Adelaide Ristori ed Ernest Legouvé. La via francese alla carriera internazionale

Abstract

This essay aims to focus on the professional relationship between Adelaide Ristori and Ernest Legouvé as an example of the collaboration between an actress and a playwright within a prestigious international context. It investigates, for the first time in an organized manner, the partnership between the French playwright and the actress during the production of Béatrix ou la Madone de l’art. This play was specifically composed by Legouvé for Ristori, who debuted in French in 1861. The study relies on documents stored in the Ristori Archive at the Museo Biblioteca dell’Attore in Genoa, with particular attention to a group of unpublished letters from Legouvé to the actress regarding the preparation and rehearsals of the performance. Ristori’s annotated script for Béatrix, her notebooks and letters are also analysed. By relating these materials with reviews from the Parisian press, this study identifies this production as a stylistic turning point in the work of the Grande Attrice.