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NOVELLO'S PRIMERS OF MUSICAL BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 LUIGI CHERUBINI 
 
 JOSEPH BENNETT. 
 
 PRICE ONE SHILLING. 
 
 LONDON & NEW YORK 
 NOVELLO, EWER AND CO. 
 
 May also be had cloth gilt, price Two Shillings. 
 

 MUSIC LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 OP CALIFOPMIA 
 BERKELEY J 
 
EXTRACT FROM THE PROSPECTUS OF THE 
 SERIES:— 
 
 "The intention of Novello's Primers of Musical Biography 
 is to convey, as clearly as the limits of an elementary work will 
 allow, a just idea of each composer's personality, and to record 
 the principal events of his life. Knowledge of what a man is 
 helps the understanding of what he does. These little books 
 may serve, therefore, as a first step towards acquaintance with 
 the genius and compositions of the masters to whom they are 
 devoted." 
 
 M181713 
 
<£W.<^'^^7^, 
 
 
 LUIGI CHERUBINI. 
 
 The stranger in beautiful Florence cannot long remain 
 oblivious of Cherubini. If he wander towards the south 
 of the town, and stroll in the neighbourhood of the Barriera 
 del Ponte Rosso, he will probably find himself in the Via 
 Cherubini. If, in the course of sight-seeing, he visit the 
 church of Sante Croce, his attention will surely be caught 
 by a large and handsome monument bearing Cherubini's 
 name ; while, should his rambles take in a little street 
 called Via Fiesolana, not far from the Piazza d'Azeglio, 
 his curious eyes may light upon a tablet affixed to No. 22, 
 and having an inscription thus translatable : — 
 
 Here was born on the xiv. September, mdcclx., Luigi 
 Cherubini, who, famous in the science of Harmony, creator 
 of sublime religious melodies, reformed every kind of musical 
 style, and in the regions of art preserved intact among foreigners 
 the glory of Italian supremacy. 
 
 A hundred and twenty-three years ago, that house — then 
 numbered 6886, according to the now discarded custom of 
 numbering by districts instead of streets — had as tenants a 
 Signor Bartolomeo Cherubini, his wife, Verdiani {nee Bosi), 
 and their nine children. The bread-winner of the family 
 followed the profession of music, not so as to attract men's 
 eyes, but in a humble, if responsible, capacity as pianoforte 
 accompanist (maestro al cembalo) at the Pergola Theatre. 
 Bartolomeo was accounted a good musician, learned in 
 all the learning of the schools, and having the scientific 
 resources of the art at his fingers' ends. Picchianti, 
 Cherubini's earliest biographer, himself a Florentine of the 
 
 B 
 
LUIGI CHERUDINI: 
 
 period, describes the Pergola professor as " a chapelmaster 
 strongly attached to the old customs of the art, and a rigid 
 observer of the ancient scholastic discipline in his teaching." 
 These words enable us to form a pretty accurate idea of 
 Bartolomeo Cherubini, He would now be called a pedant, 
 a "fifth-hunter," a slave to the "tone-families," and what 
 not else that characterises a man who prefers the old ways 
 to the new. We shall have very little more to say about 
 him here, but it is important to observe what manner of 
 musician he was, since his conservative instincts naturally 
 influenced the training of those committed to his care. 
 Bartolomeo seems to have been a good citizen and an 
 exemplary husband and father. In his domestic capacity 
 he doubtless rejoiced at the frequent additions to his house- 
 hold. Verdiani, his wife, was only thirty-five years old 
 when she presented him with a tenth child, and two others 
 were subsequently born, so that the respectable Florentine 
 professor fully attained the condition of blessedness described 
 by the sacred writer who tells us that " Like as arrows in 
 the hand of a giant even so are the young children." But 
 though the family was prolific, it could hardly have been 
 healthy. Of the twelve sons and daughters, only the tenth 
 child lived to be old, and he, strange to say, was born into 
 the world such a puny thing that his parents often looked 
 with sadness into each other's faces when talk ran upon the 
 babe's chances of life. The weak reed, however, survives 
 the storm which hurls down the sturdy oak, and Bartolomeo 
 Cherubini's tenth infant escaped all the perils and dangers 
 that hung about its cradle. 
 
 The child's extreme fragility, let us here say, had some- 
 thing to do with complicating a question that arose in after 
 time as to the precise date of birth. A note introductory 
 to the catalogue of Cherubini's works, and dictated by the 
 master himself, fixes September 8, 1760, as the day when 
 he came into the world. On the other hand, two certificates 
 founded on the baptismal register are in existence, and agree 
 in naming September 14. The authority of these attesta- 
 tions is now accepted, and was acknowledged by Cherubini 
 himself. We lean, however, to the doubt frankly expressed 
 by M. Arthur Pougin, who says: — 
 
 It is true that Picchianti and M. Gamucci have each published 
 an attestation derived from the baptismal registers of Santa 
 Maria del Fiore ; but this double attestation, while giving 
 
HIS LIFE. 
 
 September 15 as the date of the baptism — about which there 
 cannot be any doubt — appears to fix on the 14th as the date of 
 birth only ,by natural induction, and the general custom which 
 requires children to be baptised on the day they are born, or the 
 day after. Now the tradition so clearly set afloat by Cherubini 
 himself, and preserved by him in the notice dictated to De 
 Brauchesne, can hardly have sprung up spontaneously in his 
 mind ; it must have been based on family report— on the assertion 
 of his father, or something of the kind — and I cannot help asking 
 myself why and how it was that Cherubini subsequently aban- 
 doned it. 
 
 We submit that these are reasonable words, although 
 Cherubini, after for many years keeping his birthday on the 
 8th, changed to the 14th, in deference to the authority of 
 the baptismal register. There must have been some founda- 
 tion for the belief in which the master remained as late as 
 1831, and those who accounted for the interval between the 
 asserted date of birth (8th) and the actual date of baptism 
 (14th) by reference to the child's extreme delicacy were, 
 perhaps, not far wrong. As for the baptismal register, we 
 are not disposed to give it great weight in the matter of 
 birth. A hundred years ago, records of this kind were 
 perfunctorily made, and for an indifferent official to assume 
 that the baptised child had been born the day previous was 
 perfectly natural and to be expected. 
 
 Concerning the early childhood of Cherubini little or 
 nothing is known, for the reason, it may be, that there is 
 little to tell. The boy no doubt found full scope for his 
 energies in the act of living. We have his own authority 
 for believing that at the age of six he began to study music 
 under his father, so continuing till he was nine. Picchianti 
 tells us what sort of progress was made by the little lad 
 in studies which must have been of the driest character : — 
 
 Three years were enough for young Cherubini to obtain a 
 sufficient knowledge of solfeggio, and of figured bass accompani- 
 ment and the tablature of the harpsichord, as they then called 
 theoretical acquaintance with the keyboard, together with the 
 art of placing the hands, and of the mechanism adapted for 
 playing the instrument. He achieved this result before com- 
 pleting his ninth year, and without, on that account, neglecting 
 the higher study of figures or languages. 
 
 The poor little boy must have worked hard to do this, 
 for creative genius, though it may supply enthusiasm for 
 
 B 2 
 
LUIGI CHERUBIXI: 
 
 study, does not necessarily mean capacity for the accumula- 
 tion of facts, the retention of rules, and the mastering of 
 problems which demand intellectual perception. Yet we 
 see in the spectacle of a mere baby labouring at the 
 unsympathetic elements of musical knowledge, striking 
 proof of the very serious light in which the art was then 
 regarded. Those days were not as ours in the matter of 
 educating musicians by wholesale and with despatch, nor did 
 pupils then consider themselves equipped for their career 
 as soon as a few elementary rules had been mastered. 
 Which will prove the better days, by reason of having a 
 " more excellent way," we know full well, and the time may 
 yet come when musical education will return to the hard 
 plodding, the long-continued and thankless toil that gave 
 us the great masters. 
 
 Bartolomeo Cherubini, at the end of the three years, placed 
 his son under Bartolomeo Felici for the study of counter- 
 point and composition. This must have been about 1770, 
 when, according to Fetis, Felici opened a musical academy 
 in Florence, assisted by his son, Allessandro. Both pro- 
 fessors were men of ability and distinction. Picchianti 
 styles Alessandro a " remarkable artist," but enters more 
 into detail concerning his father. Of him we read : — 
 
 Bartolomeo Felici, a man deeply versed in the musical science 
 of his day, was a profound and skilful contrapuntist. The 
 compositions in the alia capella style of his which have been 
 handed down to us are models of purity, clearness and ingenious 
 artifice — qualities causing them to be heard with pleasure 
 whenever they are now sung in our churches. For teaching 
 the difficult art of composition he was reputed the best professor 
 in Florence and all Tuscany, and his school was attended by 
 a large number of pupils, whose productions subsequently 
 sustained his credit and glory. 
 
 In the hands of such a man young Cherubini was safe, 
 although there is reason to believe that Felici taught 
 according to the cumbrous, embarrassing and unscientific 
 method then prevalent in Italian schools. We read in 
 Picchianti : — 
 
 Despite the impetus given in the opening years of the century 
 to the new theory of music by the celebrated Rameau, and 
 subsequently by various illustrious Italians, the theory still 
 remained enveloped in the ph}'sical phenomena of sound, 
 and continued to be based ujion calculations and geometrical 
 
HIS LIFE. 
 
 demonstrations referring only to the mathematical determination 
 of the number of vibrations — that is, of the volume or other 
 elements 6f the sonorous body — whence it resulted that such and 
 such intervals were admissible in musical compositions. . . . 
 Theory being in this state, and absolutely unable to oft'er clear 
 and sufficiently developed rules for the study of harmony 
 and modulation, blind practice was substituted for it. The 
 consequence of all this was that the art of counterpoint was 
 encumbered with a host of observations and rules, each of 
 which, invariably deduced from particular cases and not from 
 general principles, gave rise to a host of exceptions. To succeed 
 in mastering all the rules and the aggregate of all the exceptions, 
 the student was obliged to go through a long and fatiguing 
 process ; he had to compose examples of counterpoint, first 
 simple and then with certain artifices, both above and below 
 a melody in plain song, the master making him write a single 
 part and then combine in various manners six, seven, and eight 
 real parts, with all scholastic and pedantic rigour. 
 
 Unscientific as this system may have been, we know 
 that marvels of contrapuntal skill came out of it. It severely 
 tried patience and perseverance, and possibly disgusted 
 with music many who, travelling along a less thorn}^ road, 
 would have gone on to the end. Those who endured the 
 test were of the right stuff. They certainly knew how 
 to use the technical resources of their art, and there was 
 reason to believe that something more than a capacity 
 for plodding had carried them through. 
 
 Cherubini remained with Felici four years, but began 
 composing before he quitted that master's school. Boy- 
 like, he aimed at a high mark, and produced a Mass for 
 chorus and orchestra. Of this work nothing is known, 
 save that it was performed (1773) in one of the Florentine 
 churches. Other pieces followed in quick succession, as 
 the master himself has told us : — 
 
 Cherubini composed successively, from 1773 to 1778, seven- 
 teen pieces, comprising masses, interludes, psalms, oratorios, 
 and separate airs, all performed with equal success in the 
 churches and amateur theatres of his native town. 
 
 The autograph catalogue gives us some particulars con- 
 cerning these bo3'ish works. They included two masses, 
 besides the one already mentioned, both in C major, a 
 Cantata, " La Publica Felicita," in honour of the Grand 
 Duke, a " Magnificat," two " Lamentations of Jeremiah," 
 a " Miserere," a comic air, and a " Te Deum." The fact 
 
LUIGI CHERUBINI 
 
 that all the lad's compositions of this period were heard 
 publicly shows that they were held in esteem. Yet it 
 does not appear that a special genius shone through them 
 as it did through those of Mozart and Mendelssohn. To 
 this Halevy speaks in his " Etudes sur la Vie et les Travaux 
 de Clierubini." As the master's favourite pupil and friend, 
 Halevy was permitted to examine the musical papers which 
 Cherubini, who jealously guarded them from prying eyes, 
 left behind him. He says : — 
 
 I saw, on going through them, that it was, as it were, out 
 of respect for himself, and from a desire to spare these early 
 works, that he had kept them from all eyes. Everything in 
 them announced the intelligent child brought up in a good 
 school, and nurtured on good precepts ; but nothing indicated 
 the genius which was destined to be revealed at a later period. 
 The Cherubini who had become illustrious was anxious about 
 his reputation as a child, and fearful of injuring the glory of 
 the Cherubini of thirteen. It was a sort of not unbecoming 
 and pardonable coquetry. 
 
