‘Allez chercher de l’esprit,’
which forms the nœud of the piece. But the acting of the Guimard leaves nothing to be desired at this interesting moment.”
The critic of the Mercure de France is still more eulogistic: “One cannot praise too highly the talent of Mlle. Guimard, in the rôle of Nicette. It is necessary to see her to confess that never has one rendered a simpleton (niaise), at the same time simple and mischievous, more gracefully than this charming actrice-danseuse, who, in her art, is always what one would desire her to be.”
And Grimm, in his Correspondance littéraire, after declaring that the talent of Mlle. Guimard has caused one to overlook the faults of the ballet, praises the danseuse in these terms: “She has imparted to the rôle of Nicette, a gradation of shades, so fine, so correct, so delicate, so piquant, that the most ingenious poetry would be powerless to render the same characters with more wit, delicacy, or truth. All her steps, all her movements, are soft and harmonious, and exhibit a meaning both sure and picturesque. How naïve is her simplicity, and yet how devoid of silliness! How well does her natural grace conceal itself without affectation! How gradually does her character expand, and how much she pleases, without exerting herself to please! How she comes to life in the sweet rays of sentiment! It is a rosebud which one sees expand, to escape slowly from the fetters which envelop it, to tremble into bloom. We have never seen, in this kind of imitation, anything more delicious or more perfect.”
Some months later, in Ninette à la Cour, she played the part of Ninette “in a way which stupefied the spectators.” “One was really confounded to see this artiste, admired hitherto for the grace of her acting, transform herself of a sudden into a maladroit, awkward creature, overcome with astonishment at the novel sights which meet her eyes, and depicting in a striking manner the impressions of a peasant leaving her village for the first time. The following circumstance is able to convey some idea of the difficulties which Mlle. Guimard had overcome in this rôle. It was remarked that at the time of the minuet that Nicette dances before the King and his Court, she made great efforts to dance out of time, and that generally, in spite of herself, the sensibility of her ear forced her to dance correctly.”[85]
Other scarcely less brilliant triumphs awaited Mlle. Guimard in the ballets of Les Caprices de Galathée, composed expressly for her by Noverre, Médée et Jason, Myrza, La Rosière, and Le Premier Navigateur, ou le Pouvoir de l’amour. Her success in the last-named piece, produced on July 26, 1785, four years before her retirement from the stage, was celebrated by the poet Dorat in the following pretty verses:
“Quelle nymphe légère, à mes yeux se présente!
Déesse, elle folâtre et n’est point imposante,
Son front s’épanouit avec sérénité,
Ses cheveux sont flottants, le rire est sa beauté.
D’un feston de jasmin, sa tête est couronnée,
Et sa robe voltige, aux vents abandonnée.
Mille songes légers l’environnent toujours;
Plus que le printemps même, elle fait les beaux jours.
Des matelots joyeux, rassemblés auprès d’elle
Détonnent à sa gloire une ronde nouvelle,
Et de jeunes pasteurs, désertant les hameaux,
Viennent la saluer aux sons des chalumeaux.
C’est l’aimable gaîté; qui peut la méconnaître,
Au chagrin qui s’envole, aux jeux qu’elle fait naître?
Fille de l’innocence, image du bonheur,
Le charme quite suit, a passé dans mon cœur.
Sur ce gazon fleuri qu’elle a choisi pour trône,
Pasteurs, exécutons les danses qu’elle ordonne.
. . . . . . . . . .
Fuyez, arrêtez-vous, suspendez votre ivresse;
Comme Guimard enfin appelez les désirs,
Et que vos pas brillants soient le vol des plaisirs.”[86]
It is hardly necessary to remark that such an artiste was appreciated as she deserved by the administration of the Opera, to whom she rendered so many services. Unfortunately, she not seldom abused the position which her talent and her intimate relations with the most distinguished personages of the time gave her, and occasioned the unfortunate directors almost as much trouble and anxiety, in her way, as did Sophie Arnould. Thus, in the spring of 1772, she, with her lover, the dancer Dauberval, organised a mutiny against Rebel, who had just been appointed “Directeur-général de l’Académie royale de Musique”—a mutiny which was only quelled by the personal interference of the Minister of the King’s Household, who summoned the malcontents before him and threatened them with severe pains and penalties if they continued contumacious. Six years later, we find her at the head of the opposition to Devismes, who, appointed director of the Opera at Easter 1778, had introduced various innovations, which, though popular with the patrons of the theatre, were strongly resented by the artistes. The principal “insurgents” held what they called a “Congress” at Mlle. Guimard’s hôtel, and Auguste Vestris, with characteristic modesty, compared his position with that of Washington. The revolt ended in the town of Paris cancelling Devismes’s appointment and taking upon itself the management of the theatre, Devismes receiving a large sum by way of compensation.[87]
A memoir sent by Antoine Dauvergne, the then director of the Opera, in 1781, to La Ferté, Intendant des Menus, shows us Mlle. Guimard supreme in the coulisses of the theatre. All the affairs of the Opera, he says, are treated of in private committees held at Mlle. Guimard’s hôtel, and the orders of the administration are ignored whenever they happen to clash with the wishes of the lady, to whom every one—dancers, vocalists, composers, scene-painters, and so forth—is subservient. A little later, Dauvergne complains that the demoiselle Guimard refuses to have an understudy in the ballets d’action, in consequence of which, whenever she is unable to appear, there can be no ballet; also that she has quarrelled with Noverre and proscribed his ballets. “Not only does she refuse to dance in them herself, but she is unwilling for other persons to dance in them.”[88]
There exists a curious document, dated 1783, drawn up by La Ferté, for the information of the Minister of the King’s Household, on the talents, faults, habits, characters, and so forth of the singers and dancers of the Opera. And here is what the Intendant des Menus says of Mlle. Guimard: