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Overall, the London public remembered her as ''The Times'' put it, “a face and features well adapted to her profession; but [an actress] not likely to make a great impression on a London audience, or to figure among stars of the first magnitude.”<ref>Marshall, Kishi, Davis, Freeman, Raby, 2009, p.19. directly publishes the primary source ''The Times'', 21 January 1818. British Library, Colindale Newpaper Library.</ref>
Overall, the London public remembered her as ''The Times'' put it, “a face and features well adapted to her profession; but [an actress] not likely to make a great impression on a London audience, or to figure among stars of the first magnitude.”<ref>Marshall, Kishi, Davis, Freeman, Raby, 2009, p.19. directly publishes the primary source ''The Times'', 21 January 1818. British Library, Colindale Newpaper Library.</ref>

===Success in Paris===
In 1827, Harriet made her Paris début as Lydia Languish in ''[[The Rivals]]'' at the [[Odéon]] theatre. Though she received negative reviews for this role, she was highly praised for her beauty and ability in the subsequent performance of ''[[She Stoops to Conquer]]''. <ref>Raby 1982, p.51-54.</ref>

On September 11, 1827, Harriet was given the small part of Ophelia next to [[Charles Kemble]] in Shakespear’s ''[[Hamlet]]''.<ref>Raby 1982, p.55.</ref> She left a long lasting impression on the French through her interpretation of Ophelia’s madness utilizing pantomime and natural presentation.

<blockquote>Miss Smithson acted the scene in which, robbed of her sanity, she takes her own veil to be her father’s body with utmost grace and truth. The whole passage which seemed long and relatively insignificant and even exaggerated in reading, had tremendous impact on stage…The most remarkable feature of her acting is her pantomime; she adopts fantastic postures; and she uses the dying fall in her inflections, without ever ceasing to be natural…<ref>Marshall, Kishi, Davis, Freeman, Raby, 2009, p.53. directly publishes Etienne-Jean Delécluze's ''Journal de Delécluze, 1824-1828, ed. R. Baschet (Paris: B. Grasset, [1948]), pp454-65,467. Translation by Peter Raby.></ref></blockquote>

[[File:Charles Kemble and Harriet Smithson as Romeo and Juliet.jpg|left|Charles Kemble and Harriet Smithson as Romeo and Juliet]]

The tremendous success of ''Hamlet'' led to the announcement of ''Romeo & Juliet'', for September 15. Harriet was cast as [[Juliet (character)|Juliet]], where she revolutionized the women’s role in theater by becoming as important as her male counterpart, Romeo. <ref>Raby 1982, p.70.</ref> Until this point, women’s lines in theater were heavily cut and censored to deemphasize the role for the company’s “restricted talent.” <ref>Raby 1982, p.70.</ref> Again, the production was widely well received. <ref>Raby 1982, p.71.</ref>

<blockquote>Miss Smithson was charged with the role of Juliet, and she was excellent in it. It was in the scene in the second act, where she has a night meeting with Romeo, that her acting began to attract the audience's attention. This scene is extremely beautiful, even though it is written with a studied refinement...Miss Smithson could not have been more graceful upon the balcony; her posture were full of truth, grace, and love...In her strong moments, she is no longer a woman, but a Fury or something approaching that...<ref>Marshall, Kishi, Davis, Freeman, Raby, 2009, p.57. directly publishes Etienne-Jean Delécluze's ''Journal de Delécluze, 1824-1828, ed. R. Baschet (Paris: B. Grasset, [1948]), pp454-65,467. Translation by Peter Raby.</ref></blockquote>
On September 18, Shakespeare’s ''Othello'' became the third Shakespeare tragedy to be performed by The English theater. Harriet as [[Desdemona (character)|Desdemona]] was less effective, however the production was popular enough to be repeated the week after. <ref>Raby 1982, p.79.</ref>
The English Theatre replaced the productions of tragedies with comedies, such as ''[[The Belle’s Stratagem]]'', ''[[The School for Scandal]]'', Mrs. Centlivre's ''[[The Wonder]]'', and Mrs. Cowley's ''[[The Weathercock]]''. However, press's demand for more tragedies led to the production of ''[[The Tragedy of Jane Shore]]''. <ref>Raby 1982, p.86.</ref>
In this renowned tragedy, Harriet was cast as [[Jane shore]], the role in which she moved her audience to tears. The production soon became the most performed play in the English season.
At the end of her time in France, Harriet acted in several productions with famous actors such as, [[William Charles Macready]], [[Edmund Kean]], and [[Charles Kemble]].<ref>Raby 1982, p.86-94.</ref>