 Let no one suppose that Cherubini from the time of 
 leaving Felici gave himself up entirely to composition. 
 He had worked hard — even to drudgery, we may well 
 believe— for seven years, but his studies, so thorough and 
 comprehensive, were only half completed. Therefore he 
 put himself under Pietro Bizarri for singing, and Giuseppe 
 Castrucci for the organ and piano, remaining with them 
 till he had attained his seventeenth year. By that time 
 Cherubini was, in some sort, a notability in Florence, 
 The citizens, jealous for the artistic repute of their famous 
 town, accounted him a prodigy, and cherished the highest 
 hopes of his future. All this, of course, delighted the family 
 in the Via Fiesolana, but it failed to remove the difficulty 
 that confronted them, and found expression in the query, 
 "What is next to be done with our Luigi Carlo Zanobia 
 Salvadore Maria ? " The youth was pluming his wings 
 for flight. He longed to see men and cities, to enlarge 
 the field of his observation, and vary the nature of his 
 experience. In these respects, his father, now the happy 
 parent of a dozen children, could not help him. The swarm 
 of young mouths open for daily bread consumed all the 
 poor professor's earnings, and it seemed for the moment 
 that Number Ten's career would be checked for want of 
 a little money. Happily, the Grand Ducal Throne was 
 
HIS LIFE. 
 
 then occupied by a prince in whom survived tlie spirit of 
 Lorenzo the Magnificent. Leopold, afterwards the Austrian 
 Emperor of that name, knew his duty to such a city as 
 Florence, and lost no opportunity of promoting its material 
 prosperity or artistic renown. When, therefore, it came 
 to his ears that a lad in the Via Fiesolana had the spirit of 
 music upon him, he took a real interest in the case. 
 Leopold did not stop at a smile and a compliment — very 
 flattering royal gifts, no doubt, but often barren. He put 
 his hand in his pocket — took up the quality of father at 
 the point where Bartolomeo's slender purse obliged him 
 to stop — and made young Cherubini an allowance sufficient 
 to pay the cost of study under the famous Sarti, then 
 resident at Bologna. The opening of the year 1778, the 
 youth being then nearly eighteen, witnessed this real and 
 royal start in life. 
 
 Sarti's influence upon Cherubini was destined in the 
 nature of things to be great, since the young Florentine 
 entered his school with all the ardent worship that youth 
 gives to its ideal. It need hardly be said that reverence and 
 devotion were not wasted upon such a man. Sarti was a 
 musician to whom all the world accorded high rank. *' His 
 compositions," says Miel, one of Cherubini's biographers, 
 "were characterised as divine; every town in Italy wanted 
 him to write something for it, and he was unable to satisfy 
 the demands made on him from all quarters." Outside his 
 native land, he secured the admiration of connoisseurs such 
 as Joseph Haydn, " Sarti being one of the masters," writes 
 Frammery, "whom he esteemed most highly, no doubt 
 because the Italian's energetic and noble style possessed 
 a greater analogy than that of any other composer to his 
 own." At the time when Cherubini went to him he was 
 fifty years of age, and in the zenith of his powers. The 
 lad soon found himself in an atmosphere very different from 
 that he had quitted. It was not so much that Sarti made 
 him study Palestrina, and write anthems in the style of that 
 great master. Cherubini might have expected this, knowing 
 Sarti's preference for Palestrina. What he did not antici- 
 pate, perhaps, was passing from unmixed scholasticism to 
 something of the ideal and romantic. Certain authorities 
 tell us that the Bolognese teacher directed his pupils to 
 " imitate him in composing at night in a large unfurnished 
 
LUIGI CHERUBINI 
 
 only a glimmering light." Such an attempt to excite the 
 imagination by the iniluence of outward conditions is com- 
 mon enough in our day, but must have been surprising at 
 the height of the "powder and pigtail" era. Sarti is said 
 also to have made his pupils copy the scores of the masters 
 in great quantities. But he did a more practical thing in 
 the case of Cherubini. Sarti, as we have seen, was a very 
 busy man, and had more w^ork on his hands than one pair 
 could get through. Consequently, knowing the quality of 
 the young Florentine, he intrusted him with the padding of 
 his numerous operas. The step was safe, as well as con- 
 venient, because an Italian public at that time had no ears 
 for the minor characters in a lyric drama. They listened 
 to a few leading airs and concerted pieces ; as the rest went 
 on they talked. None the less were Cherubini's labours a 
 valuable exercise and an important experience ; obtained, 
 moreover, without personal responsibility or risk, since, had 
 his music been bad, and anybody paid attention to it, censure 
 would have fallen upon Sarti, as the supposed author. 
 
 In 1779 a vacancy occured in the musical staff of Milan 
 Cathedral through the death of the chapelmaster, Signor 
 Fioroni, and Sarti having been chosen to fill it, removed 
 from Bologna to the northern city, taking Cherubini with 
 him. By that time the master had conceived a strong 
 affection for the pupil, who himself tells us in the autograph 
 note already mentioned, that Sarti gave him excellent advice, 
 and made him his travelling companion on artistic journeys. 
 Naturally, therefore, an opportunity was soon found for the 
 young man to produce an opera on his own account. This he 
 did a year after the removal to Milan, when a work in three 
 acts, " II Quinto Fabio," was brought out at Alexandria. 
 Nothing is known of the opera now, but a tradition exists 
 that it had no particular success, and we know that the 
 composer did not preserve the score. From the date of 
 "II quinto Fabio" till September, 17S1, Cherubini was 
 several times away from Milan, engaged in the task of direct- 
 ing other operas. Thus, in 1781, he went to Venice, where 
 rehearsal, owing to the bankruptcy of the manager, did 
 not ripen into performance. In January, 1782, he produced 
 " Armida " (three acts) at the Pergola, Florence; " Adriano 
 in Sirio " (three acts) followed at Leghorn in May ; and 
 four months later he was again at Florence with another 
 ihrcc-act work, entitled "Messen/io." Besides these things, 
 
HIS LIFE. 
 
 he wrote during the same period a Motett for the singer 
 Marchesi ; a second Motett for two choirs and two organs, 
 "Nemo gaudeat"; and a number of smaller pieces; to 
 which we allude only for the purpose of showing his remark- 
 able assiduity. It may be added that two of the pieces in 
 question were duets, with accompaniments for two corni 
 d'amour — a now obsolete instrument, of which the English 
 nobleman (Lord Cowper) who ordered the works was an 
 amateur. 
 
 Another biographer (Arnold), quoted by Mr. Bellasis, 
 declares that Cherubini's operatic music proved too learned 
 for the taste of his countrymen: "People were afraid of 
 him, for the evidence of originality displayed in his composi- 
 tions might do considerable harm to their beloved cantilenas 
 and fioriture." But this did not interfere with his progress, 
 though it might have encouraged him to believe that he had 
 done his work in the schools, and needed the experience of 
 active life beyond their narrow limits. He left Sarti in the 
 autumn of 1782, and began his career in earnest. 
 
 During the following year, our young master brought out 
 two operas— one, " II Quinto Fabio " (No. 2), at the Teatro 
 Argentina, Rome ; the other, " La Sposo di Tre," at the 
 San Samuele, Venice. The last was a two-act opera buffo, 
 and both are now extinct. Both, however, served the 
 purpose of making their young composer better known and 
 liked. After hearing the comic work, the Venetians called 
 him " II Cherubino," because of the sweetness of his 
 melodies, according to some, but, if we may credit M. Felix 
 Clement, on account of his handsome face and figure. As 
 M. Clement is generally wrong on disputed points, we prefer 
 to believe that Cherubini's themes and not his bodily graces 
 caused the pretty play upon his name. On leaving Venice, 
 where he had made so favourable an impression, " II Cheru- 
 bino" proceeded to Florence and saw his native city for 
 the last time; remaining there long enough to direct the 
 performance of a pasticcio oratorio at the Jesuits' Church, 
 the music being all taken and adapted from his own operas 
 save, perhaps, one number expressly written. Cherubini 
 also produced at Florence during this visit an opera entitled 
 " L'Idalide," shortly following that work up with " L'Ales- 
 sandro nell' Indie" at Mantua. By this time, although 
 Cherubini was only in his twenty-fourth year, his name was 
 known far and wide, even in the distant island whence came 
 
LUIGI CHERUB IX I 
 
 his early patron, Lord Cowper. There he was admired to 
 some practical purpose ; since, soon after the Mantuan 
 engagement, he received an offer to go to London for the 
 purpose of writing two Italian operas and producing them 
 at the King's Theatre in 1785-6. Picchianti tells us that 
 the directorship of a Philharmonic Society then existing in 
 London was included in this transaction, but M. Pougin 
 questions the statement on what appear to be good grounds. 
 In the first place, Cherubini makes no mention of the 
 matter in his autobiographical note ; in the second place, 
 the catalogue contains no mention of works written for the 
 Society named. On the other hand, M. Pougin believes, 
 with Choron and Fazelle, that the young master received 
 here the title and duties of Composer to the King, and wrote 
 several detached pieces in discharge of his functions. 
 
 Cherubini left Florence for England in September, 1784, 
 two months after the Handel Commemoration in West- 
 minster Abbey, and thus not only severed his connection 
 with Italy, but entered upon a course which led to his 
 complete departure from the accepted Italian style. 
 
 There is trustworthy evidence to the effect that Cherubini 
 made no very considerable figure in London. For example, 
 little is said about him in the English musical history of 
 the period. Lord Mount Edgcumbe does not even mention 
 the composer's name under this date in his well-known 
 "Reminiscences," and Parkes, the oboist, whose chatty 
 " Memoirs" are full of personal observations, dismisses him 
 in a few lines. We read in the last-named work : — 
 
 The Italian opera was this year (1786) acted by Signer Babini 
 and Signora Sestini. They appeared in a new opera of Paesiello, 
 entitled " II Marchese Tulipano," under the direction of Cherubini. 
 
 There is also a reference to the production of our master's 
 pasticcio opera, " Demetrio," in the course of which it is 
 said : — 
 
 Cherubini, who selected and composed this opera, was a 
 scholar of Sarti ; he was a young man of genius, and the 
 overture and the duet in the third act gave promise of future 
 greatness. 
 
 Beyond these meagre words, written at a time when 
 Cherubini had achieved the greatness promised in 1786, the 
 gossiping Parkes has nothing to say. Dr. Hurney is hardly 
 more communicative. He styles Cherubini the " nominal 
 
HIS LIFE. 
 
 composer" to the King, and devotes but very few lines to 
 the young Italian's work in London. The whole subject, 
 indeed, is barren, for even Mr. Bellasis, who cannot be 
 charged with wanting a spirit of research, fills scarcely 
 more than a page with Cherubini's doings. Fetis dismisses 
 the same theme in a dozen lines, while the author of the 
 article " Cherubini," in Grove's " Dictionary of Music and 
 Musicians" makes nine lines suffice. Certain facts stand 
 out, however, with sufficient clearness. One is that Cherubini 
 made as favourable an impression as could be looked for in 
 the case of a young and almost unknown man. It is certain, 
 likewise, that he was well received in the highest society. 
 The master himself remarks in his short autobiography : — 
 
 During his stay in London he had the honour of being 
 presented to the Prince of Wales, afterwards Regent, and then 
 King under the name of George IV. This prince was very fond 
 of music, especially vocal music. Cherubini played on several 
 occasions with him and the Duke of Quisbourg (Queensbury ?), 
 with whom he was very well acquainted. 
 
 The actual amount of work done in London by Cherubini 
 we shall perhaps never know. No two writers bear precisely 
 the same evidence, but it appears that beside " Demetrio," 
 for which six numbers were written, he produced a comic 
 opera, " La Finta Principessa," and one of serious import, 
 " Giulio Sabini," libretto by Metastasio. This last was, 
 according to Burney, killed by an inefficient representation, 
 much to the chagrin of the composer. 
 
 At the close of the season of 1785 Cherubini went to 
 Paris — a mere holiday trip, but one big with fate, as such 
 things often are in a world where the unexpected always 
 happens. In the autobiography we read : — 
 
 Towards the end of July this year he paid a visit to Paris, 
 where he first made the acquaintance of the celebrated Viotti, 
 with whom he formed a close friendship and with whom he 
 promised to come and spend the next year in that capital. It 
 was during this visit that he was presented to Marie Antoinette, 
 by whom he was most favourably received, and who expressed 
 a wish to hear some of his music at the concerts which took 
 place in the Chateau of Versailles. 
 
