Her memory has been too little honored.
When Lully was giving opera to France he secured the co-operation of
Marthe le Rochois, a gifted student of declamation and song at the
Paris Academie Royale de Musique, for whose establishment he had
obtained letters patent in 1672. So great was his confidence in her
judgment that he consulted her in all that pertained to his work. Her
greatest public triumph was in his "Armide." This earliest French queen
of song is described as a brunette, with mediocre figure and plain face,
who had wonderful magnetism and sparkling black eyes that mirrored the
changeful sentiments of an impassioned soul. Her acting and
voice-control were pronounced remarkable. Her superior powers, unspoiled
simplicity, frankness and generosity are extolled by that quaint
historian of the opera, Dury de Noinville. On her retirement from the
stage, in 1697, the king awarded her a pension of 1,000 livres in token
of appreciation, and to this the Duc de Sully added 500 livres. She died
in Paris in the seventieth year of her age, her home having long been
the resort of eminent artists and literary people.
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