The only shadow over my pleasure at spending my evenings
in the Rue Valois du Roule was the fact that this necessitated my
missing some acts at the Theatre Francais, for which the Danish
Minister, through the Embassy, had procured me a free pass. Certainly no
Dane was ever made so happy by the favour. They were enraptured hours
that I spent evening after evening in the French national theatre, where
I became thoroughly acquainted with the modern, as well as the
classical, dramatic repertoire,--an acquaintance which was further
fortified during my long stay in Paris in 1870.
I enjoyed the moderation of the best actors, their restraint, and
subordination of self to the role and the general effect. It is true
that the word genius could only be applied to a very few of the actors,
and at that time I saw none who, in my opinion, could be compared with
the great representatives of the Danish stage, such as Michael Wiehe,
Johanne Luise Heiberg, or Phister. But I perceived at once that the
mannerisms of these latter would not be tolerated here for a moment;
here, under the influence of this artistic whole-harmony, they would
never have been able to give free vent to individuality and peculiarity
as they did at home.
I saw many hundred performances in these first years of my youth at the
Theatre Francais, which was then at its zenith.
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