Eleonora Duse
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Eleonora Giulia Amalia Duse ( , ; 3 October 185821 April 1924), often known simply as Duse, was an Italian actress, rated by many as the greatest of her time. She performed in many countries, notably in the plays of Gabriele d'Annunzio and
Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...
. Duse achieved a unique power of conviction and verity on the stage through intense absorption in the character, "eliminating the self" as she put it, and letting the qualities emerge from within, not imposed through artifice.


Life and career

Duse was born in
Vigevano Vigevano (; lmo, label=Western Lombard, Avgevan) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Pavia, Lombardy in northern Italy. A historic art town, it is also renowned for shoemaking and is one of the main centres of Lomellina, a rice-growing ...
,
Lombardy Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...
, in 1858 to Alessandro Vincenzo Duse (1820–1892) and Angelica Cappelletto (1833–1906). Both her father and her grandfather, Luigi, were actors from
Chioggia Chioggia (; vec, Cióxa , locally ; la, Clodia) is a coastal town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Venice in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Geography The town is situated on a small island at the southern entrance to the L ...
, near
Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400  ...
, and she joined the troupe at age four. Due to poverty, she initially worked continually, traveling from city to city with whichever troupe her family was currently engaged. She came to fame in Italian versions of roles made famous by
Sarah Bernhardt Sarah Bernhardt (; born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 or 23 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including '' La Dame Aux Camel ...
, such as ''
La Dame aux camélias LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...
''. She gained her first major success in Europe, then toured South America, Russia and the United States in 1893; beginning the tours as a virtual unknown but leaving in her wake a general recognition of her genius. While she made her career and fame performing in the theatrical " warhorses" of her day, she is today remembered more for her association with the plays of Gabriele d'Annunzio and
Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...
. In 1879, while in
Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
, she met journalist Martino Cafiero, and became involved in a fast-paced love affair with him. However, less than a year later, while she was in mid-pregnancy, he left her. The baby did not survive birth, and shortly thereafter Cafiero died as well. Duse then joined Cesare Rossi's theater company, and met actor Tebaldo Checchi (pseudonym of Tebaldo Marchetti). The two married in 1881. By 1882, the couple had one daughter, Enrichetta Angelica, but separated after Duse became involved with another actor, Flavio Andò. By this time, her career was in full swing and her popularity began to climb. She travelled on tour to South America, and upon her return a year later she formed her own company, meaning that she would assume the additional responsibilities of both manager and director. Between 1887 and 1894 she had an affair with the Italian poet
Arrigo Boito Arrigo Boito (; 24 February 1842 10 June 1918) (whose original name was Enrico Giuseppe Giovanni Boito and who wrote essays under the anagrammatic pseudonym of Tobia Gorrio) was an Italian poet, journalist, novelist, librettist and composer, best ...
, perhaps best remembered as
Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...
's librettist. Their relationship was carried out in a highly clandestine manner, presumably because of Boito's many aristocratic friends and acquaintances. (Despite this, their voluminous correspondence over the years survives.) In later years the two remained on good terms until his death in 1918. In 1895 she met Gabriele d'Annunzio (1863–1938), who was five years her junior, and the two became involved romantically as well as collaborating professionally. Gabriele d'Annunzio wrote four plays for her. In contrast to her relations with Boito, her association with d'Annunzio was widely recognized. When d'Annunzio gave the lead for the premiere of the play to Sarah Bernhardt instead of Duse, there was a furious fight, and Duse ended her affair with him. In contrast to Bernhardt's outgoing personality, which thrived on publicity, Duse was introverted and private, rarely giving interviews. She found public appearances to be a distraction, and once remarked to a journalist that away from the stage, "I do not exist". Bernhardt and Duse were unspoken rivals for many years. Comparisons of Duse to Bernhardt with regard to their acting talent were common, with warring factions arguing over their relative merits. Those who thought Duse the greater artist included
George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...
, who saw both actresses in London within the span of a few days, in the same play. Shaw gave his nod to Duse and defended his choice in an adamant oratory quoted by biographer
Frances Winwar Frances Winwar ''(née'' Francesca Vinciguerra; 3 May 1900 – 24 July 1985), was a Sicilian-born American biographer, translator, and fiction writer. Early life Winwar was born Francesca Vinciguerra in Taormina, Sicily and came to the Un ...
. Dame
Ellen Terry Dame Alice Ellen Terry, (27 February 184721 July 1928), was a leading English actress of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born into a family of actors, Terry began performing as a child, acting in Shakespeare plays in London, and tour ...
, who knew them both, observed, "How futile it is to make comparisons! Better far to thank heaven for both these women." In 1896, Duse completed a triumphant tour of the United States; in Washington President
Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...
and his wife attended every performance. Mrs. Cleveland shocked Washington society by giving, in Duse's honor, the first-ever White House tea held for an actress. In 1909, Duse retired from acting.


