At the revival due to M. Albert Carré, Werther had the great good fortune to have Léon Beyle as the protagonist of the part; later Edmond Clément and Salignac were also superb and thrilling interpreters of the work.
CHAPTER XVIII
A STAR
But to go back to the events the day after the destruction of the Opéra-Comique.
The Opéra-Comique was moved to the Place du Chatelet, in the old theater called Des Nations, which later became the Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt. M. Paravey was appointed director. I had known him when he directed the Grand-Théâtre at Nantes with real talent.
Hartmann offered him two works: Edouard Lalo's Le Roi d'Ya and my Werther on sufferance.
I was so discouraged that I preferred to wait before I let the work see the light.
I have just written about its genesis and destiny.
One day I received a friendly invitation to dine with a great American family. After I had declined, as I most often did—I hadn't time, in addition to not liking that sort of distraction—they insisted, however, so graciously that I could not persist in my refusal. It seemed to me that perhaps my afflicted heart might meet something there which would turn aside my discouragements. Does one ever know?...
I was placed beside a lady who composed music and had great talent. On the other side of my neighbor was a French diplomat whose amiable compliments surpassed, it seemed to me, all limits. Est modus in rebus, there are limits in all things, and our diplomat should have been guided by this ancient saying together with the counsel of a master, the illustrious Talleyrand, "Pas de zele, surtout!"
I would not think of telling the exact conversation which occurred in that charming place any more than I would think of giving the menu of what we had to eat. What I do remember is a salad—a disconcerting mixture of American, English, German, and French.