Bateman French Opera: La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein

Event Information

Venue(s):
French Theatre

Proprietor / Lessee:
H. L. [impressario] Bateman

Manager / Director:
H. L. [impressario] Bateman

Price: $1; reserved, $1.50; balcony boxes, $8-$10; proscenium boxes, $10-$15; gallery, $.50

Event Type:
Opera

Record Information

Status:
Published

Last Updated:
19 February 2016

Performance Date(s) and Time(s)

21 Oct 1867, 8:00 PM
23 Oct 1867, 8:00 PM
24 Oct 1867, 8:00 PM
25 Oct 1867, 8:00 PM
26 Oct 1867, Matinee

Performers and/or Works Performed

Citations

1)
Advertisement: New-York Times, 21 October 1867, 7.
2)
Advertisement: New-Yorker Staats-Zeitung und Herold, 21 October 1867, 6.
3)
Advertisement: New York Herald, 22 October 1867.
4)
Review: New York Herald, 22 October 1867, 7.

“Tostée is on the boards again, but hardly reigning in the supreme vim of fun and merriment that goes with perfect health.  Habitués and those who are on the list for future presentation at court will of course notice that the Grande Duchesse has changed her nights since the departure of Marie Antoinette.”

5)
Review: New-York Times, 22 October 1867, 5.

“Mlle. TOSTEE has resumed her rôle in the ‘Grand Duchess,’ OFFENBACH’S amusing opera had its thirteenth representation last evening, with the now common results of crowd and enthusiasm.”

6)
Review: New York Post, 24 October 1867.

“Mlle. Tostée was last night in excellent spirits, and enacted the Grand Duchess with even more than her usual success.  The French Theatre was crowded, as usual.”

7)
Review: New-Yorker Musik-Zeitung, 26 October 1867, 184.

The success of this “musical farce” is based on the audience’s craving for something new and of quality. The performance of the ensemble was excellent, the costumes are better than in Paris, and the individual scenes were exceptionally well prepared. We heard that Bateman will continue to stage it for the entire season, and then tour it around the country.

8)
Review: New York Herald, 26 October 1867, 5.

“There was another throng of fashion and culture at this house last night to enjoy the performance of Offenbach’s Grand Duchess, which is now the magnet among musical diversions. Mlle. Tostee was ill, but Mlle. Felcourt supplied her place so well that the riches of the opera in all its departments were fully realized, delighting the auditors and creating even more than the wanted enthusiasm.” 

9)
Review: New-York Daily Tribune, 26 October 1867, 8.

“The ‘Grand Duchess’ was again sung at the French Theater last evening, before an audience that filled the house in every part.  It was a very brilliant performance, and it was welcomed with commensurate enthusiasm.  That, howbeit, was a matter of course. The sparkling music, the mischievous spirit of the story, the vivacity of the acting—all tend to charm the appreciative mind. It is the felicity of this opera that it is replete with the most dashing melodies, and that it embodies the very soul of mirth. And that—to a people naturally overworked and careworn—makes it especially delightful. It was given last night with the usual cast, except that Mlle. De Felcourt personated both the Grand Duchess and Wanda. How sparkling she is in the latter part many spectators of the opera know already; and many persons last evening appreciated her charming grace and spirit in the former. She both acted and sung exceedingly well. Her rendering of the song of ‘Le Sabre de mon Pere’ was cordially encored, as also was her singing of ‘Dites Lui,’ the latter being particularly fine, in appreciation of sentiment and delicacy of execution. Mlle. Tostee, we judge, was ill. At any rate, she did not appear. No explanation was made, and none, perhaps, was needed. The lady seems to be blessed with a singular facility for illness. It would, perhaps, be well if Mlle. De Felcourt would replace her altogether. We would not, of course, do the slightest injustice to Mlle. Tostee, who is wonderfully clever, both as an actress and a singer, but, really, a certain uniformity is desirable. A new Grand Duchess every other evening scarcely satisfies expectation. Mlle. De Felcourt was enthusiastically applauded last night, and, after a little practice, we do not doubt that she would fill the character of the Grand Duchess perfectly well. Her singing of the drinking song in the third act was particularly well received.  In the singing of the other parts there was the usual merit. Prince Paul was played with consummate art. The ‘Grand Duchess,’ take it for all in all, is a great success. Mlle. De Felcourt was called out last night, and appeared before the curtain accompanied by Mr. Bateman, to both of whom the plaudits of the house were awarded.”

10)
Review: Courrier des États-Unis, 28 October 1867.

“As much as she may be a great artist, one is always a woman in some way. That side of Mlle Tostée is the way of illness. Never has the throat of a prima donna been the prey of more malign influences, and it’s lamentable that our popular singer should be as delicate as she is full of talent. Friday [10/25], again, Mlle Tostée could not sing La Grande Duchesse; the doctor at the theater may well have said that she wasn’t suffering enough to exempt her from service, but as Molière said, all doctors are fools, and the charming artist herself should know better how to keep her own account than all the sons of Aesclepius put together. Thus she didn’t sing, and the assurances of the son of Hippocrates in question only served to reassure the friends without number that Mlle Tostée has here.

            In truth, the public didn’t lose anything because of the change, and rediscovered under Mlle de Felcourt’s turns of the scale a Grand Duchess whom they had already applauded and whom they greeted with enthusiasm. With yet a bit more study, the young actress will leave absolutely nothing to be desired. It’s she who, three times, has saved the audience from irksome disappointment, and they know to be infinitely thankful to her for her good will and the charm that she bestows around her. As a pretty woman, she should have the right to have some caprices, but she doesn’t have any and knows how to bend to the demands of the theater with good grace. All those who, like us, desire the success of a definitive establishment of French theater in New York, owe some recognition to the artists who aid in this piece of work and carefully keep them from any measure capable of hindering them.

            Friday evening, all of Mlle de Felcourt’s numbers were encored. The following day, at the matinée, in spite of the coolness of the audience at these kinds of performances, Mlle de Felcourt was hailed no less warmly. M. Bateman has in her a valuable boarder, called upon to render him the most lofty services. Not the least of her qualities is to be more impervious than others to epidemics of illness.

            M. Guffroy (Fritz) has attained the furthest limit of the burden of good taste; and it will do him well to hold onto it. There are leaps that are allowed and others that aren’t, some witty jokes and some that are the opposite.”