 Cherubini owed what he had of royal favour at this time 
 to the good offices of Viotti, who took the greatest interest 
 
LUIGI CIIERUBINI. 
 
 in his gifted countryman, and laid himself out to serve him. 
 On this matter M. Pougin says: — 
 
 Having amassed a veritable fortune on his grand European 
 tour, he was in consequence independent, and divided the pleasant 
 and smiling existence he led in Paris between important labours 
 in composition, the care he bestowed on his pupils, numerous 
 mundane relations and periods of intelligent and studious 
 leisure. When Cherubini, preceded by the great reputation he 
 had achieved in his own country, came, to a certain extent 
 accidentally, and made his first stay in Paris, Viotti, whose 
 generous sentiments were equal to his admirable artistic powers, 
 determined to know him, and welcomed him like a brother. 
 Older by some years, already settled a considerable time in the 
 French capital, where he possessed an immense circle of 
 acquaintances, and well versed in the artistic life of the day, 
 Viotti constituted himself in some sort the protector, the guide, 
 and the mentor of his compatriot, infusing into his intercourse 
 with the latter such amenity, graciousness, and affectionate 
 cordiality that Cherubini, touched by such conduct, soon returned 
 sentiment for sentiment, and an almost fraternal intimacy, never 
 afterwards to be disturbed, was thenceforth established between 
 them. 
 
 Nothing could have been more fortunate for the Italian 
 stranger than Viotti's sympathy and support. It meant 
 friendship in a strange land, and more, it meant professional 
 help. Not only did Cherubini obtain through Viotti a royal 
 audience, but by the same means, as Pougin suspects, and 
 we are ready to believe, he gamed a hearing at. the Sacred 
 Concerts, then under the direction of Legros, once an 
 operatic singer. At those entertainments Cherubini made 
 his first public appearance in Paris (September 8, 17S5), 
 when a "symphony" and three airs from his pen were 
 performed. The "symphony" was doubtless an overture, 
 the master never having written a work of the class now 
 specifically so called. It is of course impossible to ascertain 
 the precise reception accorded to the master and his music, 
 but at least one of the critics was hard upon both. Searching 
 the files of the Mercurc de France — a print very well known 
 in connection with the Gluck-Picinni squabble — M. Pougin 
 came on the following : — 
 
 At the concert on the 8th inst. we heard several airs by a new 
 Italian composer, M. Cherubini. They were a symphony and 
 three airs. The symphony must have confirmed the opinion of 
 
HIS LIFE. 
 
 13 
 
 those who consider that this style of writing is not that in which 
 ItaHan composers distinguish themselves. The airs appeared to 
 possess greater merit ; the incoherence of the ideas and the 
 small amount of character and interest in the motives, however, 
 were indicative of the composer's youth. 
 
 However mortified by opinions like the foregoing, Cherubini 
 felt that his trip to Paris had borne good fruit. Thanks to 
 Viotti, he could number amongst his acquaintances such 
 people as Mesdames de Polignac and de Richelieu, MM. 
 Florian, Marmontel, and Abbe Marellet ; and he obtained 
 a footing in the famous " Societe Academique des Enfans 
 d'Apollon," at one of whose concerts he first heard a 
 symphony by Haydn, and "learned," says Arnold, in a 
 passage every word of which we endorse, " how to combine 
 depth with lightness, grace with power, jest with earnest- 
 ness, toying wdth dignity." 
 
 Cherubini returned to England for the opera season of 
 1787, but soon after the failure of "Giulio Sabini " he quitted 
 our country and kept a promise to Viotti, by going to reside 
 permanently with him in Paris. It must not be supposed 
 that he retired from London in dudgeon. The opera was 
 " strangled at its very birth," as Burne}^ expresses it, 
 through no fault in itself; wherefore Cherubini, though 
 greatly vexed, discharged his duties conscientiously to the 
 end of the season, and also had printed and published in 
 London a set of six nocturnes. 
 
 The circumstances attendant upon our master's return to 
 Paris may be gathered from his autobiography, in which we 
 read : — 
 
 He was again presented to Queen Marie Antoinette, who 
 received him with as much kindness as ever, and admitted him 
 to the private concerts she gave in the Chateau de Versailles, at 
 the Princess de Polignac's, where she sang, and where pieces of 
 Cherubini's, rendered by the celebrated Garat, were among the 
 compositions performed. At this period, too, Viotti urged him 
 to undertake a French opera, and for this purpose made him 
 acquainted with Marmontel, who intrusted him with the book of 
 " Demophon," which he began to set. 
 
 The master's next effort, however, was destined to be 
 made in the land of his birth and in the capital of the 
 Sardinian kingdom. For fifteen months he remained in 
 Paris, doing nothing of which trace is left, except write a 
 cantata, " Amphion," for the Olympic Lodge, and set music 
 
14 LUIGI CHERUBINI. 
 
 to eighteen romances from Florian's " Estelle." That 
 otherwise he was not, strictly speaking, idle, may be assumed 
 in the case of a man who left behind him so many proofs of 
 industry. Perhaps he devoted himself to the study and 
 meditation which must, at some time or other have preceded 
 the remarkable development his genius soon after underwent. 
 But, however this may be, we know that he made good his 
 footing within the charmed circle of Parisian artistic and 
 social life. Miel states, in his " Notice Historique sur 
 J. B. Viotti," that he assisted at the matinees given every 
 Sunday by the great violinist in the apartments common to 
 them both, while his favourite pupil, Halevy, tells us, in the 
 interesting " Etudes sur la vie et les travaux de Cherubini " : — 
 People's saloons were thrown open to him, and he was admitted 
 to all the sweet delights of high Parisian life. ... It was a 
 happy time for him, because he felt greatly flattered at this 
 success. He was then eight-and-tvventy. A portrait, painted 
 somewhere about this time by Mdlle. Dumont and preserved in 
 his family, represents him as elegant, neat, endowed with a 
 noble and expressive physiognomy and a persuasive look. The 
 world liked him and he liked the world. He was for a moment 
 the fashion, and became a "lion." He used to speak with 
 pleasure of this period of his life, and retained an agreeable 
 recollection of all the delicate marks of respect and all the little 
 attentions then paid him. 
 
 It is, perhaps, hardly to be wondered at that the master 
 sat at his desk very seldom under conditions so fascinating 
 to a still youthful man. 
 
 The time came, however, when he had to fulfil an engage- 
 ment made in 1784 to write an opera for the Turin season 
 of 1787-8. To this end all the dear delights of Paris were 
 given up, and in October Cherubini set out for the Sardinian 
 capital, where he wrote his " Ifigenia in Aulide," and pro- 
 duced it during the month of February following. The new 
 opera was received in a manner extremely gratifying, despite 
 the fact that it paid scant heed to the traditions of the 
 Italian stage. A propos M. Pougin has discovered, in the 
 Calendricr Musical for 1789, a letter addressed to the editors, 
 in which some interesting details of this event are given. 
 Subjoined is an extract therefrom : — 
 
 At a moment when admirers of the lyric stage are regretting 
 Gluck and Sacchini, it is consoling to announce another artist, 
 who, though still very young, is even now producing the fruit 
 
HIS LIFE. 15 
 
 of the ripest talent. This artist, already known by several 
 successes in Italy, is M. Cherubini. He has just brought out at 
 Turin an '^ Ifigenia in Aulide," which owes its extraordinarily 
 flattering reception principally to the composer's efforts thoroughly 
 to ally the musical effect to the sense of the words, a plan almost 
 unknown in Italy, and interesting for our stage, to which M. 
 Cherubini intends to devote himself. The music of the new 
 " Iphigenia," is, so they write from Italy, in a style quite new 
 to this country ; now sublime, now tender, but invariably energetic 
 and attractive, it produced almost unheard-of effects. The Court 
 even could not resist the general enthusiasm. Our princes, who 
 do not usually applaud performances, applauded a great deal, 
 such is the power of superior merit to extort imperiously tributes 
 of praise. 
 
 It is curious to read here of a movement towards greater 
 dramatic truth, when the present struggle, fought on the 
 same ground, appears to indicate that it has only just begun. 
 But between the reforms set on foot by Cherubini a hundred 
 years ago and those now advocated in the name of progress, 
 there is a difference indeed. It may be interesting to cite 
 the opinion of Halevy with regard to the work in which 
 Cherubini made his iirst step on an independent course. 
 The French composer says in the "Etude" already spoken 
 of:— 
 
 This opera differs in style from Cherubini's preceding operas. 
 It is already more nervous. We see springing up in it a certain 
 freshness and vitality of which Italian musicians of his time 
 were ignorant, or for which they did not care. It was the dawn 
 of a new day ; Cherubini was preparing for the struggle. Gluck 
 had accustomed France to the sublime energy of his master- 
 pieces ; Mozart had just written in Germany " Le Nozze di 
 Figaro" and "Don Giovanni." It would not do to be left 
 behind ; it would not do to be beaten ; in the lists he was about 
 to enter he would meet two giants. Like an athlete before 
 descending into the arena, he anointed his limbs ; like a warrior 
 about to engage in combat, he girded up his loins. 
 
 The struggle, however, was not to take place on the 
 Italian stage, but in the great arena which witnessed Gluck's 
 triumphs. With " Ifigenia in Aulide " Cherubini took leave 
 of his native country. He wrote no more Italian operas, 
 and when he crossed the Italian frontier on his way back 
 to Paris he bade "the land of song" a final farewell. 
 Thenceforth he was a Frenchman. Halevy, from whose 
 
i6 LUIGI CHERUBINI. 
 
 rhetoric we have just quoted, credits Cherubini with a 
 presentiment of eternal separation from his native country, 
 and fancies that the well-known trio in "Ifigenia" is the 
 expression of a natural sorrow. He remarks : — 
 
 Perhaps in this noble and sweet piece of inspiration he was 
 addressing a last farewell to his country, which he was about to 
 leave, and leave for ever, since, despite the desire and wish I 
 have frequently heard him express, it was never his lot to see 
 Italy again. Perhaps he felt remorse on the eve of adopting 
 another land as his own. At the moment of consummating a 
 voluntary exile, and of abandoning the country of his birth, 
 perhaps a secret instinct, one of those voices that never deceive, 
 warned him that the separation would be eternal ; that he would 
 not behold Florence, or the beloved family he left there, any 
 more. A mournful reminiscence must have been awakened in 
 his heart. It seems as though the beautiful trio, which it is 
 impossible to hear without emotion, was the echo of this 
 profound regret. 
 
 The foregoing is no doubt pretty sentiment and may have 
 a basis of fact. On the other hand, it is very likely that 
 Cherubini anticipated the future as little as any of us, and 
 had no more idea of saving to Italy "Good-bye for ever" 
 than had Robinson Crusoe of a prolonged absence from 
 England when he dropped down the river on his memorable 
 voyage. 
 
 Serious work awaited Cherubini in Paris, whither he 
 returned in March, 17S8, only a few days after the production 
 of " Ifigenia." Some time previous, the Opera had accepted 
 a lyric drama from Vogel — at that time a popular composer — 
 on the subject of Demophon. Thebook, according to Pougin — 
 Fetis tells quite a different story, which need not be credited 
 — was written by Desriaux, and the artistic world generally 
 believed that Vogel had finished his part of the task before 
 death overtook him. It is certain, at any rate, that the 
 overture was several times performed in public with brilliant 
 success. Naturally the public looked for the work, and were 
 somewhat annoyed when it appeared that Marmontel and 
 Cherubini were engaged upon the same subject, with every 
 prospect of having their labours preferred to those of Desriaux 
 and the departed Vogel. A fatal prejudice very nearly arose 
 on this score, nor were matters improved by the fact that 
 Marmontel, a hot partisan of Picinni in the late war, had 
 many opponents only too ready to serve him an evil turn. 
 
HIS LIFE. 17 
 
 However, Cherubini's *'Demophon" went over the head of 
 Vogel's, and was produced September 5, 1788. As to the 
 effect it made, contemporary evidence is not altogether of 
 one mind ; still, reading between the lines in certain cases, 
 it is possible to get at the facts. The Mercure de France, a 
 friendly witness, declared in a first notice : — 
 
 " Demophon " was very successful from beginning to end. 
 In our next number we will go more into details concerning the 
 very numerous beauties to be found in the poem and in the 
 music. 
 
 Later, the same journal remarked : — 
 
 The score has now been judged by its true value, and the 
 composer has reason to feel satisHed with the opinion thus 
 formed— namely, that it was impossible for any one so young 
 and with such a slight knowledge of our stage to begin more 
 brilliantly, and that the work proves he possesses everything 
 requisite to do still better. 
 
 Then came a number of qualifying criticisms, put with 
 the skill of a practised journalist when he desires to justify 
 his own perspicacity without hurting a composer's feelings. 
 These we need not quote, one fact being more eloquent 
 than many words— the fact that " Demophon " was per- 
 formed only eight times and then withdrawn. 
 
 Fetis, who is more trustworthy as a critic than historian, 
 takes pains to set forth the reasons why "Demophon" so 
 soon broke down, and lays much stress upon Cherubini's 
 sudden plunge into the difficulties of a new stage and a 
 strange language. He writes : — 
 
 The score furnishes a curious subject of historical study, if 
 compared with " Ifigenia," which Cherubini wrote in Turin at 
 the beginning of the same year. In the latter score melody 
 abounds, and, among several numbers full of charm, we remark 
 a trio of the greatest beauty. " Demophon," on the contrary, 
 offers us only aridity in the cantilenas, vague motives, numerous 
 defects in the rhythm and symmetry of the phrases, and, what 
 is worse than all, languishing monotony in the general colour 
 of the work. Even the harmony has nothing distinguished 
 about it, and it is difficult to recognise in this feeble production 
 the hand of a man who soon afterwards justly caused himself 
 to be considered a great master. Whence could arise the 
 embarrassment which thus oppressed his genius ? 
 