As shown by the two reviews above, Harriet became famous for her natural presentation of characters, striking pantomime, and beauty. She introduced the French to natural English theatrical techniques that allowed her to become her characters instead of simply portraying them.<ref>Raby 1982, p.97.</ref> The new acting style, emphasizing drama and truth, which appealed to the French Romantics, prevailed over traditional French Classicists' idea of great acting.<ref>Raby 1982, p.98.</ref> Soon, many French actresses started to imitate Harriet's methodology.<ref>Raby 1982, p.98.</ref>

===Back in London===
As opportunities to continue her work in Paris dwindled, Harriet came back to London to perform ''Jane Shore''. <ref>Raby 1982, p.107.</ref> The production opened at Covent Garden on May 11, 1829 under unfavorable circumstances. Some audience members, who had read Harriet’s reviews before she went to Paris, felt reluctant to attend the show. Furthermore, the London press was anxious to prove that their previous reviews of her average acting were accurate. Newspapers such as the ''Examiner'' gave the first performance a begrudging review:<ref>Raby 1982, p.106-108.</ref>

<blockquote>Her action is easy and graceful though somewhat redundant. Her declamation and studied choice of attitudes show that she has been a careful student in the French school of High tragedy. Her voice from a peculiarity in its intonation has a monotonous effect…<ref>Marshall, Kishi, Davis, Freeman, Raby, 2009, p.166. Publishes primary source, ''Examiner'', 17 May 1829, p.308. Cambridge University Library, shelfmark NPR. C.40</ref></blockquote>

However, just seven days after Harriet’s next performance as Juliet, in Shakespeare’s ''Romeo and Juliet'', the press, including ''The Examiner'', gave her glowing reviews:

<blockquote>Miss Smithson’s performance of Juliet, take it as a whole, is by many degrees the best we have seen since the days of Miss O’Neil…She is the best tragic actress now in London.<ref>Marshall, Kishi, Davis, Freeman, Raby, 2009, p.167. Publishes primary source, ''Examiner'', 24 May 1829, p.324-5. Cambridge University Library, shelfmark NPR. C.40</ref></blockquote>

After Covent Garden closed for the summer in 1832, Harriet toured around England to minor theaters performing almost exclusively in tragedies.<ref>Raby 1982, p.109.</ref> In June, 1832, she joined the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, where she had limited success and received criticism about her weight. <ref>Raby 1982, p.124-125.</ref>


==Marriage==
==Marriage==

Revision as of 02:58, 22 December 2015

Harriet Constance Smithson
Portrait of Harriet Smithson (1800-1854) by Dubufe, Claude-Marie (1790-1864). Irish actress, wife of the composer Hector Berlioz. 1830. Oil on canvas, 40.5 x 32.5 cm. Inv. 1938F308. Located at the Musee Magnin, Dijon, France
Painting by C.M. Dubufe, c. 1828.
Born
Harriet Constance

(1800-03-18)March 18, 1800
Ennis, Co. Clare, Ireland
Died3 March 1854(1854-03-03) (aged 53)
Paris, France.
OccupationShakespearean Actress
Years active1814–1837
Spouse
Hector Berlioz
​
(m. 1833)​

“Harriet Constance,” (1800–1854) most commonly known as “Harriet Smithson,” who also went by “Henrietta Constance Smithson,”[1] “Harriet Smithson Berlioz,”[2] and “Miss H.C. Smithson,"[3] was a famous Shakespearean actress, who is best known as the first wife and muse of Hector Berlioz.


Early Life

Harriet was born on March 18, 1800, at Ennis, Co. Clare, Ireland, between William Joseph Smithson and Mrs. Smithson. Her father was an actor and theatrical manager from Gloucestershire, England, and her mother was an actress whose full name is unknown.[1] Harriet also had a brother, Joseph Smithson, and a sister, whose name is never mentioned.[1]

In October, 1801, Harriet was left in the care of Reverend James Barrett, the pastor of the Church of Ireland, parish of Drumcliffe, and later the Dean of Killaloe.[4] Barrett became her guardian and brought her up as though she were his own daughter. He instructed Harriet ‘in the precepts of religion,’ and kept everything connected with the stage from her view.[5] After Barrett’s death on February 16, 1808, the Smithsons sent Harriet to a boarding school in Waterford.[6]

Acting Career

Irish Beginning

On May 27, 1814, Harriet made her first stage appearance at the Theatre Royal (Dublin), as Albina Mandevill in Frederick Reynolds's The Will.[7] Her performance was well received, and the Freeman’s Journal gave her a positive review.

