François Alexandre Nicolas Chéri DELSARTE (1811-1871)

Engraving by Madeleine DelSarte (Source 1)

François: The Early Years

François Alexandre Nicolas Chéri DelSarte was born on November 11, 1811 in Solesmes and died in Paris at the age of 59 on July 20, 1871. He was the son of Jean Nicolas Toussaint DelSarte (1778-1846) and Aimée ROLAND (1794-1837).

The experts writing on François DelSarte have questioned the origin of his last name. One myth that has held some sway over the course of several decades has been that the DelSarte family was  related to the Italian Renaissance painter Andrea del Sarto (1486–1530) who lived in France. However, no genealogical proof has been found to date. It rather appears that Maxime Real del Sarte, the grand-son of François, was responsible for the development of this story (Source 2).

Another point of discussion among historians of DelSarte and genealogists is whether or not the family were minor nobles in France. Following the work of the Art Historian Bertrand Bedel de Buzareingues, we can say that the DelSarte family enjoyed an elite status in Solesmes, France. In fact,"avant la révolution,la famille signait 'del Sarte': mais un aïeul, imbu des principes de 1789 et voulant effacer toute apparence suspecte d'origine nobilaire" (Source 3).


Moreover, according to the book, "Delsarte System of Oratory" which was published 1893 and written in English, François del Sarte's father was a physician and died poor. François moved to Paris in 1822 and was an apprentice to a porcelain maker but he no aptitude for the job. It was in Paris that he first received voice lessons from a priest Father Felix-Antoine-Marcel BAMBINI and André-Jean-Jacques DESHAYES (1777-1846). It was from the later teacher that François began to pay attention to the importance of movement when signing/ performing (Source 4, 15-16).

In 1825, François sought entrance to the Conservatory of Music in 1825 as a pensioner. In 1829, he participated in his first voice contest. Although he did not win a prize, he was praised by some of the top musicians of his time. DelSarte was known of being an interpreter of the Bavarian opera composer Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck (1714- 1787). According to Marie DelSarte (Geraldy), he owned one of two portraits known of Gluck and an original score of the opera "Alcestis" (1776) underlined by Gluck himself (Source 4).

After his studies at the Conservatory of Music, he entered the Opera Comique. The Opera Comique is a particular genre of French Opera that contains spoken dialogue and arias. One of the most famous Opera Comique written was Carmen by Georges Bizet (the nephew of  François DelSarte). The combination of dialogue and signing probably inspired Delsarte to consider oratory techniques.

Unfortunately, by the 1830s DelSarte lost his voice and began to teach. This turning point in his life proved to be fruitful. In a matter of years, DelSarte become known throughout the artist world for his method which was later coined by his students as the "DelSarte System" (Source 2 and Source 3).

On June 4, 1833 her married Rosine ANDRIEN who was the daughter of Gabrielle Constance PHILIPPY de BUCELLY d'ESTREES (1782-1854) and Martin Joseph ANDRIEN (1766-1822).

They issued the following children:


1) François-Henri, also known as as Henri-François (1834-1902), Army Officer


2) Gustave-Adrien (1836-1879), Singer and composer. Died prematurely.


3) Charles- Louis-Adrien (1838)


4) Xavier-Jean-Marie (1844-1863), Singer and Elocutionist. He died from cholera.


5) Marie-Anne- Elizabeth (1848), Sculptor married Louis Paul GERALDY and issued. She came to the US in 1892 and gave a series of lectures on her father's methods.One of her children was Thérèse Marie Rosine GERALDY (1886-1965) who was also a noted artist (see blog entry).


6) François-Joachim-Marie-André (1851-1852) died in infancy.

7) Marie Magdeleine Blanche Genevieve, Painter (1853-1927) married Louis REAL and issued. She was a noted artist and the mother of the REAL del SARTE brothers: Maxime, Yves, Serge, and André (see blog entry Real del Sarte Legacy ).

