill of pleasure traveled through the audience."148 Both the seductive vocal effect and its corresponding audience reaction were to recur frequently in future years. After Sarah Bernhardt's break with the Comedie-Frangaise, she was free to emphasize facets of her acting that previously had been only partially revealed. She therefore selected plays that would provide her with opportunities for displaying vocal seductiveness. Opening her first London season with the Scribe and Legouve Adrienne Lecouvreur, the actress placed great emphasis upon her seductive voice. Critics responded accordingly. Sarcey exclaimed that Sarah Bernhardt had "never before" employed voice and gesture to produce such seductive effects.149 Tom Taylor was in accord: "All of the most irresistible weapons in Mdlle. Bernhardt's armoury of fascination can here be brought into play . . . all the vocabulary of a loving woman's self-surrendering abandon in look, voice, and action."150 When discussing the femininity of Sarah Bernhardt's acting a year later in Paris, Jean-Jacques Weiss noted that her voice was charged with an emotional force 146

Le Temps, Phedre, n, Le Temps, i* 9 /Wi., May

147

148

February 3, 1873. 2, lines 449ft. September 22, 1873. 1S0 31, 1880. London Times, May 26, 1880.

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SARAH BERNHARDT that proved "exceedingly disrupting to masculine equanimity."151 Adolphe Brisson and Rene Doumic confirmed the opinions of their predecessors. Reviewing La Sorciere in 1903, Adolphe Brisson was particularly impressed by the actress's use of her seductive voice during her first encounter with Don Enrique: " . . . from the softened quality of her voice, we immediately realize that she is going to seduce him."152 Equally alluring was her voice in Victor Hugo's Angelo. In his 1905 review of Angelo, Rene Doumic agreed with his colleague Brisson: "Mme Sarah Bernhardt was strikingly attractive in the role of Tisbe, especially in the first act where she employed attitudes and intonations, the seductiveness of which was stunning."153 Fifteen years later, the actress again used her voice with seductive intent, this time in a role where its presence could scarcely have been anticipated. Adolphe Brisson affirms that Sarah Bernhardt, as the aging and cruel Biblical queen in Racine's Athalie, was "seduction incarnate."154 Especially caressing was the sound of her voice in her interview with Joas, where, Rene Doumic observes, she exhibited the multiple facets of her "ensnaring vocal allurement."155 Adolphe Brisson concludes that Joas desperately needed divine assistance in order to resist such "bewitching enticements."15* Since even at the end of her career the actress was unwilling to relinquish vocal seductiveness, she chose a role appropriate to her age, but one she could interpret according to her talents. Despite the hyperbole lavished upon Sarah Bernhardt's seductive vocal effects, only three critics—Sarcey, Brisson, and Shaw—offer concrete evidence concerning her technique. Both Sarcey and Brisson recognized the contribution of diminished volume to vocal seductiveness. Sarcey's com151 La Revue Bleue, January 29, 1881, rpt. in Jean-Jacques Weiss, Le Theatre et les moeurs, 6th ed. (Paris, 1889), p. 349.

152 Le Temps, December 21, 1903. 153

Revue des Deux Mondes (February 15, 1905), 933. is* Le Temps, April 15, 1920. 155 Revue des Deux Monies (April 15, 1920), back cover, is* Le Temps, April 15, 1920.

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VOICE parisons of her amorous voice with both a sigh and a caress disclose that the critic was sensitive to the actress's alteration of volume. It remained for his son-in-law to establish a more specific relationship between seductiveness and volume. Expanding Sarcey's observations, Adolphe Brisson leaves no room for doubt when he notes that the actress's softening of her voice immediately indicated seductive intent. Equally significant evidence is provided by Bernard Shaw, who, in his customary denunciation of the actress's techniques, reveals that the chief instrument of her amorous voice was vibrato. Although Shaw does not explicitly employ the term vibrato, his comparison of Bernhardt's seductive voice with the quivering voix celeste stop of the organ provides implicit evidence of his meaning. Vehement in his rejection of both Bernhardt and Sardou, Shaw protests that the hand-tailored Qismonda contains "the inevitable, stale, puerile love scene" which, in performance, is "turned on to show off that 'voix celeste' stop which Madame Bernhardt, like a sentimental New England villager with an American organ, keeps always pulled out."157 Critical evidence, then, indicates that the elements essential to Sarah's amorous voice were diminished volume and vibrato. The Bernhardt recordings substantiate the observations of the three critics. Employing vibrato and decreased volume either separately or in combination, the actress creates the varying effects associated with this facet of her voice. Among the many recorded examples, the most striking occur on the 1903 discs of Phedre and La Samaritaine. In the first part of the declaration scene from Phedre, Sarah Bernhardt employs her amorous voice to express the paradox of guilt and innocence inherent in Phedre's divinely inflicted passion. For the first twenty lines, the actress's use of vibrato is selective; for the four lines immediately following, it is continuous; for the remaining five lines, it is again selective. Functioning as emotional punctuation, the vibrato of the initial twenty and final five lines first anticipates and then recalls the more concentrated emotion of the four-line 157

Shaw, Dramatic Opinions, 1, 120.

