Memories and Impressions of Helena Modjeska: An Autobiography |
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Page 382 - Deft hands called Chopin's music from the keys. Silent she sat, her slender figure's poise Flower-like and fine and full of lofty ease ; She heard her Poland's most consummate voice From power to pathos falter, sink and change ; The music of her land, the wond'rous, high, Utmost expression of its genius strange, — Incarnate sadness breathed in melody. Silent and thrilled she sat, her lovely face Flushing and paling like a delicate rose Shaken by summer winds from its repose Softly this way and...
Page 530 - Pt. Ill, Ch. 51 4 It seems to me that there are only two schools, one of good acting, the other of bad acting. Ibid. 5 We foreigners, born outside of the magic pale of the Anglo-Saxon race, place Shakespeare upon a much higher pedestal. We claim that, before being English, he was human, and that his creations are not bound either by local or ethnological limits, but belong to humanity in general.
Page 251 - After the day of toil, to play the guitar and sing by moonlight, to recite poems, or to listen to the mockingbird! And listening to our songs would be charming Indian maidens, our neighbors, making wreaths of luxuriant wild flowers for us! And in exchange we should give them trinkets for their handsome brown necks and wrists! And oh, we should be so far away from everyday gossip and malice, nearer to God, and better!
Page 138 - Shakespeare had not intended to give an impression of sensuousness. These two children are unconscious of their passion. They meet because they love, because they want to be together, to hear each other's voices, and to look in each other's eyes, and cherish and kiss or die. If they succumb to the natural law and the calling of their southern blood, it is not done with premeditation. There is no necessity, either, to remind the audience what had just happened in Juliet's room by such naturalistic...
Page 190 - On another occasion a Catholic priest had to say ' I love my country and my people and I shall never leave them ! ' The words ' country ' and ' children ' were replaced by ' wife ' and ' children.' In another play the words ' He walked arm-in-arm with the emperor and whispered in his ear...
Page 58 - I worshipped at once the great masterwork of that powerful man born and buried somewhere on the British Islands centuries ago.
Page 249 - I was to give up the stage and live in the midst of nature, perhaps in a tent ! I pictured to myself a life of toil under the blue skies of California, among the hills, riding on horseback with a gun over my shoulder. I imagined all sorts of things except what really was in store for me.
Page 521 - It is never right to be more Catholic than the Pope. Ibid., Ch. 25 3 ... the word "great" is not sufficient anymore, if you do not add to it, "Genius!
Page 382 - I Sing that graceful Toy, whose waving Play With gentle Gales relieves the sultry Day. Not the wide Fan by Persian Dames display'd, Which o'er their Beauty casts a grateful Shade; Nor That long known in China's artful Land...