 Fetis answers this question by reference to the novelty of 
 the composer's position, and also by indicating the character 
 
 c 
 
i8 LUIGI CHERUBINI: 
 
 of Marmontel's " pretended and detestable lyric verses." 
 He says : — 
 
 Poor Cherubini did not know what to do with these verses ot 
 all sizes, which sometimes compelled him to make his phrase 
 five bars, and sometimes allowed him only two, or forced him 
 to augment the value of the musical tempi, so as to make two 
 bars out of one. The composition of this opera must have been 
 a long torture to him. 
 
 Let us add here the words of Halevy : — 
 
 I regret that Cherubini, on arriving in Paris, should have 
 fallen into the hands of Morellet and IMarmontel. . . . That had 
 occurred to Cherubini which happens to a traveller who, thrown 
 into the heart of a great city with which he is not acquainted, asks 
 his way from great lords and the like — men only accustomed 
 to go out in carriages. With the best faith in the world, they 
 give him false directions and lead him astray. An honest 
 bourgeois who plods the streets on foot would be worth a hundred 
 times as much. 
 
 On this matter of Marmontel's work we have no desire to 
 challenge the evidence ; but, bad as his verses may have 
 been, they did not alone bring about failure. No opera with 
 really good music in it was ever ruined by a poor libretto. 
 The power of the composer, armed with all the potent 
 means of an irresistible art, conceals the weakness of the 
 poet; and in the case of " Demophon " we are bound to 
 conclude that Cherubini had not familiarised himself with 
 the highly dramatic French school into which he abruptly 
 passed from the pure melodiousness of Italy. According to 
 some eminent critics the change, though abrupt, was not 
 complete enough for success, Cherubini taking into his new 
 style not a few traditions from the old, and thus producing a 
 composite work adapted to please neither Italians on the 
 one hand nor French on the other. M. Pougin is of this 
 opinion, and writes : — 
 
 . . . despite himself the old Adam sometimes reappeared, and 
 was seen sacrificing, almost without suspecting it, to the gods 
 of his early years. Hence certain discrepancies and an inevitable 
 inequality in the entirety, as such, of his work, which appeared 
 somewhat composite, and in which, on account of too great an 
 amount of reflection, the inspiration lacked abundance and 
 spontaniety. 
 
HIS LIFE. 
 
 Years ago, in his work on the Academic Imperiale de 
 Musique, Castil-Bla2c expressed the same idea : — 
 
 " Demophon " marks the epoch when the musician changed 
 his style. The author has not yet any settled system ; the 
 beginner navigates his bark between Gluck and Picinni. His 
 airs, graceful and tender in expression, belong to the Italian 
 manner, which he abandons directly a strong situation arises." 
 
 The failure of " Demophon " seems to have invested 
 Cherubini's position in Paris with a measure of uncertainty. 
 It was more than an artistic rebuff, since it entailed pecuniary 
 loss. The master himself bears witness to this in an 
 autographic note written late in life : — 
 
 I first supported myself (at Paris) on what I earned at London, 
 but that was not much, and then on the trifle for which I agreed 
 to write an opera in 17S7 at Turin. On coming back to Viotti's 
 in Paris I composed " Demophon," which was played at the 
 Grand Opera in December (?), 1788. This work gave me 
 author's rights, but they did not bring in much, seeing that it 
 was performed only eight times, and that even the little I made 
 was swallowed up by what I had to expend for having unluckily 
 taken it into my head to have the opera engraved at my own 
 cost. 
 
 His impecunious circumstances were not much relieved, 
 we may suppose, by the writing of a cantata, " Circe," for 
 one of the Olympian Lodge concerts, though he may have 
 felt honoured on hearing it sung by Rousseau. Happily 
 light soon broke through the dark clouds and Cherubini 
 found place and pay. 
 
 The circumstances attendant upon this change in Cheru- 
 bini's position are fully set forth by M. Pougin, according to 
 whom there were in Paris, just before the Revolution broke 
 out, only nine real theatres open to the public, and three of 
 these — the Opera, the Comedie-Frangaise, and the Comedie- 
 Italienne — were almost reserved for aristocratic, artistic and 
 literary society. The time was fully ripe for enterprise in 
 drama, and, as usual, with the hour came the man, who, 
 strangely enough, stepped out of Marie Antoinette's tiring- 
 room, in the person of her hairdresser, Leonard. This 
 individual had a soul above the curling-tongs, and a vision 
 that took in more than the pomade-pot. Seeing his oppor- 
 tunity, and justly measuring the advantage given him by 
 nearness to the royal ear, he availed himself of both so well 
 
LUIGI CHERUDIXI. 
 
 that a patent from Louis XVI. soon empowered him to open 
 a new theatre in Paris, devoted equally to Italian opera, 
 French opera, and comedy, and to be called the "Theatre 
 de Monsieur," after the distinctive title of the Count de 
 Provence, his Majesty's brother. Leonard lost no time in 
 forming a partnership with Viotti, who knew better than a 
 hairdresser what to do with a theatre, and who had such 
 confidence in the venture that he risked upon it all his 
 fortune. Others being confident, likewise, a joint-stock 
 company was formed, a lease of the theatre in the Tuileries 
 — where " Monsieur" dwelt — obtained for thirty years, and 
 a company of artists got together by Viotti himself, who 
 brought from Italy what has been called "the most admirable 
 troupe that had ever appeared in France." Few operatic 
 enterprises ever started so well. M. Pougin gives the names 
 of the chief performers, and a magnificent list it is ; while in 
 the roll-call of the band we see Rode, Baillot, Hugo, 
 Duvernoy, Schmerza, Othon, and others scarcely less 
 famous. As a matter of course, Viotti found a post for 
 his dear friend Cherubini, who, we are told, was " intrusted 
 with the highest direction of musical matters, as well as 
 with the mission of watching over the studies of the artists ; 
 of undertaking the modifications it might be deemed useful 
 to make in the Italian works produced ; and lastly, of 
 composing the new numbers thought necessary to be inter- 
 polated." The enterprise in which our master was thus 
 honourably employed launched itself before the world on 
 January 26, 1789, when Tritta's opera, " Le Vicende 
 Amorosa " was performed. 
 
 Cherubini's position at the Theatre de Monsieur, though 
 decidedly honourable, was not very remunerative. His 
 annual salary did not exceed 4,000 francs, for which he 
 engaged to superintend rehearsals and act as composer to 
 the house, writing two French operas every year, and having, 
 according to the then custom, no property in them. It is 
 true that he was rarely required to fulfil the conditions, and 
 between 1789 and 1794 produced only two operas ; but on 
 the other hand, he had to labour hard upon the works 
 played by the Italian section of the company. MjNL Viotti 
 and Leonard were wise enough to know that Italian opera 
 pur ct simple would never do for the French, who required 
 more dramatic interest and truth than satisfied Cherubini's 
 countrymen. Hence they kept a poet on the premises to 
 
HIS LIFE. 
 
 alter libretti ; Cherubini's business being to provide music 
 wherever the changes made required it. As the manage- 
 ment was^ unusually active, producing twenty French and 
 Italian operas in eleven months, this involved a good deal of 
 toil. Cherubini, however, felt quite content. He occupied 
 a post which kept him before the public, and enabled him 
 rapidly to build up a reputation. 
 
 The new venture fell upon troublous times. In the first 
 place, Viotti and Leonard could not open on the date 
 announced, because of, as official advertisements put it, 
 the "extreme rigour of the cold." Next, the house had 
 to be closed for the Easter holidays ; next, the performances 
 were interrupted by the taking of the Bastile and attendant 
 events ; lastly, the theatre had to be given up because, after 
 the abortive flight to Varennes, the royal family were 
 brought to Paris and lodged in the Tuileries, under the 
 same roof. This event happened, as every reader of history 
 knows, in October, 1789, but the company did not give their 
 last performance at the Theatre de Monsieur till December 23. 
 On closing the doors they were literally homeless, and 
 advertised as follows: "To-day and to-morrow there will 
 be no performance. The public will be informed by fresh 
 bills when and where the performances will be continued." 
 We may assume that no one concerned measured the 
 significance of political circumstances at this moment. The 
 abyss of the Revolution did not yet yawn in the nation's 
 path, and men hoped and believed that king and people 
 would find a way of settling their differences. Undismayed, 
 therefore, by the stormy aspect of things, Viotti engaged a 
 building at the Foire St. Germain, and opened it as the 
 Theatre de Monsieur on January 10, 1790, the opera chosen 
 for the occasion being Paisiello's " II Barbiere," a work 
 destined in after years to be extinguished by the "Barbiere " 
 of Rossini. These quarters were, of course, but temporary, 
 and in less than twelve months Viotti and Leonard had a 
 new theatre ready, which they called the Theatre Feydeau. 
 The first performance at this house took place in January, 
 1791 ; and in the same year Cherubini produced his first 
 French opera, " Lodoiska," breaking for ever with the 
 Italian style he had theretofore cultivated, and entering upon 
 a new path leading to highest honour and fortune. The 
 fortunes of the new Theatre Feydeau were soon darkened 
 by shadows which the splendid success of "Lodoiska" 
 
LUIGI CHERUBINI : 
 
 could not disperse. Before the events of '92-3, all interests 
 gave way. The Italian section of Viotti's company hurried 
 out of France pell-mell, frightened by the terrible loth of 
 August. Leonard, compromised by some sort of connection 
 with the flight to Varennes, also put the frontier between 
 himself and the revolutionaries, and Viotti escaped to 
 England. The French company were thus left without 
 leaders, upon which, following the fashion of the day, they 
 constituted a republic — in other words, a joint-stock com- 
 pany — and carried on the enterprise for a common profit. 
 
 Cherubini's work at the Theatre Feydeau previous to the 
 break-up just described will ever be memorable on account 
 of the "new departure" he made in " Lodoiska." The 
 master had, from the first days of Leonard and Viotti's 
 enterprise, charmed French ears by his beautiful additions 
 to the Italian operas performed. These gave him repute, 
 and influenced in his favour the jury to whom he had 
 resolved to submit a typical French work, which, while 
 melodious with Italian tune, should be dramatic in its 
 musical characterisation. " Lodoiska " at once became a 
 town's talk, the newspapers especially going into raptures 
 over it. " M. Cherubini's music," said the Almanack General 
 de Tons la Spectacles, "is comparable to nothing less than the 
 sublimest efforts of the greatest masters. . . . Never did 
 French ears listen to more expressive and characteristic 
 music." Les Spectacles de Paris exclaimed : " A grandiose 
 subject : a frightful conflagration and enchanting music ! '* 
 The A nnales Dramatiqnes declared : — 
 
 This music is entrancing — sublime ; a broad style, admirable 
 treatment of the masses, profound orchestration, astonishing 
 dash, surprising originality, and grand touches — this is what it 
 offers us, and which justifies the enthusiasm of the public, who 
 during the performances rose at every piece and applauded the 
 immortal author. 
 
 On its part, the weighty and influential Journal de Paris 
 said : — 
 
 The style of the words is beneath mediocrity. Just the contrary 
 must be stated of the music, which is that of a great master. 
 The public were informed whose it was, and it was only natural 
 for them to expect a very great deal from the young composer. 
 Despite of this they were none the less astonished at the brilliant 
 effects with which he has profusely adorned his work. . . . We 
 
HIS LIFE. 23 
 
 scarcely know an instance of more vigorous and more fertile 
 talent. We are compelled sometimes to think it is too much 
 so ; if there is anything we could wish in the music, it is a trifle 
 more melody, which would enable the audience to rest after the 
 exceedingly numerous orchestral effects. 
 
 Another critic, quoted by Mr. Bellasis, echoes this last 
 remark, observing: — 
 
 '^ If we have a reproach to utter about the music* of this work, 
 it is this — it is too beautiful ; and this is a real reproach. All 
 the pieces, worked out with infinite care, and all equally worked 
 out, do not give the listener time to breathe ; by being forced to 
 admire, you end by being fatigued with too-continued beauty; 
 you would prefer from time to time simpler pieces on which to 
 take repose. 
 