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SARAH BERNHARDT passage. The entire selection concerns Phedre's incestuous desire for her stepson, and it is therefore significant that the first word to be delivered in vibrato, Prince, relates to Hip­ polyte, and that the last, Phedre, refers to the impassioned speaker. From Prince to Phedre, excluding the four-line passage, the following words are delivered in vibrato: Prince, aime, divers, morts, fidele, fier, charmant, coeurs, Dieux, voi, Minos, alors (in the middle of the twelfth line), alors and bords (in a rhyming position), incertain, soeur, fatale, dessein, amante, and Phedre. Of this list, all but the last two words precede the recitation of the four-line pas­ sage. Since this passage epitomizes Phedre's incestuous de­ sire, the actress adjusts her delivery accordingly. Thus the vibrato, until then selective, becomes continuous; the vol­ ume, until then mezzo forte, diminishes to piano. The four lines are preceded by Phedre's merging of the personalities of Thesee and Hippolyte. Substituting herself for her sister Ariane, and Hippolyte for his father, Phedre avows that in the Cretan Labyrinth she personally would have led Hip­ polyte to the lair of the Minotaur: L'amour m'en eut d'abord inspire la pensee. C'est moi, prince, c'est moi, dont Putile secours Vous eut du Labyrinthe enseigne les detours. Que de soins m'eut coutes cette tete charmante! Although the vibrato is continuous throughout the passage, it varies in intensity. Uamour and charmante, for example, are delivered in more rapid vibrato than are the other words. While the use of vibrato adds erotic excitement, delicate pianissimo suggests chastity. The resultant effect is one of paradoxical innocence. 1 5 8 Sarah Bernhardt's use of her amorous voice is also evi­ dent in "II dit encore" from the second tableau of La Samaritaine. Here she expresses the agape of a converted prostitute. Since her amorous voice creates the auditory impression of innocence, its use in the religious context of 158

58

W. L. Welch reprocessing of HMV, Ε 326 (Matrix 1552 F-n).

VOICE La Samaritaine is as consistent with the text as it is in the erotic context of Phedre.1™ Fully aware of the fascination of her amorous voice, the actress regarded it as an indispensable facet of her vocal art. In her histrionic treatise, she places great emphasis on seductive effects, which she refers to as "charm." To the vocal manifestation of "charm" she imputes the ability to captivate an audience.160 Illustrating this principle in her novel Petite idole, she endows the heroine with a voice so musical and so full of charm that her first appearance on stage casts a spell over her audience. According to Sarah's description, the voice of Esperance Darbois is "resonant" and "exceptionally musical," producing in the listener a "pervasive sensual thrill."161 One spectator in particular, the young Belgian count Albert Styvens, who until then had been impervious to feminine fascination, is jolted out of his lethargy by the performance and soon becomes violently enamored of the actress. In thus endowing her debutante heroine with histrionic attributes that she considered essen­ tial to a mature actress, Sarah Bernhardt fictionalized a greatly cherished and highly cultivated aspect of her own voice. So distinctive a facet of the actress's vocal technique was her seductive voice that it left her vulnerable to parody. It is therefore not surprising that Yvette Guilbert, leading diseuse of the Parisian cafes-concerts, was unable to resist an opportunity of such potential.162 Selecting Sarah's "voix d'amour" as her subject, she derived parody from her imi­ tation of the actress's seductive voice outside its amorous context. Sarah was represented aboard an ocean liner where she flew into a rage because permission had not been granted for the presence of her menagerie. Yvette Guilbert 159

W . L. Welch reprocessing of HMV, Ε 326 (Matrix 1502 F-11). L'Art du theatre, pp. 20-21. 161 Sarah Bernhardt, Petite idole (Paris, 1920), p. 43. 162 Although Yvette Guilbert states that this revue took place at the Concert Parisien "around 1894," Les Annates du theatre of 1891, p. 419, lists the revue Paris a la blague at the Concert Parisien under 1891. Nothing is listed for 1894. lw

