The New International Encyclopædia/Rachel, Mlle.

RACHEL, rȧ'shĕl', Mlle. (1821-58). A celebrated French tragic actress, whose real name was Elisabeth Rachel-Félix. She was born of Jewish parents at an inn in the Swiss village of Mumpf. Her father was a peddler. The family settled for a time at Lyons, where she and her elder sister Sarah used to sing in the streets and cafés. In 1830 they came to Paris. There her singing attracted the attention of Choron, an eminent teacher of music, and he took her as a pupil. Her voice after all proved not very promising, but her dramatic gifts were evident, and she began studying under Saint-Aulaire, the actor. Later she was a pupil in the Conservatoire. In 1837 she secured a position at the Gymnase and made a début which excited no great attention. A few critics, however, perceived her genius, among them Jules Janin, and Mlle. Mars (q.v.) likewise foresaw her future greatness. On June 12, 1838, she made her appearance upon the stage of the Comédie Française, as Camille in Corneille's tragedy of Horace. In this rôle and in a series of other impersonations from the classic repertory she achieved great success, and popular admiration of her performances grew to such enthusiasm that for years she was without a rival in the great tragic rôles of Corneille, Racine, and Voltaire. It was in Racine's Phèdre that the zenith of her artistic career was reached (1843). Another of her triumphs was in Adrienne Lecouvreur, which was written for her by Scribe and Legouvé, but in other modern rôles she was less fortunate. Her relations with her colleagues at the Théâtre Français were by no means always pleasant. Her caprices were without number. In her tours abroad she met with great success, especially in England in 1841 and later, and in Russia in 1852. Her health and popularity in Paris were both failing when in 1855, the year of Adelaide Ristori's first Parisian appearance, Rachel undertook a tour to America with her brother Raphael as manager. She was warmly greeted, though the returns were disappointing, and she soon went back to France in utter physical prostration. A visit to Egypt failed to restore her, and she died of consumption at Canet, near Toulon, January 3, 1858.

Of the details of her private life, which was not exemplary, little need be said. She was constant to her family and helped her sisters who went upon the stage. As an artist, within the limits prescribed by her genius, she was perhaps never equaled. “She does not act—she suffers,” one said of her. Her Phèdre was a portrayal of human agony never to be forgotten.

Matthew Arnold's three sonnets upon her are well known. Consult the Memoirs of Rachel, by Madame de B—— (Eng. trans., New York, 1858), which are not, however, altogether reliable; Janin, Rachel et la tragédie (Paris, 1858); D'Heylli, Rachel d'après sa correspondance (Paris, 1882); Kennard, Rachel (Boston, 1888); De Mireoourt, “Rachel,” in Les contemporains (Paris, 1854).