 What, let us ask in passing, would these writers have 
 said to a Wagner opera with its orchestra in full blast the 
 whole time, and scores of Leitmotiven calling for recognition 
 and comprehension ? However, the too great beauty of 
 " Lodoiska " did not stand in its way, the work being 
 performed two hundred times in one year. If it be asked 
 wherein the peculiar qualities of Cherubini's opera are found, 
 we cannot do better than quote a writer in the Neidcrrheinische 
 Musik-Zeitung, who says : — 
 
 While Cherubini carried out in the melody the fundamental 
 law of dramatic truth, the agreement of the music with the 
 situations in the drama, and their poetic expression as laid down 
 by Gluck, he exhibited greater depth of intention, fuller and bolder 
 harmony, and a style of instrumentation which, by its richness 
 and the characteristic employment of the wind instruments, 
 especially in conformity with the peculiar quality of their sound, 
 introduced the orchestra in a brilliant manner, not only as the 
 foundation for the vocal portion, but also as its necessary 
 adjunct and its equal in bringing about the theatrical effect as 
 a whole. 
 
 On the same subject M. Pougin remarks: — 
 
 By the new forms he adopted in his score of" Lodoiska," by 
 the vigour displayed in its general conception, by the power he 
 succeeded in giving to his orchestra, and by the truly architectural 
 structure of this virile production of his genius, Cherubini came 
 forward as the determined champion of the evolution which 
 comic opera, that style of composition so eminently French, was 
 about to go through. Dramatic truth, the study of grand 
 situations, and the portrayal of character, which Gluck had so 
 
24 
 
 LUIGI CHERUBINI: 
 
 successfully introduced amongst us in lyric drama properly 
 so called, were all things Cherubini determined to transport to 
 the stage of the Theatre Feydeau, and endow with them our 
 musical comedy, which, with a few exceptions, had hardly been 
 distinguished for delicacy or wit, grace or tenderness, and which 
 was pretty generally deficient in breadth and emotion. 
 
 These extracts amply suffice to show wherein consisted 
 the distinctive merit of " Lodoiska," and in what manner 
 and degree Cherubini appeared as a reformer of opera. 
 
 Cherubini bent a little to the storm which drove his 
 employers and many of his colleagues out of the country. 
 In the delirium of the hour Paris was a dangerous place for 
 people who had been in any way associated with the fallen 
 regime. Our master, therefore, withdrew from the capital to 
 a house at La Chartreuse de Gaillon, near Rouen, where 
 lived his friend Louis, the architect. In the company of 
 this gentleman and his wife, an accomplished musician, who 
 had even written and produced, at the Favart, an opera- 
 comique, " Fleur d'Epine," Cherubini spent some months of 
 '92, and nearly all the annce terrible, '93. It was there he 
 received news that his father had passed away, and there 
 that, not being absorbed by dramatic composition, he wrote 
 a number of his smaller works. " Koukourgi," an unfinished 
 three-act opera, belongs to this date, as does, on the evidence 
 of Cherubini's own biographical notes, a two-act opera 
 entitled " Elise, ou le Mont Saint-Bernard." 
 
 The master returned to Paris towards the end of 1793, 
 and soon events happened which had the greatest possible 
 influence upon his future life. In the first place he married 
 a lady with whom he had been for some time in love. Her 
 name was Anne Cecile Tourette, and her station that of 
 daughter in the family of an obscure music-teacher once 
 attached to the Chapel Royal. Cherubini's marriage was 
 not, therefore, an ambitious one, but it turned out happy. 
 M. Pougin says: — 
 
 Cherubini and his wife, who loved each other tenderly, lived 
 together for forty-eight years in the most perfect harmony, and 
 when the great man died in 1842, not a cloud had ever obscured 
 their constant accord— nothing had been able to alter their mutual 
 affection. 
 
 We may state here that of this fortunate and, indeed, 
 blessed union, there were three children — Salvador, who, 
 after a good career as an artist, died in or about 1869 ; 
 
HIS LIFE. 
 
 ■5 
 
 Victoire, who married a military commissary named Turcas ; 
 and Zenobie, who married the well-known artist Rossellini. 
 Madame Cherubini long survived her husband, dying in 
 July, 1864. 
 
 More important, in an artistic sense, than the master's 
 marriage, was his enrolment (1794) among the musicians of 
 the National Guard, his instrument, according to D'Ortigue, 
 being the triangle. This may seem rather a degrading 
 position for an eminent man, but the musicians of the 
 National Guard were a peculiar and important body. 
 Originally established in 1789, by a staff-captain named 
 Sarette, as a military band of forty-five players, it had been 
 taken over by the municipality in 1790, and increased to 
 seventy instruments. Then a gratuitous school of instruction 
 was attached to it, which developed (1793) into an Institut 
 National de Musique, comprising 115 artists and 600 
 students. To this body Cherubini, in his capacity as triangle 
 player, became attached, his more important duties being, 
 of course, those of a teacher. In 1795 the National Guard 
 band was dissolved by decree, the Institut going with it, 
 and a Conservatoire de Musique being established to fill 
 the gap (October 15). Thus arose the famous French 
 school, of which Sarette was the first director, with 
 Gretry, Lesueur, Mehul, Gossec, and Cherubini as in- 
 spectors or chief professors. The triangle-player, we may 
 assume, knew what he was about when accepting his 
 humble instrument, though he hardly recognised a first 
 step to the chief place in the most famous of all musical 
 academies. 
 
 The events of 1794 include also the production at the 
 Theatre Feydeau of " Elise, ou le Mont Saint-Bernard." 
 This work is generally accounted an exception to the rule 
 that Cherubini's operas are marked by intellectual rather 
 than emotional beauty. It abounds in true Italian melody, 
 of a tender character, and, as the master when writing it 
 was under the influence of his father's death, the fact cannot 
 be deemed surprising. We have more right to be astonished 
 at the opinion of the Parisians, who thought the music "too 
 learned and too German." "Elise" was not the rival of 
 " Lodoiska " in point of success, but Cherubini showed how 
 much he felt inclined to study a light public taste by com- 
 posing as his next opera " Medee." This, however, was not 
 till near upon two years later, the intervening time being 
 
26 LUIGI CHERUBINI: 
 
 fully occupied with work connected with the new Conser- 
 vatoire, in which Cherubini taught counterpoint, and in 
 writing solfeggi for use at the same establishment. 
 
 In 1797, our master entered upon a novel kind of labour 
 as composer to the Republic. Those were days of national 
 celebrations. France entertained visions of conquest and 
 supremacy. She saw, in anticipation, the world at her feet, 
 and, dating her new life from the dawn of revolution, loved 
 to observe anniversaries and keep alive the memory of great 
 events by magnificent fetes. Into these music of course 
 entered, and Cherubini, who, as a professor at the Conser- 
 vatoire, received State pay, was sometimes called upon to 
 write patriotic hymns. His biographical notes mention 
 some of these compositions, and from their titles they appear 
 to be of a rather lurid character. There was, for example, 
 an "Ode for the Anniversary of August 18"; and " Le 
 Salpetre Republicain," performed at a festival in celebration 
 of the manufacture of saltpetre. All, however, were not of 
 this class, something higher and better being found in the 
 " Hymn to Fraternity," the " Festival of Youth," and the 
 " Festival of Gratitude." M. Pougin speaks in high terms 
 of some among them, and calls the " Hymn to Gratitude " 
 superb. We are quite ready to believe his testimony, and 
 can only regret that so much talent should have been wasted 
 upon mere occasional pieces, used one day and for ever 
 laid aside the next. It is not pleasant to dwell upon this 
 episode in Cherubini's life, one which, we cannot help 
 thinking, was thoroughly distasteful to him. As the musical 
 hack of a Republic still reeking from the shambles, he must 
 have despised himself. Happily, nobler work awaited him. 
 
 In 1797, Hoffmann flourished as critic of the Journal dcs 
 Debats, but did not confine his labours to journalism. Like 
 most of his class, he wrote libretti, and having already 
 collaborated with Mehul and Nicolo, was anxious to become 
 the colleague of Cherubini. To this end, he prepared a book 
 on the subject of Medea — a theme, as everybody knows, full 
 of gloom and horror, and not at all adapted for the class 
 of lyric drama known as opera-comique. Nevertheless, 
 Cherubini closed with the musical law-giver of the Journal 
 des Debats, and was soon hard at work writing his immortal 
 music. He seems to have laboured with great zeal and 
 assiduity, otherwise the new opera could not have been 
 produced at the Feydeau, on March 13, 1797. We all know 
 
HIS LIFE. 27 
 
 ** Medee," and it will be interesting, therefore, to read some 
 of the criticisms passed upon it in connection with the first 
 performance. Some of these are given by M, Pougin, who 
 collected them from dusty files of long-forgotten journals, 
 and deserves thanks for so doing. The Journal des Indications 
 said : — 
 
 In the part of Medea it— the music — rends the soul ; it paints 
 .... The music is broad, expressive, majestic, and terrible. 
 
 On its part the Journal de Paris remarked : — 
 Overture, recitatives, duets, and trios in the form of dialogues, 
 concerted pieces, marches, chorases, and accompaniments are all 
 rich in melody and perfectly adapted to the action on the stage. 
 
 The Courier des Spectacles was not less laudatory, but the 
 Censeur, true to its name, declared : — 
 
 The music, by Cherubini, is often melodious and sometimes 
 virile, but the public noticed m it reminiscences and imitation 
 of Mehul's manner. 
 
 Mehul himself rose up to answer this criticism, and did so 
 in terms of noble generosity. Here is his note to the 
 editor : — 
 
 " O Censeur, you do not know this great artist. But I do know 
 him, and admire him because I know him well, and I say and 
 will prove to all Europe that the inimitable author of "Demophon," 
 " Lodoiska," " Elise," and "Medee" never required to imitate 
 in order to be successively elegant or tender, graceful or tragic — 
 to be, in a word, that Cherubini whom some few may accuse of 
 imitating others, but whom they themselves will not fail to 
 imitate iinfortnnately at the first opportunity. This justly 
 celebrated artist may find a Censeur to attack him, but he will 
 have as defenders all who admire him — that is, all who are 
 capable of understanding and appreciating the highest talent." 
 
 Upon this, exit Le Censeur, with, it is to be hoped, much 
 shame of face. Upon this also Cherubini dedicated the 
 score to Mehul, in terms as follows : — 
 
 Cherubini to Mehul : Receive, my friend, from the hands of 
 friendship the homage she delights in paying to a distinguished 
 artist. Your name placed at the head of this work will lend it a 
 merit it did not possess — namely, that of appearing worthy to be 
 dedicated to you — and this will serve it as a support. May the 
 union of our two names everywhere attest the tender sentiments 
 which bind us to each other, and the respect I entertain for 
 real talent. 
 
28 LUIGI CHERUBINI: 
 
 Our master had worked so hard at " Medee " that when 
 the opera was safely launched and Mdme. Scio was drawing 
 all the town to see her as the vengeful wife, his health gave 
 way. Rest became necessary and change of scene desirable ; 
 he therefore once more took the diligence to La Chartreuse 
 de Gaillon, and lived for a while with his friends, M. and 
 ISIadame Louis. A letter written thence to his wife has 
 been published, and is interesting, as showing how tender 
 the so-called "grim Florentine" could be; also, how his 
 pen would slip in writing French. 
 
 I have at length received a letter from you, my darling, and 
 hope to receive another to-morrow. I thank you for the pleasure 
 you have procured me, for it is a pleasure to hear about you and 
 my little cocotte (ma petit cocotte). Pretty dear ! so she often 
 asks for me, does she? Kiss her well for me, as I cannot have 
 the satisfaction of kissing her myself. It is horrible weather 
 here ; nothing but wind and rain. ... I have not as good 
 an appetite as the first day I came. However, I shall go out 
 to-day after dinner (cette apres diner), for the weather is not so 
 bad as it was. Not having "Madame Angot'"'' to amuse me, 
 I pass my life in eating and sleeping, for we go to bed at half- 
 past ten. We have a little music, and play the remainder of the 
 time; occasionally we have billiards and harmless games in the 
 evening. I am delighted that you also are amused. You are 
 very lucky to be able to go to the first performance of Mehul's 
 piece (" Le Chasse de Jeune Henri "). I shall look forward 
 anxiously for the news of his success. If he achieves such a 
 success as I hope he will and as he deserves, he will have a great 
 one. The only thing that annoys me is not being able to be 
 present at his good fortune, so that I may share it with him, and 
 be the first to tell him what gratification it affords me. . . . 
 Adieu ! Give my dear Victorine, who writes like a little angel, a 
 thousand kisses for me. All the ladies here desire their kind 
 regards ; they wish you had been with me, but that will be some 
 other time. Good-bye, my darling ! With very best love, I 
 remain, your affectionate husband and friend. 
 
 There is another letter extant, written to his wife a few 
 days later, but containing little more than small details, of 
 no interest now. Some sentences in it, however, afford a 
 glimpse of the indifference which later on became a feature 
 of hardness in the master's character. They will explain 
 themselves as we quote them : 
 
 * A favourite piece then running at the Ambigu. 
 