She certainly is a most interesting and promising young actress, and there is no doubt she would prove a great acquisition to Crow-street, in the line of performance which her taste, as well as her talents, incline her to pursue.[8]

In 1815, Harriet took her parents' place in Montague Talbot’s company in Belfast after they returned to Dublin.[9] The season opened on January 1, 1816, where she extended her range in roles, performing in multiple comedies. [10]She then traveled to Newry, Limerick, Dublin, and Burmingham, where she joined Robert Elliston’s company. She spent the next two months playing over forty roles in varying genres.[11]

Debut in London

Four years later, January 20, 1818, Harriet made her first London appearance at Drury Lane as Letitia Hardy in The Belle's Stratagem.[12] Her first performance received mixed reviews from critics, but she quickly gained some favor of critics and performers as she obtained more experience.[13]

Harriet joined the permanent company at the Royal Coburg later that year. However, she rejoined Drury Lane Company in the autumn of 1820. On February 20, 1821, Harriet filled in as the lead female role in Thérèse by John Howard Payne, when the casted actress fell ill. [14]

Overall, the London public remembered her as The Times put it, “a face and features well adapted to her profession; but [an actress] not likely to make a great impression on a London audience, or to figure among stars of the first magnitude.”[15]

Success in Paris

In 1827, Harriet made her Paris début as Lydia Languish in The Rivals at the Odéon theatre. Though she received negative reviews for this role, she was highly praised for her beauty and ability in the subsequent performance of She Stoops to Conquer. [16]

On September 11, 1827, Harriet was given the small part of Ophelia next to Charles Kemble in Shakespear’s Hamlet.[17] She left a long lasting impression on the French through her interpretation of Ophelia’s madness utilizing pantomime and natural presentation.

Miss Smithson acted the scene in which, robbed of her sanity, she takes her own veil to be her father’s body with utmost grace and truth. The whole passage which seemed long and relatively insignificant and even exaggerated in reading, had tremendous impact on stage…The most remarkable feature of her acting is her pantomime; she adopts fantastic postures; and she uses the dying fall in her inflections, without ever ceasing to be natural…[18]

Charles Kemble and Harriet Smithson as Romeo and Juliet
Charles Kemble and Harriet Smithson as Romeo and Juliet

The tremendous success of Hamlet led to the announcement of Romeo & Juliet, for September 15. Harriet was cast as Juliet, where she revolutionized the women’s role in theater by becoming as important as her male counterpart, Romeo. [19] Until this point, women’s lines in theater were heavily cut and censored to deemphasize the role for the company’s “restricted talent.” [20] Again, the production was widely well received. [21]

Miss Smithson was charged with the role of Juliet, and she was excellent in it. It was in the scene in the second act, where she has a night meeting with Romeo, that her acting began to attract the audience's attention. This scene is extremely beautiful, even though it is written with a studied refinement...Miss Smithson could not have been more graceful upon the balcony; her posture were full of truth, grace, and love...In her strong moments, she is no longer a woman, but a Fury or something approaching that...[22]

On September 18, Shakespeare’s Othello became the third Shakespeare tragedy to be performed by The English theater. Harriet as Desdemona was less effective, however the production was popular enough to be repeated the week after. [23]

The English Theatre replaced the productions of tragedies with comedies, such as The Belle’s Stratagem, The School for Scandal, Mrs. Centlivre's The Wonder, and Mrs. Cowley's The Weathercock. However, press's demand for more tragedies led to the production of The Tragedy of Jane Shore. [24]

In this renowned tragedy, Harriet was cast as Jane shore, the role in which she moved her audience to tears. The production soon became the most performed play in the English season. At the end of her time in France, Harriet acted in several productions with famous actors such as, William Charles Macready, Edmund Kean, and Charles Kemble.[25]

As shown by the two reviews above, Harriet became famous for her natural presentation of characters, striking pantomime, and beauty. She introduced the French to natural English theatrical techniques that allowed her to become her characters instead of simply portraying them.[26] The new acting style, emphasizing drama and truth, which appealed to the French Romantics, prevailed over traditional French Classicists' idea of great acting.[27] Soon, many French actresses started to imitate Harriet's methodology.[28]

Back in London

As opportunities to continue her work in Paris dwindled, Harriet came back to London to perform Jane Shore. [29] The production opened at Covent Garden on May 11, 1829 under unfavorable circumstances. Some audience members, who had read Harriet’s reviews before she went to Paris, felt reluctant to attend the show. Furthermore, the London press was anxious to prove that their previous reviews of her average acting were accurate. Newspapers such as the Examiner gave the first performance a begrudging review:[30]

Her action is easy and graceful though somewhat redundant. Her declamation and studied choice of attitudes show that she has been a careful student in the French school of High tragedy. Her voice from a peculiarity in its intonation has a monotonous effect…[31]

However, just seven days after Harriet’s next performance as Juliet, in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the press, including The Examiner, gave her glowing reviews:

Miss Smithson’s performance of Juliet, take it as a whole, is by many degrees the best we have seen since the days of Miss O’Neil…She is the best tragic actress now in London.[32]

After Covent Garden closed for the summer in 1832, Harriet toured around England to minor theaters performing almost exclusively in tragedies.[33] In June, 1832, she joined the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, where she had limited success and received criticism about her weight. [34]

