Rachel (actress)
Encyclopedia
Elisabeth "Eliza, or Élisa" Rachel Félix (also Elizabeth-Rachel Félix), better known only as Mademoiselle Rachel (February 21, 1821, Mumpf, Rheinfelden, Aargau, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 - January 3, 1858, Le Cannet
Le Cannet
Le Cannet is a commune of the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France.-Location:Le Cannet is located on the north of Cannes, on the French Riviera...

, France), was a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 actress.

Biography

Born in Mumpf
Mumpf
Mumpf is a municipality in the district of Rheinfelden in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland.-History:The area around Mumpf was prehistorically settled. In 1991 a mid to late neolithic fortified settlement was excavated on the Kapf/Chapf hill. This settlement was surrounded by a huge moat, and...

, Rheinfelden
Rheinfelden
Rheinfelden is a municipality in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland, seat of the district of Rheinfelden. It is located 15 kilometres east of Basel. The name means the fields of the Rhine, as the town is located on the Hochrhein. It is home to Feldschlösschen, the most popular beer in...

, Aargau
Aargau
Aargau is one of the more northerly cantons of Switzerland. It comprises the lower course of the river Aare, which is why the canton is called Aar-gau .-History:...

, the daughter of Jewish Alsatian
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...

 peddlers, Rachel earned money as a child singing and reciting in the streets. She wanted to become a famous French actress so she came to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 around the year of 1830, and took elocution
Elocution
Elocution is the study of formal speaking in pronunciation, grammar, style, and tone.-History:In Western classical rhetoric, elocution was one of the five core disciplines of pronunciation, which was the art of delivering speeches. Orators were trained not only on proper diction, but on the proper...

 and singing lessons, eventually studying under the instruction of the musician Alexandre-Étienne Choron
Alexandre-Étienne Choron
Alexandre-Étienne Choron for a short time directed the Paris Opera. He played an essential role in France in making a clear distinction between sacred and secular music, and was one of the originators of French interest in musicology.- Biography :Choron studied mathematics at the collège de Juilly...

 and of Saint-Aulaire
Saint-Aulaire
Saint-Aulaire is a commune in the Corrèze department in central France.-Population:-References:*...

, and taking dramatic arts classes at the Conservatoire. To provide for the needs of her family she debuted in La Vendéenne in January 1837 at the Théâtre du Gymnase. Delestre-Poirson, the director, gave her the stage name Rachel, a name that she chose to keep in her private life. Auditioning in March 1838, she started at the Théâtre-Français
Comédie-Française
The Comédie-Française or Théâtre-Français is one of the few state theaters in France. It is the only state theater to have its own troupe of actors. It is located in the 1st arrondissement of Paris....

 in Pierre Corneille
Pierre Corneille
Pierre Corneille was a French tragedian who was one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine...

's Horace at the age of 17. At this time she began a long liaison with Louis Véron, the former director of the Paris Opera
Paris Opera
The Paris Opera is the primary opera company of Paris, France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the Académie d'Opéra and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and renamed the Académie Royale de Musique...

, and subsequently her personal life was a subject of gossip, well documented by biographers and acquaintances of the time.

Her fame spread throughout Europe following a sensational success in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 in 1841, and became particularly associated with the works of Racine
Jean Racine
Jean Racine , baptismal name Jean-Baptiste Racine , was a French dramatist, one of the "Big Three" of 17th-century France , and one of the most important literary figures in the Western tradition...

, Voltaire
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...

, and Corneille, touring in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, and St. Petersburg. She created the title role in Eugène Scribe
Eugène Scribe
Augustin Eugène Scribe , was a French dramatist and librettist. He is best known for the perfection of the so-called "well-made play" . This dramatic formula was a mainstay of popular theater for over 100 years.-Biography:...

's Adrienne Lecouvreur
Adrienne Lecouvreur
Adrienne Lecouvreur was a French actress.Born in Damery, she first appeared professionally on the stage in Lille...

. Her acting style was characterized by clear diction and economy of gesture, and represented a major change from the exaggerated style of those days. She was best known for her portrayal of the title rôle in Phèdre
Phèdre
Phèdre is a dramatic tragedy in five acts written in alexandrine verse by Jean Racine, first performed in 1677.-Composition and premiere:...

