Rachel (Elisa Felix)

Rachel , stage name of Élisa Félix , 1821-58, French actress, b. Switzerland. Exploited by her father in her childhood, she sang in the streets with her sister Sarah. In Paris, showing great promise at the Théâtre Molière school, she entered the Gymnase (1833) and in 1838 made her debut with great success at the Comédie Française in Corneille's Horace. In 1841-42, after a sensational success in London, Rachel gained acclaim throughout Europe. She was applauded in all the major works of Racine and Corneille, Phèdre (1843) being her best role. She created the title role in Scribe's Adrienne Lecouvreur in 1849. Rachel appeared in the United States with fair success in 1855 (she knew little English) and on this visit aggravated the tuberculosis that led to her death three years later. Regarded as the greatest actress of her day, her clear diction, rhythmic speech, and economy of gesture contrasted with the exaggerated style of the time.

Bibliography: See M. Cost, I, Rachel (1957).

Rachel [née Elisa Felix] (1820–58), actress. Usually considered the greatest of French classical tragediennes, she made her American debut in 1855 as Camille in Corneille's Horace. The Albion reported, “There came in a severe classic figure, a polychrome statue, gliding past the columns, and breathing rather than articulating. . . . So deep, vibrant and magnetic were the first tones of [her] voice that they sent a thrill through the vast assembly, a thrill which at once opened communication between the genius of Rachel and her new hearers.” On later evenings she presented her Phèdre, Adrienne Lecouvreur, and Andromaque, among others. Apparently she caught a cold that aggravated her tubercular condition, and her last performance was in Charleston, where she was barely able to perform. She then sailed for France, where she died just over two years afterward. Biography: Rachel, Joanna Richardson, 1956.