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SARAH BERNHARDT admits that her chief parodic device was the use of Sarah's voix d!amour "to say the commonplace things of life."188 Les Annates du theatre confirms the accuracy of Yvette Guilbert's "true-to-life" imitation of Sarah Bernhardt.194 Contrasting with Sarah Bernhardt's seductive voice is her vocal expression of anger, an essential element of which was the grasseyement, or uvular r. While the grasseyement was traditionally condemned as an error in articulation, the trilled, or alveolar, r represented the preferred stage pro­ nunciation. If an actor replaced the grasseyement with the stage r, he received the compliment "II vibre."165 In her youth Sarah did not question the use of the trilled r, but she later rejected it. When she was preparing for her entrance examination into the Conservatoire, her godfather pre­ scribed two exercises, the purpose of which was to replace her grasseyement with the preferred theatrical r. The first exercise is closely related to a corrective recommended by Regnier and Dupont-Vernon.166 The object of the exercise is to accustom the tip of the tongue to its necessary place­ ment on the alveoli. For an hour each day, she was to alter­ nate in solmization the dentals te and de, substituting them for the sol-fa syllables. In order to put into practice the alveolar r, she was then required to repeat forty times the following line: "Un-tres-gros-rat-dans-un-tres-gros-trou."ieT The results of these exercises were not immediate, for not until ten years after Sarah's graduation from the Conserva­ toire did Sarcey compliment her for overcoming her "slight ies grassey ement." After 1872, however, she doubtless re­ verted to it since May Agate maintains that her teacher 169 rejected the stage r as artificial. Indeed, it is with disgust that Sarah recalls her meeting with Maria Favart, during 163 Yvette Guilbert, La Chanson de ma vie, 17th ed. (Paris, 1927), p. 210. 164

Les Annates du theatre, 1891 (Paris, 1892), p. 419. ies Legouve, L'Art de la lecture, p. 64. ιββ Dupont-Vernon, pp. 38-39. leT Ma Double vie, p. 79; LArt du theatre, p. 224. ies ]_,e Temps, December 23, 1872. lea May Agate, p . 29.

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VOICE which her famous idol "pretentiously" trilled her r's. 1 7 0 Whatever her reasons may have been for rejecting the stage r, in her recordings Sarah Bernhardt employs the grasseye­ ment exclusively. She pronounces the uvular r with varying degrees of intensity, reserving the most forcefully gutteral utterances to express extreme agitation. An outstanding example of vocal anger occurs in the sec­ ond section of the declaration scene from the 1909-191 ο cylinder of Phedre. Initiating the section is a seven-line pas­ sage containing Phedre's violent reaction to Hippolyte's alternately self-righteous and apologetic response. The seven lines are divided into two unequal parts of approxi­ mately three and four lines each. While the entire passage is recriminatory, the first part is directed against Hippolyte, the second against herself. The anger expressed in the text is conveyed through the combined effects of both parts. The initial three-line passage is imbued with vocal anger through the blend of grasseyement with word emphasis and vibrato. Replete with textual r's, the first section contains ample potential for histrionic projection: Ah! cruel, tu m'as trop entendue. Je t'en ai dit assez pour te tirer d'erreur. He bien! connais done Phedre et toute sa fureur. Cruel, trop, tirer, erreur, Phedre, fureur—all exhibit the grasseyement. Of these words, cruel, erreur, Phedre, and fureur are further emphasized through a combination of increased volume, incisive articulation, and moderately in­ tense vibrato. The auditory result is one of gutteral frenzy. Following the denunciation of Hippolyte is the passage of self-recrimination: J'aime. Ne pense pas qu'au moment que je t'aime, Innocente a mes yeux, je m'approuve moi-meme, Ni que du fol amour qui trouble ma raison Ma lache complaisance ait nourri le poison. wL'Art

