DOCUMENTARY CHRONOLOGY FOR 1843 ** PAGE 21
CHRONOLOGICAL DOCUMENTATION FOR 1843
Lloyd's List for 1843
12 April: Royal Tar arrives from Gibralter
16 April: Lady Mary Wood arrives from Gibralter; left Cadiz on 7 April
23 April: Liverpool arrives from Gibralter; left Cadiz on 14 April
[LM may have returned to England from Spain on one of these ships]
The Era (London) 7 May 1843 5.3
We are happy to add, en resume, that her Majesty's Theatre has been numerously attended, so that the subscribers are but little annoyed by those whiskered lions, who with their hats on, were wont to beard them in the pit.
(Note: Fanny Elsser at HM's Theatre about this time)
Court Journal (London) Page 310.1
13 May: Earl of Malmsbury to have a dinner party on May 17
Morning Post (London) Page 5.6
1 June: On Saturday next a new danseuse makes her appearance. She is a Spaniard, with black eyes, taper ankles, and a clear olive complexion, which realize all our fantasies of the pure Andalusian beauty; but as we have done with the novelty of Linda, we will leave her for the present wrapt in a comparative mystery.
Morning Post (London) Page 5.5
3 June: Donna Lolah Montes, who makes her debut to-night upon this stage, will for the first time introduce the Spanish dance to the English public; and (repeats 1 June material). It will always be an idle attempt to compare the genius of the Spanish dance with that of the French ballet. They are as essentially different as the national character itself. The French danseuse executes her pas with the feet, the legs, and the hips alone. The Spaniard dances with the body, the lips, the eyes, the head, the neck,and with the heart. Her dance is the history of a passion. If she is without those characteristic beauties which have distinguished the Taglioni, Elssler, or Cerito - the fine poetic grace of the first - the twinkling and miraculous steps of the second - and the youthful freshness of the third, she possesses a distinguishing grace of her own in the wonderful unison with which her whole body obeys the inspiration of the dance. She is not the translator of an ideal drama, but the actual presence of a poem, whose sensual beauty is unrivaled; for while she possesses but little of the more imaginative grace which belongs to the French ballet, she is the unequalled queen of that voluptuous sensuality, which is only imitated by the French stage to be rendered tame onSpanish dancer. Those who expect she will reproduce those established graces of the ballet which they have been hitherto accustomed to applaud, must naturally be disappointed, so totally is her style opposed to that which they have been accustomed to admire. In person she is truly the Spanish woman - in style, she is emphatically the Spanish dancer - and we feel sure that none who
can relish natural beauty and instinctive art, will fail to appreciate that which....all praise. El Olano is, like the Cachuca - not the Cachuca of Duvernay, Elssler, or Cerito - an intensely national dance, and will be as new to the generality of English eyes as we believe it to be beautiful. The variety of passion which it embodies - the languor, the abandon, the love, the pride, the scorn - one of the steps which is called death to the tarantula and is a favourite pas of the country, is the very poetry of avenging contmept - cannot be surpassed. The head lifted and thrown back, the flashing eye, the fierce and protruded foot which crushed the insect, make a subject for the painter which would scarcely be easy to forget. It must, however, in all
fairness be allowed that the personal beauty of the dancer has no slight share in the effect produced. Whatever the art may be, the Spanish dancer requires beauty; and, after speaking as we have done of Lolah Montes, it is needless to say that she possesses this.