HIS LIFE. 29 
 
 As for your brother's marriage, I am not at all offended at his 
 contracting it without me. On the contrary, I am glad he spared 
 me the trouble of it. All the worse for him if he is wanting in 
 respect toward his parents. But who were the witnesses at the 
 ceremony ? You must tell me all this on my return. Papa sent 
 me a letter, in which he tries to excuse himself for not being able 
 to prevent the solemnisation of his son's marriage without me. 
 I am about to reply to set his mind at ease, and show that my 
 tranquillity is not disturbed by the matter. 
 
 Cherubini returned to Paris in May, 1797, and resumed 
 his duties at the Conservatoire, but did little else till the 
 death of that pure-souled patriot, General Heche, plunged 
 France into mourning. Then, associated with Chenier, he 
 prepared a great lyric scene to be performed at the Opera 
 and at the Feydeau, in celebration of the departed hero ; 
 and thereby hangs a tale. 
 
 The death of the Bayard of the Revolution (Heche) 
 naturally excited in French breasts a desire to honour their 
 lamented hero in a manner the most public and complete. 
 At the Theatre Feydeau the idea was to prepare a grand 
 lyrical scene by way of Pompe funebre, and thus turn the 
 stage into a place of mourning. Accordingly, Chenier 
 received a commission to write the verses, Cherubini being 
 chosen to compose the music. At this distance of time, and 
 among Englishmen, the ceremonial retains no significance 
 with regard to the connected event, but it gives a curious 
 idea of the sort of thing which served to keep revolutionary 
 and patriotic fervour at white heat among our neighbours 
 many years ago. It opened with a tableau at once realistic 
 and symbolical. Maidens and Old Men in classical attire 
 mixed with officers and soldiers in the military dress of the 
 period. There was a funereal urn ; there were offerings of 
 palms and garlands ; hymns were sung, drums rolled, 
 muskets fired, and what not beside, of a nature alike stirring 
 and incongruous. The intention was good, no doubt, but 
 the public refused to " take the will for the deed," and one 
 journal said of the piece: "A sort of pantomime; a nullity 
 in point of dramatic merit ; it was played simultaneously at 
 two theatres, but did not draw at either." The Hoche Pompe 
 funebre was not to pass, however, without some effect upon the 
 composer of the music. In the result it made an enemy of a 
 young soldier just then rising into power, one who united to 
 vast capacity the meanest and most belittling spirit of jealousy. 
 
LUIGI CHERUBINI 
 
 The worse than womanish feeling cherished by Napoleon 
 for all rivals is matter of history, and has been proved up to 
 the hilt over and over again. He could even depreciate 
 brilliant services that helped to lay the foundations of his 
 throne, when they overshadowed his own deeds, or promised 
 to make a hero more popular than himself. Desaix, among 
 his subordinates in the campaign of Marengo, and Macdonald, 
 among his marshals in the wars of the empire, had good 
 reason to know what sort of chief they served. Even the 
 grave proved no barrier to the great man's jealousy. Hoche, 
 though dead, still irritated him, and he was impatient of any 
 praise bestowed upon the pacificator of La Vendee. How 
 this unreasonable pettishness affected Cherubini has been 
 set forth by one of the master's biographers, Raoul Rochette, 
 and deserves quotation : — 
 
 The conqueror of Arcole brought back from Italy a march of 
 Paisiello's, which he wished to hear at the Conservatoire. The 
 director, M. Sarette, thought he ought to profit by the opportunity 
 and show the young hero, on whom the eyes of all Europe were 
 fixed, the entire resources of the new institution by employing 
 them on a more important composition ; so he selected a cantata 
 and funeral march, written to words by Chenier, by AI. Cherubini 
 for the funeral of General Hoche. It is a strikingly expressive 
 piece, containing beauties of the highest order, and had made a 
 prodigious impression on the people of Paris, but failed to do so 
 on the conqueror of Italy. The General felt offended that the 
 performance was not limited to what he had said he should like 
 to hear ; he thought there was an intention to give him a lesson 
 by showing that France could do without foreign talent. 
 Perhaps, too, he was wounded at hearing Hoche's praises sung ; 
 perhaps, in a word, he already desired hymns for no one but 
 himself.' Be this as it may, he appeared displeased. Scarcely 
 was the performance over, when he went up to M. Cherubini, 
 and, without saying a word to him about his march, spoke only 
 in praise of Paisiello, whom he looked upon as the first of all 
 composers, while after him he would hear of no one but 
 Zingarelli, which deprived our composer of the hope of taking 
 even second rank. " I say nothing about Paisiello," murmured 
 
 Cherubini, in a low voice, " but ZingarelH ! " And that was 
 
 his only answer. 
 
 We may add that that only answer Napoleon never forgave. 
 
 He had a powerful memory for offences against his self-esteem. 
 
 Chcrubini's next work was the one-act opera, "L'Hotel- 
 
HIS LIFE. 
 
 31 
 
 lerie Portugaise," words by an unknown author named 
 Saint-Aignau, who, somehow or other, had contrived to win 
 the master's confidence. This work, first pla3'ed in July, 
 1798, failed completely, owing to the badness of the libretto, 
 but the music met with favour at the hands of connoisseurs, 
 the overture receiving especial praise for reasons which 
 many readers of these words will not fail to understand. 
 On his part, Saint-Aignau would not accept the public 
 verdict as final. He remodelled his book and made another 
 appeal, but again without success. " L'Hotellerie Portu- 
 gaise" struggled through four nights, and then there was an 
 end of it. Cherubini proved a little more fortunate with his 
 next opera, " La Punition." Desfaucherets was the author 
 of the libretto, concerning which the Courrier des Spectacles 
 said : " It has not much in it, is uninteresting, and contains 
 striking improbabilities." This, too, was remodelled, and 
 with better results than attended " L'Hotellerie Portugaise." 
 Subsequently Cherubini, working with Boieldieu, brought 
 out another one-act piece, " Emma, ou la Prisonniere " 
 (December, 1799), success in its case being — according to 
 M. Pougin — decided and prolonged, but on the evidence of 
 authorities accepted by Mr. Bellasis, entirely non-existent. 
 On which side the truth lies a contemporary newspaper 
 must be allowed to determine. " ' La Prisonniere,' " said 
 Les Spectacles des Paris, quoted by M. Pougin, "still draws 
 large numbers to the Theatre Montansier." All this was 
 mere prelude to an event of genuine importance — the pro- 
 duction of " Les Deux Journees." 
 
 The book of " Les Deux Journees " was written by Bouilly, 
 the literary colleague of Gretry in some of his most important 
 works, and the betrothed of that master's youngest and most 
 beloved daughter, Antoinette. Bouilly is described by M. 
 Pougin as "the wishy-washy and pompous author, whose 
 pretentious and turgid style might serve as a model for all 
 Prudhommes, past, present, and future." We shall not 
 question the judgment nor censure Bouilly's weaknesses, 
 since his self-importance led him to write a book called 
 " Mes Recapitulations," wherein we read something of the 
 genesis of " Les Deux Journees," and learn that the writer 
 first met Cherubini at the house of Josephine Beauharnais, 
 afterwards the wife of Napoleon. At that time the composer 
 was in search of a good librettist — one who could command 
 sustained interest in union with new and pleasing situations. 
 
32 LUIGI CHERUDIXI: 
 
 I was happy enough, said Bouilly, to reaHse his wish. . . . 
 An act of admirable devotion on the part of a water-carrier for 
 the benefit of a friend of mine, a magistrate, who was saved 
 under the Terror as though by miracle, inspired me with the idea 
 of giving the people a lesson in humanity. In a very short time 
 I wrote my piece entitled " Les Deux Journees," and hastened 
 to entrust it to Cherubini. He thought he saw in it something 
 which might afford his rich and fertile imagination all the 
 stimulus he required, and set to work uninterruptedly at com- 
 posing one of the finest scores of modern times. 
 
 After a good deal of vain talk about himself, our librettist 
 goes on to tell what happened at the first performance of 
 " Les Deux Journees." Here he is worth quoting again :— 
 The overture began and met with general approbation. The 
 first act appeared full of matter well planned and characterised 
 by absorbing interest. Then came the finale, that admirable 
 septet cited as a masterpiece of our modern school. Enthusiasm 
 had reached its highest pitch. Scarcely had the curtain fallen at 
 the end of this act ere a large number of the Conservatoire 
 pupils, climbing up over the orchestra, surrounded their master, 
 who wanted to make me share the congratulations showered 
 upon him. . . . But all my attention was taken up by my water- 
 cart ; the whole fate of the piece depended on that, and on more 
 than' one occasion the public have been known to pass from the 
 enthusiasm produced by a first act to great severity as regards 
 the others. I relied with justice on the irresistible spirit of my 
 actor (Juliet); everything had been regulated and measured in 
 order that the scene of the water-cart containing an illustrious 
 personage proscribed by law might produce all the effect we 
 expected ; but a mere nothing might destroy all our hopes : it 
 was necessary that the interest and the comic element in the 
 situation should hit the public at the minute, the second, indi- 
 cated. The vigilance of a sentinel whose steps were counted 
 had to be eluded. In a word, Count Armand had only a single 
 instant for escape. Everything concurred to make that instant 
 decisive and favourable to the piece. . . . (It) produced on the 
 whole audience one of those outbursts of emotion which cannot 
 be withstood, and which are followed by lasting success. I felt 
 assured from that moment ; and, in my turn, pressing Cherubini 
 in my arms with the eager utterance of deep emotion : " Pardon 
 me, great master ; I trembled, and should never have been con- 
 soled had I compromised your fine talent." " Never," he 
 answered, returning my embrace—" no, never, perhaps, shall I 
 have a better occasion for developing it; and I owe you my 
 grandest triumph." 
 
HIS LIFE. 33 
 
 *' Les Deux Journees " is so well known to ever}^ amateur 
 that a discussion of its characteristics would take up time 
 and space without just cause, while those who wish to learn 
 what some great masters have said about it can gratify 
 their desire by turning to the pages of Mr. Bellasis. From 
 the historical point of view it is more important to show how 
 the opera was received by contemporary critics. We can 
 do this, thanks to the researches of M. Pougin. Here is 
 what the influential Journal de Paris said : — 
 
 The music of this work is, without doubt, one of its author's 
 masterpieces. Nothing can be more new, more original, and 
 more majestic than the overture ; nothing more dramatic or 
 more finely composed than the finale of the first act ; nothing 
 more simple and more tuneful than the elegant airs scattered 
 through the piece. 
 
 The Courier des Spectacles remarked : The subject, the situa- 
 tions, the music, and the playing of the actors, all interest us, and 
 deserve the unanimity of general applause which crowned the 
 work .... Citizen Cherubini's style of composition is so 
 marked that it is impossible not to know it. Force, rapidity, 
 learned and unexpected transitions, and an accent of deep feel- 
 ing, which reign in all the passionate situations, are so many 
 signs by which, from the very earliest numbers, we recognise the 
 inimitable author. 
 
 On its part the Annee Thcdtrale observed : — 
 
 All the sentiments of surprise, joy, disappointment, gratitude, 
 and hope are, in a word, expressed in the tone adapted to them, 
 and the accompaniment always adds to the expression with 
 which the melody is capable of investing them. The whole is 
 blended into a harmonic effect which is one of the richest ever 
 yet heard on the stage. 
 
 Taking these opinions in a representative character, it is 
 clear that Cherubini, even in his most individual phase, had 
 not to wait for generous and discerning appreciation. "Les 
 Deux Journees" placed him at once on a pinnacle of the 
 temple of art. The opera, which was produced on January 
 i6, 1800, ran for two hundred nights, and soon found its 
 way out of France into Germany and Italy. In 1801 a 
 much mangled version, bearing the name of Thomas Att- 
 wood, was performed in London as " The Escapes," and 
 not till seventy years later did " Les Deux Journees," rise 
 in all its beauty, above our horizon. The opera figured in 
 
 D 
 
34 LUIGI CHERUBINI. 
 
 the Drury Lane season of 1872, recitatives having been 
 written by Sir Michael Costa, but it failed to interest our 
 public. So much the worse, not for it, but them. 
 
 A propos to "Les Deux Journees," Bouilly tells a curious 
 story, which shows what an impression the work made even 
 upon people far removed from the influence of ordinary 
 operatic doings. One morning twelve water-carriers, one 
 of them bearing a magnificent bouquet, appeared at 
 Bouilly's residence, and said: "Beg pardon, sir, if we 
 intrude, but when the heart speaks it cannot be resisted." 
 Asked to be a little more explicit, the spokesman replied 
 that they came to thank Bouilly, " in the name of all the 
 water-carriers, for the honour you have done us by this 
 masterpiece on the stage, where — blood and thunder! — 
 you have drawn us in such a way that it made us cry, 
 neither more nor less than if we had been a lot of little 
 children." The dialogue continued thus : — 
 
 Bouilly. I painted you as what you are — worthy and ex- 
 cellent men — and as you deserve to be painted. 
 
