Prima-Donna and Poet.
DTJSE TRIUMPHS OVER D-AHStrSZIO
Does genius entitle a man to behjn. lfc, a perfect blackguard?
There Is no doubt that Gabriele d'Aßn zlo, the Italian author, dlfl behave perfect blackguard to Eleonora Duse, «» most gifted singer of Italy, and perh« M X the world. H 3
D'Annunzio Is a magician In the use of words. Therefore many persons hold that he is a law unto himself, that he is abov morality; in fact, that he may do as hj! pleases.
Those who hold that even a genins ouaat to behave decently will note with satlsfee. t!on that nothing but misfortune has folio*, ed him since he wronged Madame Due It such an amazing manner. She has beta amply revenged.
He has lost his property. He haj beta driven out of Italy. His art coUectlim hA been seized by creditors. Hit recent playi and novels have been failures. He has fallen off a horse and Injured hhMelf" HU first wife has humiliated him. The Archbishop of Paris has condemned kj» work—an opera. Finally, he has been Jilted by a fascinating little Russian dancer as heartlessly as he abandoned Bleonoia Duse. Never in the long history of the relatJana between man and woman was there a mote cruel act of treachery than that of Gabriels d'Annunzio to Eleonora Duse.
From the first day that she •wan a paWle success tie gTeat actress maintained a remarkable reserve concerning her early life. An impenetrable yen of myster/ hung om lor yonth. Not a word could any jonnuliit or writer extract form her concerning hti priTate life. The writers expected her t» talk like any other actresses, but when tfctj understood that It would cause her exqaiatti pain to do en B»ey respected her reaerrt No one can loa'i »t that face without knov. ing that It is stampsd by sorrow that cai never be wiped eat.
D'Annunzio, the greatest contempenrj writer of Italy, the author of "The Trimnpa of Deatth,'' met Dnse when she was Is tie first flush of success, when she had been acclaimed as greater than Bernhardt With all the skill of his tongue that usee word! magically, with his prestige as the most brilliant author of his country, he made lore to iher. She listened to him. SU was charmed.
Fall of loving confidence, sfiie told him the hidden story of her youth. She conteased to him with tears, hot -with joy, for slit felt that to teil the story to one who lore! her would qniet the aching of her heart. How do we know thai she confessed to him? Because as soon as d'Annunzio bid got the confession he proceeded to paolial it in fall in a novel called "Fupco," meanins "Fire." The character of Duse is tattr cated eo plainly in this book that no one who had heard of her could doubt who was meant.
The Duse of the book tells her lover ttg ■long heartrending story of her life as 1 strolling player of childish years. U» character of the confession is sufficiently Indicated by one sentence:
"Ah, Stelio, those were sorrowful dajl and nights, full of anxiety, of stifling discouragement, of exhaustion, without rest of shame produced by enforced self-abase-ment."
When Duse realised that her carefullj guarded secrets had been published to ths world by the lover to whom she confided them she became desperately 111, and for 1 time it was feared she would die. D'Anar* zio then abandoned her completely and dl* missed the subject with a jest and a heartless remark about the value of woman at copy.
From that time he never prospered. HIS play, "Fedra." was an abject failure, an' a more ambitious work called "La Save" was not a success. His former wife, an Itallis woman of high social position, Interfere! with his schemes in many ways. He fell from a horse while hunting an! marred his personal appearance, of whlci he was unjustifiably proud.
He ran into debt enormously, and wsf pained to find that creditors- had no speca* consideration for him. His beautiful hOT* near Florence, Villa Caponcina, was epll The exquisite objects of mediaeval jrt which filled it and which d'Annunzio (M collected with great pains were scattered. To save himself from further losses nod lawsuits d'Annunzio ran away froai Iw He cannot go back now without flndiai himself in worse trouble than ever. TM foremost writer of Italy is now an fifff from his country—like Dante, as he pat*
When he arrived in Paris he fell in l«f with Ida Rubinstein, one of the most #*" cinatiug of the Russian dancers who h"Tf lately been the rage of that city. Ida Ig* binstein was formerly the wife of a Bill%?" aire named Gorovitz, in St. Petersburg, a? 1 was driven away from home by her it*' band's family fnr her erratic conduct. rVAnnunzio fell madly in love with M» Rubinstein. He lost control of himself. U e announced that be was going to marry MTIda Rubinstein sued for a divorce, but w? she explains that she is not going to maw d'Annuczio, but a handsome young Eusslsn baritone named Eaklanoff, now in Pans, who was a fellow student of her husband in St. Petersburg. Duse Is avenged without having planned it, or perhaps wished it. Everybody *» the artistic world of Paris is laughing ** the jilting of d'Annunzio. lie is not a character who Invites sympathy. Elderly, bald, hypochrooflttft physically feeble and unattractive, he W been thrown aside for a handsome yo'- a E singer with a full-throated baritone T ?W and Uon-like name.
During his exil-e Id Paris, d'Amum*. 10 **J been at work on a grand new production the libretto of an opera called "St. Set" 38tien." for which Claude de Bussy has W.rtf' ten the music. Even this has met wit* misfortune, for Uk- Archbishop of Paris W? forbidden faithful Catholics to attend ta? performance. As the fashionable society of Paris is st? l strongly Catholic, the condemnation Of tM opera by the Archbishop will have a Terr serious effect upon the attendance. Thus trouble falls upon d'Annunaio P& every direction. The world rejoicsl.
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Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 209, 2 September 1911, Page 16
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1,024Prima-Donna and Poet. Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 209, 2 September 1911, Page 16
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