MADAME TAGLIONI.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 151, 24 March 1876, Page 7

MADAME TAGLIONI.

The ' Herald,' on December 26. published a very remarkable letter from Milan, on the subject of the life of Madame Marie Taglioni, the once celebrated dancer, which would be highly interesting if it were only accurate ; but it happened not to be so. In the first place, Madame Taglioni was born, not in 1804, but in 1809, on April 23, at Stockholm, being a daughter of the dancer and pantomiinist, FiKppo Taglioni, and of a Danish lady, Marie Karsten, daughter of tha celebrated tragedian of that name. This being the case, as can be seen in any biographical dictionary, Madame Taglioni is only sixty-six this year, and not " seventy-four and upwards." The worthy lady married, as the • Herald's' correspondent says, M. le Comte de Voisin, but instead of having no children, she has two, and has, therefore, had " no cause for profound regret," ab not having any, for both are living and are very fond of her. These children are thp present Count de Voisin, an officer in the French army, and the celebrated Princess Troubitzkoi, who has a fine villa on the Coino, and is the wife of the Russian ConsulGeneral at Marseilles. It is curious that the "Roman clergy should be so eager after Taglioni' s wealth," as says our contemporavy, and that her jewels should be worth over 1,000,000 francs, since it is well known that, during the war of 1870, Bhe lost her property, and was obliged to go to London to earn her livelihood as a teacher of dancing, and the ' Herald' itself was the first to inform us of the fact, and the information it then gave has been confirmed by other papers, which have, from time to time, published very interesting accounts of the lady's cheerfulness under the circumstances. She was living not three months ago in Portman Square, giving dancing lessons, and earning a handsome but by no means large income. She was present last week at the banquet given by the Lord Mayor of London, to the various actors and actresses then in the metropolis. Mine. Taglioni's daughter is well known in society. The Princess Troubitzkoi is a graceful and dignified woman, whose love for her mother is one of the chief of her many amiable qualities; so " Taglioni's near relatives have not been dead for years," and the Church has, therefore no reason "to fix its greedy eyes on her wealth," which, unfortunately she no longer possesses. Assuredly has our worthy contemporary, the ' Herald,' been much deceived this time by its correspondent. It certainly is very singular that a leading newspaper should publish such utter rubbish concerning so well-known a lady as Marie Taglioni.—' Spirit of the Times.'