. Eliza Rachel, as the actress was also known, was reportedly a great tragédienne.

She became the mistress of Napoleon I
Napoleon I
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...

's son, Alexandre Joseph Count Colonna-Walewski
Alexandre Joseph Count Colonna-Walewski
Alexandre Florian Joseph, Count Colonna-Walewski was a Polish and French politician and diplomat. He was the illegitimate son of Napoleon I by his mistress Countess Marie Walewska.-Life:...

, and together they had a son Alexandre Colonna-Walewski in 1844. He entered the diplomatic service and died at his post in Turin in 1898. After an affair with Arthur Bertrand, Rachel left for England. There she briefly had an affair with Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, later Napoleon III, as well as with Napoléon Joseph Charles Paul Bonaparte
Napoléon Joseph Charles Paul Bonaparte
Napoléon Joseph Charles Paul Bonaparte, Prince Français, Count of Meudon, Count of Moncalieri ad personam, titular 3rd Prince of Montfort was the second son of Jérôme Bonaparte, king of Westphalia, by his wife Catherine, princess of Württemberg...

. Her second son, Gabriel-Victor Felix, was never acknowledged by Bertrand. He became a navy man and died in the Congo in 1889.

Rachel never married, although she had many lovers. When Walewski upbraided her for not remaining faithful to him, she retorted, "I am as I am; I prefer renters to owners."

Her health declined after a long tour of Russia. She died of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

 in Le Cannet
Le Cannet
Le Cannet is a commune of the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France.-Location:Le Cannet is located on the north of Cannes, on the French Riviera...

, Alpes-Maritimes
Alpes-Maritimes
Alpes-Maritimes is a department in the extreme southeast corner of France.- History : was created by Octavian as a Roman military district in 14 BC, and became a full Roman province in the middle of the 1st century with its capital first at Cemenelum and subsequently at Embrun...

, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. She is buried in a mausoleum in the Jewish part of Père Lachaise Cemetery
Père Lachaise Cemetery
Père Lachaise Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the city of Paris, France , though there are larger cemeteries in the city's suburbs.Père Lachaise is in the 20th arrondissement, and is reputed to be the world's most-visited cemetery, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors annually to the...

. The English theatre critic James Agate
James Agate
James Evershed Agate was a British diarist and critic. In the period between the wars, he was one of Britain's most influential theatre critics...

 published a biography of her in 1928, which echoes the anti-Semitism of his day. A modern account of her life and legacy by Rachel Brownstein was published in 1995.

The character Vashti in Charlotte Brontë
Charlotte Brontë
Charlotte Brontë was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood, whose novels are English literature standards...

's novel Villette
Villette (novel)
Villette is a novel by Charlotte Brontë, published in 1853. After an unspecified family disaster, protagonist Lucy Snowe travels to the fictional city of Villette to teach at an all-girls school where she is unwillingly pulled into both adventure and romance...

was based on Rachel, whom Brontë had seen perform in London.

Rachel, a light tannish colour, primarily for face-powder used in artificial light, is named after her; the raschel knitting-machine is according to the OED also named after her.

Chronological repertoire

  • 1837:
    • by Paul Duport (Théâtre du Gymnase, 24 April)
    • (Théâtre du Gymnase, 12 June)


At the :
  • 1838:
    • Camille in Horace by Corneille
      Pierre Corneille
      Pierre Corneille was a French tragedian who was one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine...

       (12 June to 11 September)
    • Émilie in Cinna by Corneille (27 September)
    • Hermione in Andromaque
      Andromaque
      Andromaque is a tragedy in five acts by the French playwright Jean Racine written in alexandrine verse. It was first performed on 17 November 1667 before the court of Louis XIV in the Louvre in the private chambers of the Queen, Marie Thérèse, by the royal company of actors, called "les Grands...

      by Racine
      Jean Racine
      Jean Racine , baptismal name Jean-Baptiste Racine , was a French dramatist, one of the "Big Three" of 17th-century France , and one of the most important literary figures in the Western tradition...

       (4 September)
    • Aménaïde in Trancrède by Voltaire
      Voltaire
      François-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...