Personal life

Around the time of Duse's retirement, she met and became involved in an affair with Italian
feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
Lina Poletti Cordula "Lina" Poletti (27 August 1885 – 12 December 1971) was an Italian writer, poet, playwright, and feminist. Often described as beautiful and rebellious, she was prone to wear men's clothing and is considered one of the first women in Italy ...
, a former lover of writer
Sibilla Aleramo Sibilla Aleramo (born Marta Felicina Faccio; 14 August 1876 – 13 January 1960) was an Italian feminist writer and poet best known for her autobiographical depictions of life as a woman in late 19th century Italy. Life and career Aleramo wa ...
. The two lived together in
Florence, Italy Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
, for two years before ending the relationship. She is reported to have had a relationship with Russian count and painter Alexander Wolkoff and lived in his palace in
Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400  ...
, now known as
Palazzo Barbaro Wolkoff Palazzo Barbaro Wolkoff is a Venetian civil building located in the Dorsoduro district and overlooking the Grand Canal between Ca' Dario and Casa Salviati. History The building, initially built according to the canons of Venetian-Byzantine arc ...
.


Acting philosophy

Duse was famously cryptic regarding her acting style. She claimed not to have a technique of any sort, and scorned at efforts to put her art into a science. What is known is that she had a highly heterodox, almost religious philosophy of acting, seeking to "eliminate the self" and become the characters she portrayed. It is a common misconception that her acting was purely intuitive and spontaneous, in reality she labored over her craft. Her biographer,
Frances Winwar Frances Winwar ''(née'' Francesca Vinciguerra; 3 May 1900 – 24 July 1985), was a Sicilian-born American biographer, translator, and fiction writer. Early life Winwar was born Francesca Vinciguerra in Taormina, Sicily and came to the Un ...
, records that Duse wore little makeup but, "made herself up morally. In other words, she allowed the inner compulsions, grief and joys of her characters to use her body as their medium for expression, often to the detriment of her health." According to the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition, "her art depended on intense naturalness rather than stage effect, sympathetic force and poignant intellectuality rather than the theatrical emotionalism of the French tradition." Over the course of her career, Duse became well-known and respected for her assistance to young actors and actresses during the early stages of their careers. Among diverse artistic geniuses who acknowledged being inspired by Duse are
modern dance Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert or theatrical dance which included dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th ...
pioneer
Martha Graham Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991) was an American modern dancer and choreographer. Her style, the Graham technique, reshaped American dance and is still taught worldwide. Graham danced and taught for over seventy years. She wa ...
and
Imagist Imagism was a movement in early-20th-century Anglo-American poetry that favored precision of imagery and clear, sharp language. It is considered to be the first organized literary modernism, modernist literary movement in the English language. ...
poetry pioneer
Amy Lowell Amy Lawrence Lowell (February 9, 1874 – May 12, 1925) was an American poet of the imagist school, which promoted a return to classical values. She posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1926. Life Amy Lowell was born on Febru ...
. She was great friends with actress
Eva Le Gallienne Eva Le Gallienne (January 11, 1899 – June 3, 1991) was a British-born American stage actress, producer, director, translator, and author. A Broadway star by age 21, Le Gallienne gave up her Broadway appearances to devote herself to founding t ...
, who wrote her biography.


