Salvini's father and mother were both players, but intended that this son should follow the law. As in the case of so many other youths who later became distinguished actors, however, fate and inherited instincts proved too strong for the boy, and the stage was the vocation ultimately chosen. Because of the rare talent he early displayed, Salvini enjoyed the tutelage, first, of the great Modena; then, as has been said, he became a member of Ristori's company. Before coming to America he was a star in his own right and had been accorded most enthusiastic praise in Spain, Portugal, and all over Italy. For some years Salvini refrained from attempting the inevitable tour of the "States; " he knew so well that Italian was "Greek" to most theatre-goers of this country. Finally, however, his desire to make the journey became so keen that he yielded to the persuasions of an Italian theatrical speculator, with the result that he and his company first appeared at the Academy of Music, New York, on the evening of September 16, 1873, the play chosen being "Othello." Many critics of unimpeachable authority have pronounced Salvini's impersonation of the Moor one of the greatest theatrical performances of our time; Edward Tuckerman Mason 1 thought so highly of it that he has written a whole book about it, a book in which every detail of the "stage business" is carefully described for the benefit of future generations. George Henry Lewes 1 "The Othello of Tommaso Salvini." 2 declared that the enthusiasm produced at Drury Lane by was comparable only to that in Salvini's "Othello spired by Kean and Rachel. New York went wild with enthusiasm over this performance. The critic of the Tribune, on the day following Salvini's début, devotes nearly a column and a half of fine print to commendation: "It was a brilliant occasion," we read, "and it was signalized by a noble achievement in dramatic art. Both were immensely enjoyed. The assemblage that greeted Salvini - largely composed of foreigners was sensitive, enthusiastic, hearty, and prompt in spontaneous demonstration. American intellect, culture and taste were abundantly represented in the gallant throng and they were thoroughly fired with the prevalent ardour. So lively a flutter of preliminary curiosity succeeded by such strained suspense, such distressful sympathy and such a wild access of whole-hearted admiration it has seldom been our lot to witness. "There is never an uncertainty of significance," continues this review, "in the response of the multitude when its heart is touched; and upon this memorable occasion its heart was not touched merely, but was shaken as with a mighty tempest of passion and of grief. No more intimate correspondence could exist between actor and auditor than that which was established between Salvini and the multitude that gave him welcome. It was that electric current whereby soul answers to soul. It was that touch of nature which makes the whole world kin. . . . If ever this tremendous tragedy of 'Othello' was offered in a fitting spirit, it was offered last night in the Academy of Music. We do not allude to circumstances of scenery and stage-management. These are good things, but they are not uncommon, and relatively, they are not important. Besides, these attributes of the representation were not conspicuously excellent. Edwin Booth's learnedly accurate, steadily poetic and brilliantly pictorial setting of this play remains the best, and by far the best, that this public has ever seen. But 'Othello' on this occasion was acted with a vast and desperate earnestness of purpose, and such circumstances as are thus implied may well be accounted exceptional. . . . An atmosphere of terrible reality swathed the entire action and elevated the incidental pageant . . . and Shakespeare's vast, lurid, thrilling and agonizing delineation of the strife of great passions and the mortal conquest of evil over love, goodness, innocence and beauty was borne home to the inmost heart in the full stature of its sublimity, if not always in the full scope of its meaning." ... The physical advantages and resources of Salvini for the part of Othello were extraordinary. Consequently his Moor "had the Oriental state and massive grandeur. There is a tiger latent in his blood. . . . He lived out the horrible agonies of Othello- in the scene of Iago's temptation of his faith - as we could wish to be spared from seeing any human creature do again. . . . There can be no sort of doubt that he has won a very great success." 1 One very cheering thing about these foreign "stars is that many of them were good enough to embalm in delightful books their early impressions of America. Salvini has told us in his "Autobiography" how very much he liked us, and why. The "liberty" which he 1 Tribune review. |