[Source  2 ]

François: Singer, Composer, and Inventor

Between 1855 and 1871, François del Sarte published a series of melodies and romances. The songs were compiled in Les Archives du chant (1855) and arranged for piano. These songs were well received and were arranged by his wife the piano vertuoso Rosine DelSarte.

François was also the composer of Stances a l'Eternite (Source 2, 20).  He also composed a version of the liturgical chant Dies Irae which he performed on several occasions such as the funeral mass of Donoso Cortes in 1853. 


Most biographical sources of DelSarte agree that he was one of the finest interpreters of Gluck in Europe and that in fact it was thanks to him that his work become well known in France

Most people are unaware that DelSarte was also an inventor. He invented an instrument for tuning the piano, another one for maritime travel and finally a cardiograph (Source 5).

Relief  by Marie-Anne-Elizabeth Geraldy (née DelSarte)

The DelSarte System

As the article, "The DelSarate Method: 3 Frontiers of Actor Training" by E.T. Kirby (1972),"Francois DelSarte was the founder of a system of an 'Applied Aesthetics' on which physical and vocal gestures for the orator were codified in terms of a simple, extensive, highly unified pattern" (Source 6). It is for this reason, that DelSartre was hailed by many of his contemporaries as the founder of modern dance.

World Fame

DelSarte's method was brought to the New World by his American student Steele MacKaye (1842-1894). McKaye was a playwright, actor, and theater manager. He was considered to to be most successful actor and producer of his generation. Among the plays that he wrote stands out The Twins (1876), Hazel Kirke (1880), and A Fools Errand (Source 7).
 

MacKaye traveled to Europe to Paris in 1869 and become the disciple of  DelSarte who was already well known in France and Europe for his teaching and methods. DelSarte taught him to enhance performance through pose and gesture. This concept was revolutionary for the time. When McKaye returned to New York in about 1871, he began to teach the Del Sarte Method which was received well by the artistic circles in the US. MacKaye called the "DelSarte Method" and "Harmonic Gymnastics". Under this new name the method was very marketable in the US (Source 8).

The DelSarte Method was further made famous in the US by a pupil of Steele Mac Kaye, Genevieve Stebbins (1857-1914). Beginning in 1876, she trained with McKaye for two years. Upon finishing her studies Genevieve demonstrated the DelSarte Method to Boston University School of Oratory. At that time, Stebbins joined forces with Mary S. Thompson (voice coach at Boston University) and together they opened two DelSarte Schools in Boston and New York. In 1888, Stebbins and Thompson organized a DelSarte Matinee at Madison Square Theater in New York (Source 8).

Although, Del Sarte never traveled to the US to give a lecture on his system, his eldest daughter Marie Anne Elizabeth  DelSarte (1848)  made such a trip in 1892. During her stay in New York, Marie  was interviewed by the "Phenomenological Journal of Science and Health" about her father. The journal later published her interview in their January 1892 edition. Marie  said the following about her father's method:

"These laws apply to all things possible. My father recognized that God mad us in His own image and stamped upon us the imprint of His seal and this seal is the THE TRINITY. And as we find life, mind and soul in man, so do we find there everywhere. We see three running through all things possible"  (Source 9, p. 1).

Among the many books published on the DelSarte Method "Every Little Movement" (1954) stands out for its reflection on the  Trinity and Law of Correspondence. Written by the one of the first modern American dancers, Ted Shaw (1891-1972). Shaw was the creator of an all male dancer group (Source 10). 

A DelSarte in America

 It is possible that Marie Anne Elizabeth GERALDY (DelSarte) came to the United states at the invitation of her father's student Steele MacKaye.  Below is an except of one of her talks in 1892 at the Berkley Lyceum  in the city of New York (Source 9).