du theatre, p. 113. 6l

SARAH BERNHARDT Since the confession faime serves as fulcrum for the entire seven lines, it is set off both by increased volume and by breathing pauses on either side. The remainder of the passage is spoken rapidly, the only accentuation falling upon meme and poison. Both are spoken with increased volume, both are followed by breathing pauses, but only meme is delivered with vibrato. Supplementing the impassioned accusations of the first section, then, is the feverish remorse of the second. The combination of the two produces a total effect of frenzied agitation.171 Along with the grasseyement, increased volume, and vibrato, accelerated tempo was an important facet of Sarah Bernhardt's vocal anger. During her epigonal period (from the late 1870s to the mid-1890s), accelerated tempo was the element which she continually exaggerated. Facilitated by the rigid position of her jaws, the accelerated delivery was characterized by a sound which the critics refer to as "hammered" and "chopped." The actress confesses in her memoirs and her treatise that she clenched her teeth a little too much, particularly when subject to true. Although corrected at the Comedie-Francaise, the fault was to recur in the epigonal period when the actress was sacrificing creativity to the repetition of her already successful techniques. In 1872, for example, Sarcey complimented Sarah for the newly acquired mobility of her jaws, observing that other than in the beginnings of several tirades, the "metallic sonority" of her former delivery was now scarcely audible.172 By 1894, however, the once corrected fault was allowed to develop into a manneristic habit. Enumerating the characteristics of the actress's 1894 delivery, Jules Lemaitre referred to her well-established habit of hammering out words through the "flattening mill of her teeth," the result of which was delivery so rapid that sense was often sacrificed to sound.173 Although by 1896 the prestissimo dis171 Two rerecordings of Edison cylinder 35008: IRCC, no. L-7028; W. L. Welch reprocessing of IRCC, no. L-7028. 172 Le Temps, December 23, 1872.

173 Revue Hebdomadaire du Journal des Debats, April 14, 1894, rp 1 · in Jules Lemaitre, Les Contemporains, 11 (Paris, 1890), 209.

02

VOICE appeared from the actress's delivery, between the late 1870s and the mid-1890s the exaggerated haste of her delivery became the dominant attribute of her vocal anger. It is not surprising, however, that the Bernhardt recordings contain no examples of undue rapidity, since those which have survived postdate that period. Even had they been contemporary with the actress's epigonal period, they might well have yielded contrary evidence. Conscious of the possibility that her recordings might be preserved for posterity, the actress would doubtless have avoided overacceleration in expressing vocal anger. It was during Sarah Bernhardt's epigonal period that her vocal expression of anger became so characteristic of her style that it proved attractive to the parodist. In her 1891 skit at the Concert Parisien, Yvette Guilbert therefore imitated not only Sarah's voix dOmour, but her voix de rage as well. When in the course of the skit, the temperamental actress became angry with the captain, Yvette Guilbert derived her parody from the exaggeration of Sarah's vocal approach to anger. Her description reveals that she relied entirely upon rigid jaws and racing tempo: "I used . . . her voix de rage, and I chopped, chopped the syllables or I rushed them one on top of the other, biting them as she does."174 While Yvette Guilbert's imitation of Sarah's voix d? amour was based upon incongruity, that of the voix de rage was derived from exaggeration. Related to Sarah's authentic delivery of anger is the vocal whiplash she used to express contempt. Employed first at the Comedie-Francaise in an 1873 performance of Octave Feuillet's Dalila, the whiplash was later integrated into Sarah Bernhardt's performance in La Dame aux camelias. Sarcey reviewed La Dame in 1881 and acclaimed the actress's "brusque, impatient, lashing voice" which made her words "whisde like whiplashes."175 In addition to love, anger, and contempt, Sarah Bernhardt also produced vocal effects as diverse as laughter and blind174 175

La Chanson de ma vie, p. 210. Le Temps, June 20, 1881.

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SARAH BERNHARDT ness. In the Catulle Mendes Medee, it was Medea's savage laughter at the death of Creusa that evoked critical enthusiasm. "Ah! That laugh of Mme Sarah Bernhardt!" exclaims Arsene Alexandre; "we shall long hear it resounding in our ears. It is a distracted laugh; it is a gasping laugh . . . it is the laugh of a wild beast and of an offended woman who has sought and obtained revenge."176 Contrasting with the actress's vindictive laughter was her synaesthetic representation of blindness. Although, as the blind Anne in Gabriele D'Annunzio's Ville morte, Sarah Bernhardt naturally employed visual techniques, A.-Ferdinand Herold emphasizes her success in conveying blindness merely through the sound of her voice.177 Offering a more concrete description, Jules Lemaitre records that the actress's "groping movements" supplied visual reinforcement for a voice that was at once "gentle, serene, and other-worldly."178 Two assumptions can be derived from Lemaitre's vocal description: the first is reasonably factual; the second, more speculative. The first is that the actress delivered the entire role piano; the second, that she may also have made use of her upper register. On the basis of limited evidence, further predication is not possible. All that can be said is that, of the actress's many descriptive vocal effects, blindness remains the most unusual. Although successful in combining meaning and music, Sarah Bernhardt was often accused of resorting to undramatic singsong. Having repeatedly admonished the actress for her mournful chanting, Auguste Vitu was particularly disturbed when in Ruy Bias she again insisted upon expressing melancholy by means of "lugubrious singsong."179 Vitu's criticism evidently did not have the desired effect, for both he and his colleagues continued to lament her increasing reliance upon the inappropriate use of melopee. The 178

