Yvette Guilbert 1865-1944

George Bernard Shaw:

"....And I was not at all deceived in my expectancy. It amuses her to tell interviewers that she cannot sing, and has no gestures ; but I need not say that there would be very little fun for her in that if she were not one of the best singers and pantomimists in Europe. She divided her programme into three parts : Ironic songs, Dramatic songs, and but perhaps I had better use the French heading here, and say ' Chansons Legeres.' For though Mile. Guilbert sings the hymns of a very ancient faith, profusely....

.....Technically Mile. Guilbert is a highly accomplished artist. She makes all her effects in the simplest way and with perfect judgment. Like the ancient Greeks, not to mention the modern music-hall artists, she relies on the middle and low registers of her voice, they being the best suited for perfectly well-controlled declamation ; but her cantabile is charming, thanks to a fine ear and a delicate rhythmic faculty. Her command of every form of expression is very remarkable, her tones ranging from the purest and sweetest pathos to the cockniest Parisian cynicism. There is not a trace of the rowdy restlessness and forced go of the English music-hall singer about her ;....."

('Yvette Guilbert: Struggles and Victories', 1910)

Artist: Leonetto Cappiello (1875- 1942), 1899