 Spokesman. Well, it all amounts to this — that, in the first 
 place, I have come to beg you will accept these flowers as a 
 mark of our gratitude, and then give us permission — 
 
 Bouilly. Permission to do what ? 
 
 Spokesman. To supply your house with water for a year, 
 gratis, of course. It is settled with all my mates of this part 
 of the town. Each will have his week. It will be kind of you 
 to do so. 
 
 Bouilly. I am profoundly touched by your offer, which 
 flatters as much as it honours me. But permit me to accept 
 only these beautiful flowers, which I would not exchange for a 
 crown. 
 
 Spokesman. O do not refuse us, confound it! That would 
 grieve us too much. Like a good fellow as you are, do not 
 refuse us. 
 
 Bouilly. Let us say no more on the subject, my good friends. 
 If my piece made your hearts beat, believe me your offer makes 
 mine bea quite as much, and will never be effaced from my 
 memory. As for the flowers, I shall deck my wife and daughter 
 with them, but I promise to keep one which will remind me all 
 my life of this charming interview. 
 
 Bouilly adds that he and the water-carriers then drank 
 wine together, and that he preserved one of the flowers 
 beneath a glass shade. 
 
HIS LIFE. 35 
 
 Cherubini next collaborated with Mehul in a three -act 
 opera, " Epicure," which decidedly failed, for reasons that 
 may or may not have been those set forth in a contemporary 
 paper, Etrcnncs Lyriques et Thedirales : — 
 
 Four insignificant personages, opera-like scenes of magic, a 
 hurried ending, the love of a young girl for old Epiciiyus, and 
 the child's confession before the grave Areopagus put the 
 spectators in a bad humour and inclined them to laughter. It 
 was time the piece finished when it did. Little interest, but 
 facility of versification ; agreeable touches, but buftbonery for 
 comedy ; interest without interest, but a tolerably satisfactory 
 development of the character of Epicurus, which is in itse.f 
 pleasing — such, to our mind, are the beauties and defects of the 
 work. The music is not the music for such a subject: it belongs 
 neither to the buffo nor the terrible style, but makes an infernal 
 noise, produces many orchestral effects, and multiplies difficulties 
 — we do not very well know wherefore. Wishing to surpass 
 each other, the two composers who wrote the music have oftered 
 us something scientific for trained ears. The audience were not 
 likely to take this into account. 
 
 It is fair to add that this opinion was not shared by many 
 critics, who simply complained that, while each master 
 wrote well, the general effect lacked unity of manner — 
 which, indeed, was to be expected. 
 
 The period of " Les Deux Journees " and the " Epicure " 
 was one of great activity on the part of Cherubini. He 
 did not compose much dramatic music, it is true, for some 
 time after the failure of his collaboration with Mehul, and 
 this has deceived some of his biographers into a belief that 
 he was despondent and inactive. M. Pougin gives ample 
 proof to the contrary. We find that Cherubini became 
 connected with a concert speculation at the Theatre Louvois, 
 in conjunction with Citizens Lefebvre and Garat. This 
 failed ignominiously, only two performances taking place. 
 A little later the master is discovered in the midst of a hot 
 fight waged between the professors of the Conservatoire 
 and their ex-colleague Lesueur, while about the same time 
 he appears as part editor and proprietor of the Journal 
 d'Apollon. M. Pougin has disinterred the advertisement 
 of this publication, and here it is : — 
 
 Journal d'Apollon, by Citizens Cherubini, Boieldieu, and 
 Jadin. This periodical will appear under the title of the jfournal 
 d'Apollon. It will contain new compositions by the three 
 
 D 2 
 
36 LUIGI CHERUBINI 
 
 musicians ; each will supply two a month, which, collected, will 
 form six pieces, consisting alternately of French romances, 
 rondeaux, duets and airs, and Italian duets and cavatinas, or 
 canons for three or four voices. The first number will appear on 
 the ist Floreal next. 
 
 M, Pougin adds, in further proof of Cherubini's activity: — 
 It was also shortly afterwards that Cherubini was mixed up in 
 a commercial scheme, started, doubtless, by several composers 
 to defend their author's rights, disregarded somewhat, probably, 
 by the publishers. One thing, at any rate, is certain — Berton, 
 Boieldieu, Nicolo, Mehul, Jadin, Kreutzer, and Cherubini com- 
 bined to found a musical publishing firm, in which they traded 
 personally with their own works. The house was situated in 
 the Rue Richelieu, then called the Rue de la Loi ; it is the same 
 which Boieldieu's younger brother afterwards took on his own 
 account. The trade-mark of the firm was a star, with the name 
 of one of the associated composers appearing between a couple 
 of the rays. 
 
 One of the stories connecting Cherubini with Napoleon 
 comes in about this time, and may be taken with as many 
 grains of salt as the reader pleases. It is said that among 
 the deputations which went up to congratulate the future 
 Emperor upon his escape from Fieschi's infernal machine, 
 was one from the Conservatoire. Cherubini belonged to 
 it, but, knowing Napoleon's prejudice against him, kept 
 in the background. If he hoped thus to avoid remark, 
 he reckoned without his host. The Corsican soldier never 
 forgot anybody, and he soon exclaimed, " I do not see 
 Monsieur "Cherubin," using the FVench rendering of the 
 composer's name. On this Cherubini stepped to the front, 
 and the two men looked at each other, but neither said a 
 word. Another tale follows upon this. Napoleon soon 
 after gave a dinner at the Tuileries to a number of dis- 
 tinguished men, and Cherubini was amongst the guests. 
 On adjourning to the salon, the First Consul singled out 
 our master and began, in his restless manner, to walk him 
 up and down the room. He meant to be "nasty," and 
 Cherubini must have detected it, w^ondering, perhaps, w^here 
 the blow would fall. " So," said the lord of many legions, 
 "the French are in Italy!" As the Florentine musician 
 was not a very patriotic Italian, this did not hurt him much, 
 and he had no difficulty in turning a compliment out of it. 
 " Where would they not go, led by such a hero as you ? " 
 
HIS LIFE. 37 
 
 Napoleon seemed pleased, but soon relapsed into his dis- 
 agreeable humour, and brought up the name of his favourite, 
 Paisiello. "I tell you I like Paisiello's music immensely ; 
 it is soft and tranquil. You have much talent, but there is 
 too much accompaniment." Cherubini answered: "Citizen 
 Consul, I conform to French taste ; ' paese che vai usanza 
 che trovi,' says the Italian proverb," Napoleon persisted : 
 "Your music makes too much noise. Speak to me in that 
 of Paisiello ; that is what lulls me gently." The master's 
 reply showed how unfit he was to figure in courts. Already 
 discerning men saw at what a glittering prize the fortunate 
 soldier was aiming, and Cherubini very plainly hinted it 
 when he replied : " I understand ; you like music which 
 does not stop you from thinking of State affairs." The 
 conqueror's brow darkened ; the hard, stern expression 
 which often made nations tremble settled upon his face, and 
 the conversation ended. 
 
 The First Consul soon made a practical retort upon 
 Cherubini. Having re-established religion in France, he 
 revived services at the Tuileries, and, sending for Paisiello, 
 made him director of the music at a salary of 12,000 francs 
 per year. This step naturally irritated the French musicians, 
 and excited their ill-feeling to such an extent that even 
 Cherubini became its object. Napoleon, we may be sure, 
 was not affected by anything they said or did. Retaining 
 Paisiello, as long as that composer would stop — the master 
 returned to Naples in 1804 — he revelled in the soothing 
 music of his predilection. Speculation has often concerned 
 itself with the real reasons why Napoleon disliked Cherubini's 
 music and preferred Paisiello's. One writer (Picchianti) 
 quoted by Mr. Bellasis, goes very far afield in search. He 
 argues that the great soldier's nerves, accustomed to the 
 " confused noise " of great armies, could not have found the 
 Florentine's works unbearable by reason of sonority ; and 
 then proceeds : 
 
 It is rather to be believed that in Cherubini's music . . . 
 Napoleon discovered the impress of an exalted spirit, and a 
 certain republican austerity, which he did not at all relish, and 
 would have been glad even to eradicate . . . there perhaps 
 arose in him some fear lest such music should produce results 
 clashing with his chief objects, which were to extinguish in the 
 French people all excitement opposed, as he thought, to his 
 particular aims, and for that very reason he wished, on the other 
 
33 LUIGI CHERUBINI : 
 
 hand, to maintain, by means of Paisiello's and Zingarelli's 
 compositions, the reputation of the old school of Italian music, 
 the quiet and suave style of which seemed to him calculated to 
 lull the popular mind. 
 
 In our opinion, there is no reason to speculate after this 
 fashion about a fact so perfectly natural as Napoleon's 
 love of soft and soothing music. The man who spends his 
 days amid the Avhirl of a great city's business loves to retire 
 at night to some quiet suburban retreat, and with equal 
 reason this soldier, accustomed to the din of military 
 bands and the uproar of popular enthusiasm, sought relief in 
 unexciting strains. 
 
 In October, i8(>3, Cherubini appeared for the second time 
 on the stage of the Grand Opera, where was produced his 
 *' Anacreon, ou I'Amour Fugitif." Again he suffered through 
 a bad libretto, his indifference or want of judgment having 
 led him to accept a book from an obscure writer named 
 Mendouze. One might have thought that the master had 
 had experience enough of obscure writers ; but no ; he went 
 on trying to draw a prize blindfold, and always getting a 
 blank, or worse. Castil-Blaze says : 
 
 The Anacreonic libretto struck the public as very wearisome 
 and icy cold. They received certain scenes, however, with 
 transports of merriment, especially one in which Anacreon, 
 when speaking to his favourite Odalisque to ask her for some- 
 thing to drink, calls her " Esclave interessante." For five 
 minutes shouts of laughter prevented the actor from going on. 
 
 That musicians admired the beautiful overture — played, 
 by the way, at the first concert of our own Philharmonic 
 Society and twice encored — as well as many of the solos and 
 concerted pieces, goes without saying, but the public would 
 not have " Anacreon " at any price. For the first time in 
 the annals of the Grand Opera, they hissed, and the alarmed 
 manager withdrew the work after a run of seven nights. 
 
 In December of the following year (1804) Cherubini tried 
 his luck again on the same stage, and once more failed. 
 This time he produced a ballet, " Achille a Seyros," having 
 however, written only a part of the music himself. Ill-fortune 
 attended him in other ways. Paisiello, tired of Paris, left 
 and went home, whereupon Napoleon invited Mehul to take 
 the vacant post at the Tuilerics. The French master, it is 
 said, declined in favour of Cherubini ; but several versions of 
 
HIS LIFE. 39 
 
 the story are told, and we cannot decide whether he was 
 thus magnanimous or not. According to one authority, the 
 following conversation took place between the Emperor and 
 the composer of "Joseph " : — 
 
 Mehnl. I can only accept the place on condition that you will 
 allow me to share it with my friend Cherubini. 
 
 Napoleon. Don't mention him ; he is a man of snappish 
 disposition, and I have an utter aversion to him. 
 
 Mehiil. It is certainly his misfortune to have failed in securing 
 your good opinion, but in point of sacred music he is superior to 
 us all ; he is straitened in his circumstances, has a numerous 
 family, and I should feel happy in reconciling you to him. 
 
 Napoleon. I repeat, I will not have him. 
 
 Mchul. Well, then, I must positively decline; nothing can 
 alter my determination. I belong to the Institute ; he does not. 
 I will not allow it to be said that I take advantage of the 
 kindness you show me in order to secure every place for myself 
 and deprive a celebrated man of what he is so justly entitled to 
 claim at your hands. 
 
 Castil-Blaze describes all this as pure invention, and the 
 only thing certain is that Napoleon requested Paisiello to 
 name his own successor. Lesueur was the fortunate man. 
 