    • Ériphile in Iphigénie
      Iphigénie
      Iphigénie is a dramatic tragedy in five acts written in alexandrine verse by the French playwright Jean Racine. It was first performed in the Orangerie in Versailles on August 18th 1674 as part of the fifth of the royal Divertissements de Versailles of Louis XIV to celebrate the conquest of...

       en Aulide
      by Racine
    • Monime
      Monime
      Monime, sometimes known as Monima was a Greek Macedonian noblewoman from Anatolia and one of the wives of King Mithridates VI of Pontus....

       in Mithridate
      Mithridate (Racine)
      Mithridate is a tragedy in five acts in Alexandrine verse by Jean Racine.-Background and History:...

      by Racine
    • Roxane in Bajazet
      Bajazet (play)
      Bajazet is a tragedy by Jean Racine in five acts , in Alexandrian verse, first played at the Hotel de Bourgogne, on January 5, 1672, after Berenice, and before Mithridate. Like Aeschylus in The Persians, Racine took his subject from contemporary history, taking care to choose a far off location,...

      by Racine (23 November)
  • 1839:
    • Esther in Esther
      Esther (drama)
      Esther is the name of a play in three acts written in 1689 by the French dramatist, Jean Racine. It premiered on January 26, 1689, performed by the pupils of the Maison royale de Saint-Louis, an educational institute for young girls of noble birth...

      by Racine (29 February)
    • Laodice in Nicomède by Corneille (9 April)
    • Dorine in Tartuffe by Molière
      Molière
      Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature...

       (30 April)

  • 1840:
    • Pauline in Polyeucte Martyr by Corneille (15 May)
    • First tour in France during the summer (Rouen
      Rouen
      Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...

      , Le Havre
      Le Havre
      Le Havre is a city in the Seine-Maritime department of the Haute-Normandie region in France. It is situated in north-western France, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Seine on the English Channel. Le Havre is the most populous commune in the Haute-Normandie region, although the total...

      , Lyon
      Lyon
      Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....

      )
    • The title role of Marie Stuart by Lebrun
      Pierre-Antoine Lebrun
      Pierre-Antoine Lebrun was a French poet.Lebrun was born in Paris. An Ode à la grande armée, mistaken at the time for the work of Écouchard Lebrun, attracted Napoleon's attention, and secured for the author a pension of 1200 francs. Lebrun's plays, once famous, are now forgotten...

       (22 December)
  • 1841:
    • Toured in Belgium
      Belgium
      Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

       and England
      England
      England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

       (summer)
  • 1842:
    • Chimène in Le Cid by Corneille (19 January)
    • The title role of Ariane by Thomas Corneille
      Thomas Corneille
      Thomas Corneille was a French dramatist.- Personal life :Born in Rouen nearly twenty years after his brother Pierre, the "great Corneille", Thomas's skill as a poet seems to have shown itself early. At the age of fifteen he composed a play in Latin which was performed by his fellow-pupils at the...

       (7 May)
    • Toured in England and Belgium (summer)
    • Frédégonde in Frédégonde et Brunehaut by Lemercier
      Népomucène Lemercier
      Louis Jean Népomucène Lemercier was a French poet and dramatist.He was born in Paris. His father had been intendant successively to the duc de Penthièvre, the comte de Toulouse and the unfortunate princesse de Lamballe, who was the boy's godmother...

       (5 November)
  • 1843:
    • The title role of Phèdre
      Phèdre
      Phèdre is a dramatic tragedy in five acts written in alexandrine verse by Jean Racine, first performed in 1677.-Composition and premiere:...

      by Racine (21 January)
    • The title role of Judith by Girardin
      Delphine de Girardin
      Delphine de Girardin , pen name Vicomte Delaunay, was a French author.She was born at Aachen, and christened Delphine Gay. Her mother, the well-known Madame Sophie Gay, brought her up in the midst of a brilliant literary society...

       (24 January)
    • Toured in Rouen, Marseille
      Marseille
      Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...

       and Lyon
      Lyon
      Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....

       (summer)
  • 1844:
    • The title role of Bérénice
      Bérénice
      Berenice is a five-act tragedy by the French 17th-century playwright Jean Racine. Berenice was not played often between the 17th and the 20th centuries. Today it is one of Racine's more popular plays, after Phèdre, Andromaque and Britannicus.It was first performed in 1670...

      by Racine (6 January)
    • Isabelle in Don Sanche d'Aragon by Corneille (17 January)
    • The title role of Catherine II by Romand
      Románd
      - External links :*...

