Mary Shelley, “Madame de Staël”

Mary Shelley quotes the Comte de Guibert as he praises Staël’s extemporized compositions, but she adds that some Parisians ridiculed her.

Performer Name:
Madame de Staël
Performance Venue:
Paris
Performance Date:
 
Author:
Shelley, Mary
Date Written:
 
Language:
English
Publication Title:
French Lives
Article Title:
Madame de Staël
Page Numbers:
3:465
Additional Info:
French Lives, ed. Clarissa Campbell Orr, vol. 3 of Mary Shelley's Literary Lives and Other Writings, 4 vols, gen. ed. Nora Crook.
Publisher:
Pickering & Chatto
Place of Publication:
London
Date Published:
2002

Text:

[465] [quoting Hippolyte, Comte de Guibert]: When she sang, she extemporised the words of her song; the celestial brightness of composition animated her face, and held the audience in serious attention; at once astonished and delighted, we knew not which most to admire, her facility or perfection.

[Mary Shelley's words]: There were many people in Paris, who, of course, were willing to turn the pretensions of the young and brilliant improvisatrice into ridicule

Notes:

 
Collected by:
AE