Le Theatre, no. u (November 1898), 6. Mercure de France, 25 (March 1898), 924. 178 Revue des Deux Mondes (February 1, 1898), 706. 178 Le Figaro, February 9, 1872, rpt. in Les Mille et une nuits de theatre, 1, 173. 177

64

VOICE vocal faults which the actress possessed before her departure from the Comedie-Francaise were greatly intensified when subjected to extensive touring and to the long runs of the Boulevard, so much so that many of the critics who greatly admired her musicianship, took her severely to task for her unalienated use of recitative. Although Lemaitre was one of the actress's ardent admirers, he did not hesitate to point out her faults. "She used to sing verse," he observes; "now she sings prose." Deviating from the current opinion that her voice was broken, he nevertheless fails to understand her insistence upon the use of continuous melopee. In a review of Theodora, for example, he denounces her funereal chanting as artifice, and he questions whether it endowed her speech with any imperial dignity.180 Equally serious in purpose, Emile Faguet took a facetious approach to Sarah's delivery. When reviewing her performance in Francesco, da Rimini, Faguet succeeded in capturing the monotony of her recitative: "Ma-da-me Sa-rah Ber-nhardt a psal-mo-di-e len-te-ment et sur un ton tou-jours u-ni-for-me la chan-son mo-no-to-ne de son ro-le, du res-te as-sez en-nuy-eux, mais qu'el-le s'at-ta-chait a ren-dre en-dor-mant."181 Since Sarah's admirers denounced her melopee, it is natural that her archenemy Bernard Shaw would pounce upon her manner of "monotonously chanting sentences on one note." He therefore advised her to abandon "the shallow trick of intoning."182 When in 1890 he was present in Paris at a dramatic reading of Haraucourt's Passion, his principal comment was that she "sang-sung as usual."183 Thus Sarah's increased reliance upon melopee was denounced with equal vehemence by sympathetic and inimical critics alike. "Prenons Mme Sarah Bernhardt comme l'Amerique nous 1 8 0 Journal des Debats, November 5, 1885, rpt. in Les Contemporains, 11, 203-205. 181 Revue Hebdomadaire du Journal des Debats (May 2, 1902), 835. 182 Shaw, Dramatic Opinions, 1, 152. 183 Bernard Shaw, Shaw on Music, ed. Eric Bentley (Garden City, N.Y., 1955), p. 288.

65

SARAH BERNHARDT l'a faite" was Sarcey's exasperated, but philosophical, acceptance of Sarah's habit of reciting an entire passage upon a single note. 184 Although the influence of an undiscriminating foreign public doubtless contributed to Sarah's increased use of melopee, it can be traced to a genuinely artistic practice of phrasing employed by Talma and Samson at the Conservatoire. Unstressed passages were alternated with carefully articulated key words, and it was this principle that the actress misapplied. In his review of Sarah's performance in Pierre Berton's Lena, Sarcey reveals through his very complaints that her recitative alternated with word detachment: "There are entire scenes in which she will employ the singsong of a schoolgirl reciting her catechism. Quite suddenly then, with no textual justification to authorize this unexpected change, she will detach a phrase and seem to hammer out each word which she pronounces in a gutteral vibration through clenched teeth." 185 Sarcey's annoyance with Sarah's delivery does not stem from the artistic validity of the system, but rather from its misapplication. Although both Talma and Samson believed in the necessity of emphasizing key words, neither would have approved of the indiscriminate rise of emphatically articulated phrases. Variety, not monotony, was the essence of the Talma-Samson approach, and its chief interpretive instrument was the detached word. 186 So heavily did Sarah Bernhardt rely upon word detachment that she would often sacrifice an entire passage to a few carefully articulated words. In his 1894 review of Fedora, Jules Lemaitre presented a compendium of the actress's current vocal mannerisms. He accused her, first, of employing monotonous and unmodulated recitative; second, of hammering out individual words through the "flattening mill" of her teeth; third, of mingling conversational speech and melopee in the same role; and fourth, of rushing through some passages with such speed that nothing other i84L