       (25 May)
    • Marinette in Le Dépit amoureux by Molière (1 July)
    • Toured in Belgium (summer)
    • Birth of her son Alexandre in Marly-le-Roi (3 November)

  • 1845:
    • Virginie in Brest
      Brest, France
      Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...

       (3 July)
    • Polyeucte in Nancy (25 August)
  • 1846:
    • Toured in the Netherlands
      Netherlands
      The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

      , in Liège
      Liège
      Liège is a major city and municipality of Belgium located in the province of Liège, of which it is the economic capital, in Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium....

       and in Lille
      Lille
      Lille is a city in northern France . It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...

       (June)
    • Toured in London
      London
      London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

       (July–August)
  • 1847:
    • La Muse sérieuse in L'Ombre by Molière (15 January)
    • Fatine in Le Vieux by La Montagne
      Michel de Montaigne
      Lord Michel Eyquem de Montaigne , February 28, 1533 – September 13, 1592, was one of the most influential writers of the French Renaissance, known for popularising the essay as a literary genre and is popularly thought of as the father of Modern Skepticism...

       (6 February)
    • The title role of Athalie
      Athalie
      Athalie is the final tragedy of Jean Racine, and has been described as the masterpiece of 'one of the greatest literary artists known' and the 'ripest work' of Racine's genius...

      by Racine (5 March)
    • Toured in London, in the Netherlands, and at Liège (May–June)

  • 1848:
    • Birth of her second son, Gabriel, at Neuilly-sur-Seine (26 January)
    • Horace (13 March)
    • Toured in Amsterdam
      Amsterdam
      Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

       (June–October)
    • Britannicus
      Britannicus (play)
      Britannicus is a tragic play by the French dramatist Jean Racine.The play, produced in 1669, was the first time Racine had tried his hand at depicting Roman history. The tale of moral choice takes as its subject Britannicus, the son of the Roman emperor Claudius, and heir to the imperial throne...

      by Racine (October)
  • 1849:
    • Andromaque (January)
    • The title role of Le Moineau de Lesbie by Armand Barthet (22 March)
    • The title role of Adrienne Lecouvreur (14 April)
    • Toured in west and southwest France (29 May - 31 August)
  • 1850:
    • The title role of Mademoiselle de Belle-Isle by Alexandre Dumas, père
      Alexandre Dumas, père
      Alexandre Dumas, , born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie was a French writer, best known for his historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world...

      (25 January)
    • Thisbé in Angelo by Victor Hugo
      Victor Hugo
      Victor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....

       (18 May)
    • Lydie in Horace et Lydie by François Ponsard
      François Ponsard
      François Ponsard , was a French dramatist, poet and author and was a member of the Académie française.-Literary career:...

       (19 June)
    • Toured in London, Hamburg
      Hamburg
      -History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

      , Berlin
      Berlin
      Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

      , Potsdam
      Potsdam
      Potsdam is the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg and part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. It is situated on the River Havel, southwest of Berlin city centre....

      , Bremen
      Bremen
      The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...

      , Vienna
      Vienna
      Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

       and Munich
      Munich
      Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

       (July–October)
  • 1851: Toured
  • 1853: Toured
  • 1854: Toured in Warsaw
    Warsaw
    Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

    , Saint Petersburg
    Saint Petersburg
    Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

     and Moscow
    Moscow
    Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

     (January–April)
  • 1855: Toured in New York and in the United States (September–December)
    • The troupe separated in Cuba in December.
  • 1858: Rachel died on 3 January

Death

Rachel is buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery
Père Lachaise Cemetery
Père Lachaise Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the city of Paris, France , though there are larger cemeteries in the city's suburbs.Père Lachaise is in the 20th arrondissement, and is reputed to be the world's most-visited cemetery, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors annually to the...

. There is also a street in Paris named after her: Avenue Rachel (at number 20 is the entrance to Montmartre Cemetery
Montmartre Cemetery
Montmartre Cemetery is a cemetery in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, France.-History:Cemeteries had been banned from Paris since the shutting down of the Cimetière des Innocents in 1786, as they presented health hazards...

).

External links

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