Morning Post (London) page 3.3
5 June: However irreverant the assertion may appear in that shy, reserved, dignified and solemn personage, John Bull, is liable to singular headlong impulses of curiosity. When the fit is on him, he surpasses in levity even his old mercurial rival across the Pas de Calais. We who beheld, in 1815, 40,000 of her Majesty's lieges scurying after a stray Cossack in Hyde Park, were not astonished at the eagerness of the crowd which crammed the Opera to suffocation on Saturday. Still was the coup d'oeil very striking; the whole audience stood on the tiptoe of curiosity, and "there was expectation in the very air" they breathed. Amongst the crowd of unfortunates in the lobby excluded from theprice within his means for the use of a telescope to project into the house over the heads of his more fortunate neighbors, and who, when he beheld the new phenomenon of the night's performance, would not have felt as happy as the elder Herschel when he discovered the Georgium Sidies. We could not help feeling internally some satisfaction, for it was our descripttion of the debutante that had conjured up this scene, making the whole town run to the box offices, exclaiming like the gay poet........But as we have said before, to these fits of curiosity our good countrymen are very liable, and far more singular and amusing was the astonishment of the veteran voteries of the Opera when the debutante at last appeared. They were all perfectly confident that they were thoroughly conversant with every characteristic dance of Spain - from the Cachuca to the jota Arrongonese. Great, therefore, was the surprise of the good Sybarites when it was proved to them every Bolero, Guarrachea, etc, they had ever seen before was a mere imitative pasticcio - for there is as much difference betwixt the performance of our most admired Bolero dancers and that of the debutante of Saturday as there is betwixt the mincing pace of one of our sleek park horses and that of a thorough bred Arab disporting in the oasis of the desert. The orchestra played the spirited measures of the Olano - the curtain rose, disclosing a hall of the Alhambra, and in the centre stood a form enveloped in a black veil from head to foot, like the fairy-footed Zuleima when she came to warn Boabdil, the last king of the Moors. When the veil was removed, a form was revealed the very incarnation of the beauty and spirit Castilian poets have sung. The dancing of the fair Senorita was so novel that, for a time, the audience, in their surprise, forgot to applaud. Her wonderfully supple form assumed attitudes that were not dreamt of - the line of beauty being still preserved, in spite of the boldness of her movement. At one moment she bend down to the ground, moving her arms as if she were gathering roses in a parterre - and at the next moment starting to her feet, and raising her arms playfully in the air, as if she were showering the flowers on a lover's head. At one moment, her dancing represented seduction and entreaty - and next, she suddenly stamped her feet on the ground, placing her hand on her hip with a look of pride and defiance, like a fencer bidding his antagonist to come on if he dare and meet his doom. What must appear one of the most singular circumstances in the eyes of Donna Lola's terpsichoric rivals is, that, unlike all other dancers, she does not even turn out her feet, which we poor ignoramuses thought was the sine qua non of all dancing; on the contrary, she keeps them moving in a parallel all the time she dances, which does not prevent every step being fraught with inimitable characteristic grace. The Senorita's costume is likewise as novel as it is characteristic - a certain portion of it we can only distantly allude to, next to the blue garment the modest King of Naples has decreed the Ballerine of La Scala should wear - being the most singular we ever beheld. But here we must leave Donna Lolah, in utter despair of conveying the slightest notion of her appearance. She bears the name of the most popular public character amongst her countrymen - of one at whose sight the vivas of thousands rend the air; in fact, the only national hero now living in all Spain. We do not mean Espartero, but Montez, the Toreador. The Senorita experienced a reception as enthusiastic as her namesake on Saturday night. The shyness and embarassment of the fair dancer when encored amidst a shower of bouquets (during which some wag let the curtain fall, and cut off her retreat), produced great merriment, and still greater surprise among the gay mortals accustomed to all the coquetry of air and curtsies, oeillades, and graces, with which Elssler is wont to prolong such scenes.
The lessee showed his wonted taste in combining with this very original debut the Barber of Seville. Thus we had a faithful and a complete portraiture of Spain in its most palmy days, and in its most pleasing aspect.........
Evening Mail (London) Page 8.5
2 June - 5 June: We have had many varieties of Spanish dance since Duvernay figured in the Cachucha. The graceful Taglioni floated through the Gitana with the perfection of elegance; the buoyant Cerito inherited the same Gitana; and infused a charming playfulness into its stately movements; the artistical Fanny Elssler brought us the Sargossa, and gave it a peculiar feature of her bewitching hauteur and polished courtesy; and the zealous Guy Stephan did wonders in the Boleros de Cadix. But we were not to stop here, we were to have not only a Spanish dance ornamented and modified by the artists of France and Italy, but a Spanish dance by a Spaniard, executed after the Spanish fashion. Accordingly, Dona Lola Montez, from the Teatro Reale, Seville, made her appearance on Saturday in the original Spanish dance "El Olano."
