WHEN twelve years old, I was booked with the famous actor and manager,
Giuseppe Moncalvo, for the roles of a child. Soon after, owing to my
slender figure, they made me up as a little woman, giving me small
parts as maid. But they soon made up their minds that I was not
fitted for such parts. Having reached the age of thirteen and
developed in my figure, I was assigned several parts as second lady.
In those days they could not be too particular in small companies. At
the age of fourteen, I had to recite the first part among the young
girls and that of the leading lady alternately, like an experienced
actress. It was about this time, in the city of Novara (Piedmont)
that I recited for the first time the "Francesca da Rimini" of Silvio
Pellico. Though I was only fifteen my success was such that soon
afterward they offered me the parts of leading lady with encouragement
of advancement.
My good father, who was gifted with a great deal of sense, did not
allow his head to be turned by such offers. Reflecting that my health
might suffer from being thrown so early into the difficulties of stage
life he refused these offers and accepted a more modest place, as
_ingenue_, in the Royal Company, under the auspices of the King of
Sardinia and stationed during several months of the year at Turin. It
was managed by the leading man, the most intelligent and capable among
the stage managers of the time. The advice of this cultured, though
severe man, rendered his management noteworthy and sought after as
essential to the making of a good actor.
Among the members of the company shone the foremost beacon-lights of
Italian art, such as Vestri, Madame Marchionni, Romagnoli, Righetti,
and many others who were quoted as examples of dramatic art, as well
as Pasta, Malibran, Rubini, and Tamburini in the lyric art,
My engagement for the part of _ingenue_ was to have lasted three
years, but, after the year, I was promoted to the parts of the first
lady, and in the third year, to the absolute leading lady.
To such unhoped-for and flattering results I was able to attain, by
ascending step by step through the encouragement and admonition of my
excellent teacher, Madame Carlotta Marchionni, a distinguished
actress, and the interest of Gaetano Bazzi who also had great
affection for me. It was really then that my artistic education
began. It was then that I acquired the knowledge and the rules which
placed me in a position to discern the characteristics of a true
artist. I learned to distinguish and to delineate the comic and the
dramatic passions. My temperament caused me to incline greatly toward
the tender and the gentle.
However, in the tragic parts, my vigour increased. I learned to
portray transitions for the sake of fusing the different contrasts; a
capital but difficult study of detail, tedious at times, but of the
greatest importance. The lamentations in a part where two extreme and
opposing passions are at play, are like those which in painting are
called "chiaro-oscuro," a blending of the tones, which thus portrays
truth devoid of artifice.
In order to succeed in this intent, it is necessary to take as model
the great culture of art, and also to be gifted with a well-tempered
and artistic nature. And these are not to be confined to sterile
imitation, but are for the purpose of accumulating the rich material
of dramatic erudition, so that one may present oneself before the
audiences as an original and artistic individuality.
Some people think that distinction of birth and a perfect education
will render them capable of appearing upon the stage with the same
facility and nonchalance with which one enters a ball-room, and they
are not at all timid about walking upon the boards, presuming that
they can do it as well as an actor who has been raised upon them. A
great error!
One of the greatest difficulties that they meet is in not knowing how
to walk upon a stage, which, owing to the slight inclination in con
struction, easily causes the feet to totter, particularly if one is a
beginner, and especially at the entrances and exits. I myself
encountered this difficulty. Though I had dedicated myself to the art
from my infancy and had been instructed with the greatest care every
day of my life by my grandmother, at the age of fifteen my movements
had not yet acquired all the ease and naturalness necessary to make me
feel at home upon the stage, and certain sudden turns always
frightened me.
When I began my artistic apprenticeship, the use of diction was given
great importance, as a means of judging an actor. At that time the
audience was critical and severe.
In our days, the same audience has become less exacting, less
critical, and does not aim to improve the artist, by counting his
defects. According to my opinion, the old system was best, as it is
not in excessive indulgence and solely by considering the good
qualities, without correcting the bad ones, that real artists are
made.
It is also my conviction that a person who wishes to dedicate himself
to the stage should not begin his career with parts of great
importance, either comic, dramatic, or tragic. The interpretation
becomes too difficult for a beginner and may harm his future career:
first, the discouragement over the difficulties that he meets;
secondly, an excessive vanity caused by the appreciation with which
the public apparently honours him. Both these sentiments will lead
the actor, in a short time, to neglect his study. On the other hand,
by taking several parts, he becomes familiar with the means of
rendering his part natural, thus convincing himself that by
representing correctly characters of little importance, he will be
given more important ones later on. Thus it will come about that his
study will be more careful.