[‘must one glue the British public to its seat’?: Jeannette Sherwin [née Görlitz and latterley Jolley], English actress.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Mr Rubinstein’, regarding a performance of Wagner’s ‘Tristan und Isolde’.

She was the daughter of the impressario Hugo Görlitz and the Australian soprano Amy Sherwin; and goddaughter of Paderewski. She married the actor James Thomas Jolley in New York (where the couple were based) in 1923, dying of consumption in England several years later. The present item is 2pp, small 4to, in bifolium, with the valediction written lengthwise and downwards on a third page. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Printed on the first page is the name ‘Jeannette’ within a small bow. The letter is addressed to ‘Dear Mr. Rubinstein’, and signed ‘Jeannette Sherwin Gorlitz’. She is returning the score he lent her. ‘It made just all the difference to my enjoyment of the Opera to know something of it beforehand, & I have especially enjoyed going over the parts I particularly liked, after having heard it on Tuesday.’ She enjoyed the performance, ‘with the exception of the “Liebestod”’, in which ‘Isolde’ sounded tired, ‘but it would have been a wonder if she was not, after such a terrific part’. She admits that she did ‘loathe’ the audience: ‘I wonder, must one glue the British public to its seat to keep it quiet during last acts?’