Marriage

Berlioz discovered her at the Odéon Theatre performing the roles of Juliet and Ophelia and immediately fell in love with her, sending her letters despite never having met her. This continued until the 1832 performance of Lélio, a sequel to his Symphonie fantastique, when via a mutual acquaintance he offered her a box of tickets. She came to the performance, realizing that the symphony was about her (as was strongly suggested by the program notes), and they married in 1833 at the British Embassy in Paris.[35]

By the time of her marriage, her popularity was over and she was deeply in debt, a factor believed to have strongly influenced her decision to marry. A benefit was given her, but she was coldly received. She retired from the stage. Louis Berlioz, the only child of Hector and Harriet, was born on 14 August 1834 (d. 1867). By about 1840, the marriage was failing, and Berlioz had begun an affair with Marie Recio, whom he was to marry after Smithson's death. Smithson moved out of the matrimonial home on the rue Saint Vincent, Montmartre, to the rue Blanche in 1843, still financially supported by Berlioz. She was to return to her former home on the rue Saint Vincent in 1849, long after Berlioz had left it.[35]

Death

Toward the end of her life, Smithson suffered from paralysis which left her barely able to move or speak. She died on March 3, 1854, at her home on the rue Saint Vincent, and was buried at the Cimetière Saint-Vincent. Berlioz later had her body reinterred at the Montmartre cemetery when Saint Vincent’s was to be destroyed.[35]

Portraits of Harriet Smithson

  • Claude Marie Paul Dubufe (1790-1864), oil on canvas, ca. 1830, Musée Magnin, Dijon. This portrait has been copied on a large oval image painted on a vase, Paris Porcelain, manufactured by Darte, ca. 1830, Musée de la Vie romantique, Paris (gift of the Friends of the Museum, 2009).

Notes

  1. ^ a b c , Murphy, Groghegan, 2015 p.196.
  2. ^ Raby 1982, p.1.
  3. ^ Oxberry 1825, p.195.
  4. ^ Raby 1982, p.4.
  5. ^ , Oxberry p.196. Also appears in Lives of Shakespearean Actors 2009 p.4-17 cited below.
  6. ^ Raby 1982, p.5.
  7. ^ Raby 1982, p.7.
  8. ^ Raby 1982, p.8. Comes from primary source Freeman's Journal, 28 May 1814 cited in Raby's Fair Ophelia
  9. ^ Raby 1982, p.9.
  10. ^ Raby 1982, p.10.
  11. ^ Raby 1982, p.12.
  12. ^ Raby 1982, p.13.
  13. ^ Raby 1982, p.14-20.
  14. ^ Raby 1982, p.26.
  15. ^ Marshall, Kishi, Davis, Freeman, Raby, 2009, p.19. directly publishes the primary source The Times, 21 January 1818. British Library, Colindale Newpaper Library.
  16. ^ Raby 1982, p.51-54.
  17. ^ Raby 1982, p.55.
  18. ^ Marshall, Kishi, Davis, Freeman, Raby, 2009, p.53. directly publishes Etienne-Jean Delécluze's Journal de Delécluze, 1824-1828, ed. R. Baschet (Paris: B. Grasset, [1948]), pp454-65,467. Translation by Peter Raby.>
  19. ^ Raby 1982, p.70.
  20. ^ Raby 1982, p.70.
  21. ^ Raby 1982, p.71.
  22. ^ Marshall, Kishi, Davis, Freeman, Raby, 2009, p.57. directly publishes Etienne-Jean Delécluze's Journal de Delécluze, 1824-1828, ed. R. Baschet (Paris: B. Grasset, [1948]), pp454-65,467. Translation by Peter Raby.
  23. ^ Raby 1982, p.79.
  24. ^ Raby 1982, p.86.
  25. ^ Raby 1982, p.86-94.
  26. ^ Raby 1982, p.97.
  27. ^ Raby 1982, p.98.
  28. ^ Raby 1982, p.98.
  29. ^ Raby 1982, p.107.
  30. ^ Raby 1982, p.106-108.
  31. ^ Marshall, Kishi, Davis, Freeman, Raby, 2009, p.166. Publishes primary source, Examiner, 17 May 1829, p.308. Cambridge University Library, shelfmark NPR. C.40
  32. ^ Marshall, Kishi, Davis, Freeman, Raby, 2009, p.167. Publishes primary source, Examiner, 24 May 1829, p.324-5. Cambridge University Library, shelfmark NPR. C.40
  33. ^ Raby 1982, p.109.
  34. ^ Raby 1982, p.124-125.
  35. ^ a b c Raby, P. (1982). Fair Ophelia: A Life of Harriet Smithson Berlioz. Cambridge, 216 pp, ISBN 0-521-24421-8

References

  • Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Smithson, Henrietta Constance" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 25 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 273.
  • Musée de la Vie romantique, Paris

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