Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

'
206 SAINT HUBERTY ST. JAMES'S HALL CONCERT BOOMS
d^mon, un plaisir ' in the first performance of
Gluok's
'
Armide ' (Sept. 23, 1777). For a considerable
time she only played in subordinate
parts. Her appearance was not striking ; she
was fair, thin, and below middle height, with
a face expressive, but not beautiful. Her voice
was produced badly and with effort, her stage
action was spasmodic and exaggerated, and she*
had a strong German accent. But Gluck found
in this ill- trained actress some qualities he
may have vainly sought for in more finished
singers. She appeared one morning at rehearsal
in an old black gown in the last stage of patched
decrepitude. Here comes Madame ' la Eessouroe,
remarked some gay rival (alluding to the char^
acter of that name in Le Joueur ' ' '). Well
said,' answered Gluck
' ; that woman wiU some
day be the resource of the opera.' Perhaps
she heard the words—we may be sure she
heard of them. She laboured to improve herself,
and on the retirement of two leading
singers succeeded to their parts. Her first great
success was as Angffique in Piccinni's ' Roland,'
and was followed by others in Floquet's Le
'
Seigneur Bienfaisant,' Gossec's 'Thes^e (March
'
escape, and of preserving his portfolio, fuU of
political papers. For this service she was
rewarded by Louis XVIII. with the Order of
St. Michel and, it seems, by her husband with
the recognition of their marriage.
The Count afterwards entered the Russian
diplomatic service, and was employed on secret
missions. The peace of Tilsit changed his
tactics. He possessed himself in some manner
of a copy of the secret articles of the Treaty,
and hastened with them to England to
communicate them to the government. For
this he is said to have received a pension.
He established himself, with his wife, at Barnes,
near Richmond, where, July 22, 1812, they
were assassinated by their servant, who stabbed
them as they were getting into their carriage,
and blew out his own brains afterwards. This
man had been bribed by emissaries of Fouch^'s,
sent to watch the proceedings of the Comte
d'Entraigues, and had allowed them to take
copies of correspondence with the Foreign OfSce,
entiTisted to liis care by his master. He had
reason to think that his treachery was being
discovered, and fear of the consequences probably
prompted him to the dreadful deed. F. A. M.
SAINT JAMES'S HALL CONCERT ROOMS
were erected, at the cost of a company with
limited liability, from designs by Owen Jones.
Messrs. Lucas were the builders.
The project was taken up by two of the
music-publishing firms, Messrs. Beale&Chappell
of Regent Street, and Chappell & Co. of New
Bond Street ; and the company was formed
mainly by them, and among their friends.
Messrs. T. F. Scale and W. Chappell became
the tenants of the Crown for the land, holding
it in trust for the Company. The capital was
fixed at £40,000, because the original estimate
1, 1782), and Edelmann's Ariane ' ' (Sept. 24,
1782), all tragic parts ; while as Rosette in
Gretry's L'Embarras ' des Richesses ' (Nov. 26,
1782), she showed all the versatility and
vivacity necessary for comedy. As Armide (in
Sacohini's 'Renaud'), in 'Didon,' 'Chimene,'
'Les Danaides,' 'Alceste,' and 'PhMre,' she
had a succession of triumphs. 'Didon,' Pic-
for the new building was £23,000 and the remainder
cinni's masterpiece, made no impression till
was supposed to be an ample sum for
she undertook the title^r81e, and the composer compensations, working expenses, etc. It was
declared that, without her, his opera was then unknown that between Regent Street and
'without Dido.' On her first appearance in Piccadilly, was the ancient boundary of Thomey
that part (Jan. 16, 1784) she was crowned Island with its quicksand, but this was encountered
upon the stage.
in the course of the building, and
In 1785. she made a journey to Marseilles, had to be saturated with concrete at great cost,
which resembled a royal progress. The excitement
in order to make a sure foundation. Other
she created amounted to frenzy, and demands raised the cost of the building to
when she left Provence she carried away more beyond £70,000. The Great Hall was opened
than a hundred crowns, many of them of great to the public on March 25, 1858, with a concert
value. But on her return to Paris she found for the benefit of Middlesex Hospital, given in
new rivals to dispute her sway. She failed, presence of the Prince Consort.
too, as Clytemnestra, a part altogether unsuited The principal entrance to the Great Hall
to her. It ended four years later by her was originally from Regent Street, and that to
marrying the Comte d'Entraigues, of strong the Minor Hall from Piccadilly. The dimensions
royalist sympathies, in which she participated of the Great Hall were 139 feet in length, 60 in
warmly. In 1790 he had emigrated to Lausanne, height, and 60 in breadth. It seated on the
and there their marriage took place, at the end ground floor 1100 ;
in the balcony 517 ; in the
of that year. It was only acknowledged, however,
gallery 210 ; in the orchestra 300 ; total 2127.
in 1797, after the Count, imprisoned at Under the platform end of the Great Hall was
Milan by Bonaparte, had been released by his the Minor Hall 60 feet by 57, having also a
wife, who found means of enabling him to gallery, an orchestra, and a small room. This
was occupied for many years by the Christy
(Moore & Burgess) Minstrels. Under the Regent
Street end of the Great Hall was one of the dining
rooms, 60 feet by 60, and on the Regent Street
level was another dining-room 40 feet by 40,
with a large banqueting -room on the floor
above, etc