Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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SAINT CECILIA SAINT HUBEETY 205
be properly appreciated, and she speedily became
a favourite. No actress ever created a greater
number of parts, in a. variety of styles. She
sang romances with great charm, and became the
acknowledged star of the company and its most
profitable member. She was, however, badly
treated by the management, for though admitted
as soeiitaire to the fourth of a share in 1788,
she was not advanced to a full share till 1798,
after her success in Le ' Prisonnier.
At her farewell benefit (April 2, 1808) she
took the part of Mme. Belmont in this work,
leaving Kosine, her own creation, to her second
daughter, Alexandrine. Her modest pension
of 1900 francs was increased by Louis XVIII.
to 3000. She took her final farewell, assisted
by her elder daughter, Mme. Buret, on Nov. 7,
1818, in 'Une heure de mariage,' and was as
much applauded as ever. Mme. Saint-Aubin
lived to a great age, and died in Paris, Sept. 11,
1850. Three of her children distinguished
themselves ; the son, Jean Denis, bom at
Lyons in 1783, a violinist and composer of great
promise, died at Paris in 1810.
The elder daughter, Cecile, bom at Lyons in
1785, a pupUofGarat, made her debut in 1805 at
the Op^ra-Comique in Le Concert '
interrompu,'
but went back to the Conservatoire to study, and
did not reappear till 1808. In the interval she
gained both style and taste in singing, but remained
an indifferent actress. Under the name
of Mme. Duret she rose for a short time to distinction
as the favourite singer of Nicololsouard,
who composed several important and difficult
parts for her. Her best creations were in Le
'
Billet de Loterie,' and Jeannot ' et Colin.' She
retired in 1820. Her sister Alexandeinb,
born at Paris, 1793, made a brilliant d^but at
the Theatre Feydeau in 1809, and in the following
year excited great enthusiasm in Isouard's
'Cendrillon.' This was, however, the only
original part in which she distinguished herself,
and on her marriage with an actor at the
Vaudeville in 1812, she retired from the
stage. G. c.
SAINT CECILIA. See vol. i. p. 489 ff.
SAINT CECILIA'S HALL, a famous Edinburgh
concert-room, associated, during the last
half of the 18th century, with the chief musical
events of the northern capital. It was at the
foot of Niddry Wynd (now Niddry Street), and
Robert Mylne,
almost adjoining the Cowgate.
the well-known Scottish architect, designed the
building, taking the opera-house at Parma for
his model. The main hall was a long-shaped
ovalj^nd its acoustic properties were admirable.
It was opened in 1762, and remained in possession
of the Musical Society of Edinburgh from
that date to June 1801. It then became
successively a Baptist Chapel, a Freemasons'
HaU, a school, and, in 1899, a book-binder's
works.
Though at the foot of a steep and dirty wynd,
in a quarter that had ceased to be fashionable
even at the time of its first building, it was
frequented by the highest society of Edinburgh.
All the important concerts were held here.
Previous to its erection the chief concerts
were held in St. Mary's Chapel, in the same
wynd, as early as 1728. The Taylors' Hall in
.the Cowgate, the Assembly Eooms, Assembly
Close, and the Concert Hall, in Playhouse
Close.
At a later date Corri's Rooms and other
places, as the New Town began to grow, superseded
the Hall. Some interesting reminiscences
of the Concerts at St. Cecilia's Hall were contributed
in 1847 by George Thomson to Robert
Chambers's Traditions of Ediiiburgh. Wilson's
Memorials of Ediiiburgh, Grant's Old and New
EdinhurgJi, and other works deal with the
famous Concert-room. See Mr. Eraser Harris's
Saint Cecilia's Ball in the Niddry Wynd,
1899. F. K.
SAINT-GEORGES, Jules Henki Veknoy,
MAKQtrrs DE, — not to be confounded with the
notorious Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-99
or 1801)—born in Paris, 1801, died there, Dec.
23, 1875, writer of novels, and author of
numerous librettos for operas and operas
comiques, was the favourite collaborator of
Halevy. Among his 120 librettos we need
only specify those for Donizetti's 'Fille du
Regiment ; '
Adolphe Adam's La ' Marquise,
' Cagliostro,' 'Le Bijou perdu,' operas: and
'Giselle,' 'La jolie Fille de Gand,' and 'Le
Corsaire,' ballets; Auber's ' L' Ambassadrice,
' Zanetta,' and
'
Les Diamants de la Couronne,'
with Scribe ; Grisar's Lady ' Melvil, ' Le Carillonneur
'
de Bruges,' and 'Les Amours du
Diable ; '
Clapisson's La Fanchonnette ' ; '
and
Halevy's 'L'Eclair,' 'Les Mousquetaires de la
Reine,' 'Le Vald'Andorre,' 'La Fee aux Roses,'
'Le Juif errant,' 'Le Nabab,' and 'Jaguarita
I'Indienne.
From this list it will appear that Saint-
Georges was the most prolific, as he was the
ablest, of all French contemporary librettists
after Scribe. g. c.
SAINT HUBERTY,! Antoinette CiJoile,
an eminent French operatic actress, whose real
sm'name was Clavel, was born at Toul, about
1756. Her father, who had previously served
in the army, became stage manager to a French
opera company at Mannheim, and afterwards
at Warsaw, where she studied for four years
with Lemoyne, conductor of the orchestra. Her
first public appearance was in an opera of his,
'Le Bouquet de Colette.' She then went to
Berlin, and is said to have been married there
to a certain Chevalier de Croisy, of whom,
however, nothing is heard in her subsequent
history. For three years she sang at Strasburg,
as Mile. Clavel, and thence went to Paris,
and made her d^but at the Acad^mie as 'un
^ How she obtained this name is not known.