There was a solemnity in the whole affair. There was a gloominess in the music which accompanied the dance; we could fancy the melody such as might have served for the recreation of Phillip II or the great Duke of Alva; it might have been played without impropriety pending an auto da fe. The few bars that preceeded the rising of the curtain sounded forebodingly; and when the curtain was removed, we saw indeed a few little ladies of the corps de ballet on each side of the stage; but the principal object was a mysterious folding door at the center of the scene at the back. This opened slowly, and a figure completely muffled in a black mantilla stepped forward. A few moments and the mantilla was cast aside, leaving visible the tall and commanding figure of Dona Montez, attired in a black bodice, the skirt terminating in dark red and blue points. In the most stately fashion she wound round the stage executing all her movements with the utmost deliberation. These movements were such as have been often seen in the various Spanish pas which are danced before us - there was a bending forward and drawing back, the feat of dropping on the knees, the haughty march forward. But in the style in which Dona Montez went through these movements there was something entirely different from all that we have seen. As a finished dancer, she would not bear comparison with any one of the ladies ennumerated above, but there was nevertheless a kind of national reality about her which was most impressive. The haughtiness with which she stepped, the slow play of the arms, the air of authority with which she once stopped with the hands resting on the hips - all gave an air of grandeur to the dance.
For the qualities to which danseuses are generally indebted for favour, she cannot be highly commended. Her dance is not characterized by buoyancy, by remarkable grace, but it may be said to have much intensity. The whole soul of the artist seems to be worked up to a stern purpose - we do not believe Dona Montez smiled once throughout. As she retired from the stage showers of bouquets were thrown, but the pround one of Seville did not deign to return to pick them up, and one of the gentlemen in livery was deputed for that purpose.
She had evidently adopted the maxim of one of Calderon's heroines
Cuanto es noble accion de dar,
Es bajeza el recibir.
When, however, her dance was encored, she slighted from her pinnacle, and actually condescended to come forward and pick up the additional bouquet that was thrown.
In conclusion, we may remark, that Dona Montez is quite sui generis as a danseuse, and that the whole basis and purport of her dancing are so totally different from those of the other artists of the ballet, that a legitimate rivalry can no more exist between her and them than between her and one of the singers. It is the more necessary to bear this distinctly in mind, as Dona Montez will most assuredly be underrated by many judges of the ballet, who, setting up the French and Italian standard, will refuse to acknowledge those peculiarities of her dancing which are really striking, and blame her for the absence of those qualities she has not even attempted to acquire.
The Planet (London) page 5.5 third edition
4 June: Donna Lolah Montes, who made her debut last night, introduced the Spanish dance El Olano. Lolah Montes in person is truly the Spanish woman - in style, she is emphatically the Spanish dancer. She seems rather to swim across the ground than to move across it like an ordinary artist; and the souplesse of her action is beyond all praise. El Olano is, like the Cachuca - not the Cachuca of Duvernay, Elssler, or Cerito - an intensely national dance, and new to the generality of English eyes. The variety of passion which it embodies - the languor, the abandon, the love, the pride, the scorn - one of the steps which is called death to the tarantula, and is a favourite pas of the country, is the very poetry of avenging contempt - cannot be surpassed. The head lifted and thrown back, the flashing eye, and the fierce and protruded foot which crushes the insect, make a subject for the painter which it would scarcely be easy to forget. It must, however, in all fairness be allowed that the personal beauty of the dancer has no slight share in the effect produced. Whatever the art may be, the Spanish dancer requires beauty; and, after speaking as we have done of Lolah Montes, it is needless to say she possess this.