Like her father, Marie  was an artist. She was a sculptor. To commemorate  her father, Marie  made a  relief of the head of François del Sarte (see above) in 1869 which was published in 1892 by the "Phenomenological Journal of Science and Health". At the time of her interview, Marie taught  drawing at a government  preparatory school for girls for eleven years and was married to  Louis Paul GERALDY; also a painter (Source 9).

She had four children and her eldest was named Marcel Geraldy. Marie DelSarte Geraldy had a daughter named Thérèse Marie Rosine GERALDY (1886) who studied under Marie Magdeleine Real del Sarte (her aunt) and went on to become a successful portraitist (Source 9).

Chronology [Source 5]

1811 -  On November 19th  bon in Solesmes (Nord), France to Jean Nicolas Toussaint DelSarte (1778-1846) and Albertine Aimée Roland (1794-1837)

1815 - Destruction of the family house of DelSarte in Cambrai by British troops

1823 - François meets Jean Aimé Louis BAMBINI (1773-1836), teacher of pianoforte. BAMBINI takes François as a student and teaches him voice and composition.

1826 - on July 1st François DelSarte entered the Royal School of Music and Declamation (L'École Royale de Musique et Déclamation) 

L'École Royale de Musique et Déclamation (Public Domain)

1828-  Possible year that François DelSarte began taking classes in movement with André-Jean-Jacques DESHAYES (1777-1846). He was the principal dancer of the Paris Ballet.

Deshayes (Public Domain)

1828-  François DelSarte obtains Second Prize for vocalization at the Royal School of Music and Declamation (L'École Royale de Musique et Déclamation. During the same time, the French composer Hector BERLIOZ (1803-1869) obtained first prize in composition at the Royal School of Music.

-1830 François decides to leave the Royal School of Music and Declamation (L'École Royale de Musique et Déclamation)

- 1832  François DelSarte decides to abandon signing and take up the profession of teacher and researcher 

- 1833 on June 4th François DelSarte married Rosine Charlotte ADRIEN of the House of Philippy Bucelly d'Estrées. She was the daughter of Martin-Joseph ADRIEN and Gabrielle de Philippy de Bucelly d'Estrées. Rosine Charlotte was a pianist virtuoso.

The House of Philippi(y) de Bucelly d'Estrees

Rosine Andrien d'Estrées (Source 15)

1833 François DelSarte published Méthode philosophique du chant

- 1833 François DelSarte enters the Parisian Masonic Lodge of "La Trinité". In 1839 he obtained the rank of Knight of Kadosch (30th Degree).

  - 1834 April 28th The birth of the first son of François DelSarte and Rosine Adrien: François-Henri Delsarte in Paris. He later become an officer in the French army.

-1835 July 23rd. The birth of the second son Gustave Adrien DelSarte in Paris. Gustave become like his father a musician, singer, composer, and teacher. He died in 1879.

Music by Gustave DelSarte (Source 11)

- 1835 François DelSarte begins to receive United States students that wish to be trained in the DelSarte method such as 1) The Reverend Alger; and 2) Henrietta Russell Hovey.

- 1837 December 5th the birth of Charles-Louis-Adrien DelSarte

- 1840 Delsarte was made "membre résident" of the Society for the Advancement of Teaching and Intellectual Freedom

-1869  The American Steele MacKaye travels to Paris, France with his family to train at Comédie-Française but changes his mind and begins to study with F.DelSarte (Source 12)

- 1871 Death of F. DelSarte 

- 1872  The written legacy of F. DelSarte was purchased by Mr. Steele McKaye for 1,000US (or 5,000F) according to the letter sent by the wife of Mr. Steele McKaye to the National Association of Elocutionists in July 1892 (Source 13)

 

F. Delsarte's Legacy 

The name of  François DelSarte has not evaporated from the minds of contemporary dancers and scholars of acting and dace performance. For example, in 2011 the scholar Franck Waille produced a monumental two volume study on F. Delsarte and edited a volume of essays entitled Trois décennies de recherches européennes sur François DelSarte was published. 