Later life

Duse suffered from ill health (largely
pulmonary The lungs are the primary organs of the respiratory system in humans and most other animals, including some snails and a small number of fish. In mammals and most other vertebrates, two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of th ...
) throughout most of her adult life, and the many years of touring had taken their toll. She retired from acting in 1909, but returned to the stage in 1921 in a series of engagements in both Europe and America. During this interval, in 1916, she made one film, ''
Cenere ''Cenere'' is a 1916 silent film directed by and starring Febo Mari. It is adapted from the 1904 novel by the Nobel Prize-winning Sardinian writer Grazia Deledda. It is notable as the only film performance by the Italian theater star Eleonora Duse ...
'' ("Ashes"), prints of which still survive. She was very disappointed in her work in the film, and later wrote to the French singer
Yvette Guilbert Yvette Guilbert (; born Emma Laure Esther Guilbert, 20 January 1865 – 3 February 1944) was a French cabaret singer and actress of the '' Belle Époque''. Biography Born in Paris into a poor family as Emma Laure Esther Guilbert, Guilbert b ...
with the request not to see "that stupid thing, because you'll find nothing, or almost nothing, of me in that film." There was also a certain amount of professional correspondence between Duse and D. W. Griffith, though ultimately nothing came of this. On 30 July 1923, Duse became the first woman (and Italian) to be featured on the cover of the nascent magazine ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
''.


Death

Duse died of
pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
at the age of 65 in Pittsburgh in Suite 524 of the Hotel Schenley while on the eastward return leg of a tour of the United States. (The Hotel Schenley is now the
William Pitt Union The William Pitt Union, built in 1898 as the Hotel Schenley, is the student union building of the University of Pittsburgh main campus, and is a Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation Historic Landmark. Designed by Pittsburg ...
at the University of Pittsburgh.) A bronze plaque in the lobby commemorates her death. After being moved to New York City, where she lay in state for four days before her funeral service, her body was returned to Italy (where another service was performed). She is buried in
Asolo Asolo () is a town and ''comune'' in the Veneto Region of northern Italy. It is known as "The Pearl of the province of Treviso", and also as "The City of a Hundred Horizons" for its mountain settings. History The town was originally a settlemen ...
 – where she had made her home for the last four years of her life – at the cemetery of Sant' Anna.Wilson, Scott. ''Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons'', 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Location 13458). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition. Her daughter Enrichetta donated some of her mother's items to the state in 1933. These items are preserved in Asolo in the Museo Civico. In 1968 her granddaughter Eleonora Ilaria Bullough (aka Mary of St Mark as a Dominican nun) donated the last items to the Giorgio Cini Foundation in Venice. Duse was the subject of the 1947 biographical film '' Eleonora Duse''.


Gallery

Image:Eleonora Duse in La Locandiera 1891.jpg, Image:Eleanora Duse (1859-1924) by Sargent, John Singer ca. 1893.jpg, Image:Eleonora Duse.jpg, Image:Eleonora Duse, by Vittorio Matteo Corcos (1859-1933).jpg, Eleonora Duse by
Vittorio Matteo Corcos Vittorio Matteo Corcos (4 October 1859 – 8 November 1933) was an Italian painter, known for his portraits. Many of his genre works depict winsome and finely dressed young men and women, in moments of repose and recreation. Biography He was bo ...
Image:Dupont, Aimé (1842-1900) - Eleonora Duse ì -- New York, 1896.jpg, Image:Stamp of USSR 2269.jpg, Image:Eleonora Duse in Francesa da Rimini.png, Image:Portrait photograph of Eleonora Duse.jpg,


References

Notes Bibliography * * ** Marquise Sofia McQuaide de Bonis (1885-?) as "Jeanne Bordeux": Also , ** ** ** * * * * * * * :: Published in America as * * *


External links

* * * *
Heroines of the Modern Stage
p.171 by Forrest Izard c.1915 * * * https://www.britannica.com/biography/Eleonora-Duse * https://www.sapere.it/enciclopedia/Duse,+Eleon%C3%B2ra.html * https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/eleonora-duse_(Dizionario-Biografico) * http://www.enciclopediadelledonne.it/biografie/eleonora-duse/ * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Duse, Eleonora 1858 births 1924 deaths 19th-century Italian actresses 20th-century Italian actresses 19th-century LGBT people 20th-century LGBT people People from Vigevano Bisexual actresses Italian stage actresses LGBT actors from Italy Italian silent film actresses Deaths from pneumonia in Pennsylvania