"I assure you, Matemoiselle, that I have never heard a voice that can equal yours,"
Alfred Ellis
21 September 1895
Photograph
15.3 cm high by 10.2 cm wide
"Source: The Illustrated London News (21 September 1895): 357.
[Click on image to enlarge it.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
Passage adapted from the 1895 novel
"But never mind, matemoiselle; when your pain arrives, then shall you come once more to Svengali, and he shall take it away from you, and keep it himself for a soufenir of you when you are gone. And when you have it no more, he shall play you the 'Rosemonde' of Schubert, all alone for you; and then, 'Messieurs les étutiants, montez a la chaumiére!' ... because it is gayer! And you shall see nothing, hear nothing, think of nothing but Svengali, Svengali, Svengali!" [Page 335, facing the illustration "Himmel! The roof of your mouth!"]
Commentary
English actor-manager Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, having acquired the British performance rights to Paul Potter's American adaptation of the novel, opened his own version of Trilby at London's Haymarket Theatre on 30 October 1895. After a highly successful run of over 260 performances in London, Tree toured the production through the provinces, making enough money in the process to build Her Majesty's Theatre across the street from the Haymarket. Actress Dorothea Baird, starring as Trilby, set the vogue for the Trilby hat and for ladies' smoking in public. However, in this pose for promotional photographs, the evil genius of Svengali (who speaks with a heavily German accent) is in control, and a passive Trilby, holding a candle and basket, stares at the audience blankly.
In Du Maurier's text and original illustrations, there is no such moment involving Svengali and Trilby, although several Du Maurier illustrations demonstrate the musician's utter control of Trilby, notably in parts five and eight, "Un impromptu de Chopin" and "We took her voice note by note". The closest plate to the photograph in terms of composition and subject occurs in "Part Two": "Himmel, the roof of your mouth!" in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. 88 (February 1894).
Related Illustrations in Harper's New Monthly (1894)
George Du Maurier's "Himmel! The roof of your mouth!", "Un impromptu de Chopin", and "We took her voice note by note". [Click on image to enlarge it.]
Bibliography
Du Maurier, George. Trilby. Harper's New Monthly Magazine, 88 (February 1894): 335.
Du Maurier, George. Trilby, A Novel. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1895.
Ellis, Alfred. "Trilby on the English Stage." [Four black-and-white photographs]. The Illustrated London News. 21 September 1895, p. 357.
Last modified 11 July 2013