American DelSarte 

 

The New DelSarte Reciter (1903)

 

DelSarte Recitation Book (1905)

 

Photographs of F. DelSarte

F. DelSarte (1864), Source 11

F. DelSarte (Private Collection, Source 14)

Sculptures of F. DelSarte 

 

F. DelSarte (Source 16)

Bust of F. DelSarte (Source 17), circa 1839

Mask of F. DelSarte (Source 17

 

Paintings of F.DelSarte 

F. Del Sarte (Source 18), Circa 1838

F. DelSarte (Source 19), Circa 1833

Croquis of F. DelSarte

F. DelSarte (1861) by F. GILLOT (Source 11)

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Sources Consulted

1) Engraving of Marie-Madeleine DelSarte (1853-1927) was taken from the Wikipedia entry on F. DelSarate. The original was taken from the website on Marie Bashkirtseff (http://www.bashkirtseff.com.ar/atelier_julian_eng.html)

2) "Maxime Real de Sarte: Sa vie, son ouvre" by Anne GLANDY, née de Roux (p.17).

3)  Mémoire de maitrise d'histoire de l'art. Montpellier III. Magdeleine Real del Sarte (1853-1927),vie et œuvre (1988) by Bertrand Bedel de Buzareingues

4) "DelSarte System of Oratory" (1893) by Abbé Delaumosne, et al. New York: E. S. Werner, 1893.The book has been digitized by Google Books.

5) The chronology of François DelSarte is a translation from French and paraphrasing/adaptation of the same one in the doctoral dissertation "Corps, Arts, et Spiritualité chez François DelSarte" (2011) by Franck WAILLE.

The Blog Administrator would like to thank Mr. WAILLE for his research on François DelSarte. The two volumes, probably constitutes the most comprehensive work on François DelSarte done today.  The translation from French to English of the chronology of F. DelSarate  is entirely the work of Blog Administrator.

6)  "The DelSarte Method: 3 Frontiers of Actor Training" (1972) by E.T. Kirby. Article has been digitized by Google Books as well as can be found on J-Store.

7)   "Every Little Movement: A Book About François DelSarte" (1954) by Ted Shaw and published by Witmark and Sons. The book in its entirety can be found on Google Books.

8)  Wikipedia entry  "DelSarte", "Steele MacKaye", and "Genevieve Stebbins"

9)  "Phrenological Journal of Science and Health", Interview with Marie Geraldy (DelSarte) in 1892 while in the US.

10)  From the "Ted Shaw" entry on Wikipedia.  

11) Sources of the images used in this blog which may or may not be part of the Public Domain:

a) Photograph of F. DelSarte is of the Public Domain (1864). The original belongs to the National Library of France (BNF) and comes from an album called " [Recueil. Portraits d'artistes et de compositeurs]"  This is the most used image of F. DelSarte. 

b) The cartoon or croquis of F. DelSarte was taken from the online database of the BNF. It is a lithograph and dates from 1861.

12) "Pictorial Illusionism: The Theatre of Steele Mackaye" (2007) by J. A. Sokalski. The book has been partially digitized by Google Books.

13) "Proceedings from the National Association of Elocutionists" Volume 1-3 (1893). Digitized by Google Books and available. 

14) The photography of F. DelSarte is part of the private collection of the Blog Administrator- all rights reserved.

15) The painting of Rosine Adrien d'Estrées is the courtesy of Mr. Bertrand Bedel de Buzareingues.

16) Bust of F.DelSarte is the courtesy of Dartmouth College

17) Bust of F. DelSarte is the courtesy of Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris. It dates from 1839 and was done by Jean-Pierre DANTAN (dit Dantan Jeune) who as active in Paris until his dead in 1869.

18) Painting of F. DelSarte  by Louis Martinet 1838 (Dartmouth college, gift of M.K.Curtis 1959)

19) Painting of F. Del Sarte by  Pidoux (1833). Image is in the Public Domain