 In 1805 Cherubini organised and conducted a great per- 
 formance of Mozart's " Requiem." This was his last 
 engagement before quitting the French capital for Vienna, 
 attracted thither by a liberal offer for two operas, to be 
 produced under his personal superintendence. A certain 
 Baron von Braun came from the Kaiserstadt expressly to 
 arrange this affair, and with him Cherubini, his wife, and 
 infant daughter left Paris, travelling by way of Frankfort, 
 Berlin, Dresden, and Prague. The master wrote full details 
 of this long roundabout journey, but little would be gained 
 by quoting from a narrative no more interesting than an 
 ordinary traveller's diary. Enough that the party reached 
 Vienna safe and sound, on July 27, and that Cherubini lost 
 no time in making the acquaintance of the venerable Haydn, 
 then nearing the close of his career ; of Beethoven, whose 
 star was rising towards the zenith ; and of Hummel, then in 
 the glow of his popularity. He soon brought out " Les Deux 
 Journees " and " Lodoiska," and was beginning a new opera 
 for the Vienna stage, when the dark and gigantic shadow of 
 Napoleon fell upon the Austrian capital like an eclipse. 
 Every one knows that in September, 1805, the conqueror 
 
40 
 
 LUIGI CHERUBINI 
 
 broke up the camp of the " Army of England " at Boulogne, 
 and, after one of the most astonishing marches on record, 
 hurled that splendid and irresistible host full at the heart of 
 the Austrian Empire. With magical rapidity he captured 
 Ulm and poor unfortunate Mack, swept on to Vienna, 
 crushed Austria and Russia at Austerlitz, and then returned 
 to the trembling city on the Danube as its master. There 
 he met with Cherubini once more, sending for him and 
 graciously saying, "Since you are here, Monsieur Cherubini, 
 we will have some music together. You shall direct my 
 concerts." This the master did, so pleasing the Emperor 
 that his Majesty one day observed, " I hope that you are 
 here only for a holiday, and intend returning to Paris." A 
 courtier would have known how to " improve the occasion " 
 of this speech, but Cherubini was as proud as Napoleon 
 himself, and made no sign. Otherwise, perhaps, the 
 Florentine, and not Paer, would soon after have enjoyed 
 50,000 francs a year, wdth the compound title, " Com^poser 
 and Director of the Private Musical Establishment of the 
 Emperor, and Singing Master to the Empress." 
 
 Cherubini's visit to the Austrian capital, though not 
 unattended by success, could scarcely have equalled his 
 expectations. Everything was upset by the campaign of 
 Austerlitz. For a time the whole fabric of society became 
 disorganised, and this, no doubt, had something to do with 
 the failure of a commercial enterprise in which, according to 
 Picchianti, the master was associated with Steibelt. Lured 
 by the temptations that so often draw artists out of their 
 proper path into bogs and all manner of unpleasant places, 
 the two composers started a music-printing establishment. 
 Of course they did not know how to manage it amid the 
 prevailing confusion, and collapse soon put an end to their 
 anxieties. Cherubini's share of the debts seems to have 
 been a heavy one, but he met it manfully, and for some time 
 had to fight the battle of life w'ith crippled resources. Amid 
 all that was disagreeable in Vienna, Cherubini had some 
 consolation, his " Faniska " being well received and played 
 for twenty-eight nights. The All^emeine Musikzeitiin^ of 
 Leipzig, which had so many curious things to say about 
 Beethoven at this period, noticed the work in due course, 
 remarking : — 
 
 The music is in every respect worthy the great master who 
 wrote it ; with the exception of certain passages where he may 
 
HIS LIFE. 41 
 
 be reproached with being too artificial ; it is profound, full of 
 warmth and power, and thoroughly characteristic. Rich in 
 harmony— sometimes even too much so — it is truly striking and 
 strongly dramatic. But a person must hear it several times to 
 understand and seize it thoroughly. 
 
 For reasons already pointed out, Cherubini did not remain 
 in Vienna to produce the second of the two operas he had 
 engaged to write. In his autobiographical sketch we read : 
 "After giving my opera of ' Faniska,' which was performed 
 for the first time February 26, 1806, I started from Vienna 
 on March 9, and arrived in Paris on April i, after an absence 
 of nine months and four days." It is right to add that 
 " Faniska" was not the only work written at Vienna by our 
 master. In his own catalogue is entered, under date 1805 : 
 " March for wind instruments, composed at Vienna for 
 Baron von Braun's private band. A Sonata for barrel organ 
 belonging to Baron Baum." 
 
 A great many stories are told about Cherubini's relations 
 with Beethoven, Haydn, and the other less illustrious 
 musicians who then made Vienna a "city of the masters." 
 We shall not here concern ourselves with them. A large 
 proportion is mere fancy, and the game of sifting the chaff 
 from the wheat would not be worth the candle. 
 
 Cherubini was received back in Paris with open arms. 
 Especially did the professors and pupils of the Conservatoire 
 greet him who conferred so great a lustre upon the institution 
 he had helped to found. They even organised a musical 
 entertainment of an impromptu sort, whereat was performed 
 sundry selections from his works. A propos to this, M. Pougin 
 has placed himself in direct opposition to Fetis on a point 
 which has more than one form of interest. Referring to the 
 extemporised entertainment, Fetis says : — 
 
 This protestation on the part of all the distinguished musicians 
 then in Paris, and of the young and warm-hearted students 
 against the imperial disfavour manifested for a great artist, far 
 from being useful to the latter, could only do him harm. The 
 same neglect continued to weigh him down, and his discourage- 
 ment is marked very significantly in the catalogue of his works, 
 for the years 1806-7-8 mention only fragments of a few pages 
 each. During all this period a frivolous occupation grew to be 
 a passionate pursuit with him, and caused him in some degree 
 to forget music. It consisted in making pen and ink sketches on 
 playing cards, of figures and scenes of which the clubs, spades. 
 
42 LUIGI CHERUBINI: 
 
 hearts, and diamonds formed integral parts. He sometimes 
 used to devote to this work seven or eight hours in a single day. 
 These drawings, which frequently exhibited original fancy, were 
 in much request among his friends, and enabled him to forget 
 his sorrows. 
 
 Ferdinand Hiller, writing in Macmillan''s Magazine, has 
 told us something more of Cherubini's craze for drawing on 
 cards : — 
 
 On entering his rooms, the visitors beheld, hung in frames 
 against the walls, a number of pictures of all sizes. Red and 
 black spots were more or less visible here and there, and an 
 attentive examination was needed to account for them. These 
 paintings were the strange productions of a taste that had then 
 become a mania with Cherubini. They represented the most 
 fantastic figures, groups, and scenes, produced by the aid of the 
 hearts and diamonds of playing cards, either entire or divided, 
 according to circumstances. There were dancers with red 
 jerkins, singers with red hats, edifices and landscapes with 
 strange specimens of vegetation, the cards being employed either 
 horizontally, perpendicularly, separately, or in groups, with a 
 greater or less number of pips effaced. It was a means of 
 spending or, perhaps, wasting his time. And yet these com- 
 binations of invention and calculation, this victorious search 
 for the solution of voluntarily imposed difficulties were very 
 curious ; and it was impossible not to discover in them a certain 
 analogy with his musical combinations, in which every operation 
 was destined to furnish the secret of a particular phrase, of 
 an effect, or of a long-sustained harmony. 
 
 M. Pougin refuses to see in this neglect of music for a 
 fantastic pursuit any sign of discouragement caused by 
 imperial hostility. He holds that the Conservatoire people 
 would not have dared to fcU Cheriibini as a demonstration 
 against Napoleon — which is perhaps true — and he contends 
 that the Emperor's dislike of the composer was not of so 
 pronounced a character as is often represented. In support 
 of this view he quotes a letter from Cherubini's grand- 
 daughter, Madame Clementine Duret, in which that lady, 
 referring to the skirmishes between the Corsican and the 
 Florentine, says : — 
 
 Their conversations, studded with pungent and witty remarks, 
 have been often reproduced, but exaggerated and even misrepre- 
 sented. In his old age I have heard my grandfather express his 
 surprise at the manner in which phrases, interchanged without 
 any afterthought on either side, between the Emperor and 
 
HIS LIFE. ■ 43 
 
 himself, had been reported. " Napoleon was not fond of music," 
 he said, " because he did not understand it, and because the 
 sensation it caused him resembled the effect of a noise which 
 attacked his nerves and was disagreeable to him. The obligation 
 he was under of listening to it made him reproach me for the 
 power of the orchestras I directed. ... He asked me for 
 music without common sense, and as I was responsible for the 
 organisation of the concerts I would not yield to him. He used 
 then to get impatient at meeting with resistance on my part, and 
 made cutting remarks which I affected not to take. 
 
 M. Pougin further argues that Cherubini's inaction during 
 the years 1806-8 arose from the cause that operated to the 
 same end in 1801-2 — namely, nervous disease : — 
 
 The nervous affection to which he was always subject, and 
 which frequently exerted a baneful influence, not on his disposition 
 — for he was at bottom good and kindly — but on his temper, 
 sometimes manifested itself in painful and cruel paroxysms. 
 
 All these observations are worth taking into account, but, 
 on considering the whole matter, we are inclined to think 
 with Fetis rather than with the later biographer. On the 
 one hand, the evidence of Napoleon's prejudice against 
 Cherubini is too strong to be much weakened by testimony 
 like that of Madame Duret, while the nervous sensitiveness 
 of the master's organisation would cause him to feel with 
 special keenness a slight like the preferment of Paer over 
 his head. The devotion of Cherubini to absurd card- 
 drawings favours a belief that he suspended musical work 
 out of sheer disgust. A man whose nervous system has 
 broken down does not take to labour of any kind for seven 
 hours a day — he is usually restless and aimless ; whereas a 
 man who feels that serious exertion meets with no reward 
 is apt to take up with odd and useless pursuits as a kind of 
 protest against the injustice that declines to recompense 
 any other. That Cherubini fretted himself into a state 
 of nervous disorganisation is likely enough. The card- 
 drawing was only occupation for his fingers, and his soul 
 rebelled against the very relief it sought. Happily, a way 
 of escape out of the Slough of Despond was opened up. 
 In 1808 our master accepted an invitation to spend a holiday 
 with the Prince and Princess of Chimay, at their castle 
 in Belgium. From this mere accident, so to speak, sprang 
 
44 LUIGI CHERUDINI : 
 
 Cherubini's health soon began to improve under the 
 influence of country air and change of scene ; but no one 
 pressed him on the subject of music, and for a while he 
 continued to keep aloof from his art, preferring to study 
 botany when rambling about the estate. Matters stood thus 
 as St. Cecilia's Day drew near, and the heads ot a musical 
 society in the village were debating what work should be 
 performed at the festival of their patroness. Some one 
 of those heads — we wish his name was known, since the 
 world is his debtor — suggested an application to the great 
 composer at the castle. The idea was a bold one, but the 
 simple villagers acted upon it at once. They found 
 Cherubini, and humbly begged him to write a mass for 
 Chimay church, he listening, though all the while busily 
 arranging some botanical specimens. The answer was 
 " short, sharp, and decisive " — " No ; it's impossible." 
 More than this he refused to say, and the deputation, after 
 standing awhile in painful confusion, silently retired with 
 no very high opinion, it may be, of Cherubini's good 
 manners. Perhaps Cherubini had no very high opinion of 
 them himself, and hastened to make atonement; but, anyhow, 
 the interview quickly bore fruit. On the morrow the master 
 seemed preoccupied, took a longer walk than usual, and on 
 returning found a sheet of music paper on his desk, placed 
 there by the watchful princess. In this case it might be said, 
 " Full oft the sight of means to do good deeds makes good 
 deeds done." Cherubini at once sat down and wrote the 
 " Kyrie " of his Mass in F, only getting up now and then to 
 take a turn at the billiard table. This was the beginning of 
 that wonderful series of masterpieces which he gave to the 
 Church. " Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!" 
 Auber was staying at Chimay, and at his suggestion the 
 new " Kj-rie " was at once tried, himself presiding at the 
 pianoforte, while Cherubini sang bass, the Prince tenor, and 
 a lady visitor soprano. General admiration encouraging 
 the composer to go on, he soon completed a " Gloria," both 
 "Kyrie" and "Gloria" being subsequently performed in 
 the village church, with the aid of a real village band, com- 
 prising a quartet of strings, horns, clarinets, a flute, and a 
 bassoon. The rest of the work our master composed on 
 his return to Paris, and the first performance took place 
 (1809) at the Prince de Chimay's hotel. Fctis, who was 
 amongst the guests on that occasion, wrote : — 
 
HIS LIFE. 45 
 
 Never shall I forget the effect produced by this Mass confided 
 to such interpreters. All the celebrities of Paris, of whatever 
 rank they might be, attended the performance, where the glory 
 of the great composer shone forth with a living lustre. During 
 the interval between the performance of the "Gloria" and that 
 of the " Credo " groups everywhere formed themselves, and all 
 expressed an unreserved admiration for this composition of a 
 new order, whereby Cherubini has placed himself above all 
 musicians who have as yet written in the concerted style of 
 church music. 
 
 As we are here concerned in the events of Cherubini's 
 life, not with the significance of his works, there is no place 
 for discussion as to the claims of dramatic church music, 
 which derived so immense an impetus from the genius of 
 the Florentine master. It suffices to contemplate the 
 apparently insignificant series of circumstances that led 
 Cherubini back again into the paths of art, and induced 
 him not only to make a fresh start, but to direct his course 
 along a new path. 
 
 Not long after his return to Paris, Cherubini received the 
 news of Haydn's death, and referred to the event in a letter 
 addressed (June 19, i8og) to Neukomm. His words of 
 regret for the old master's departure are worth transcribing: 
 
 You spoke about our dear Father Haydn. We have just 
 received the sad intelligence of his death. He ceased to exist 
 three days after the date of your letter, for it was on May 31 
 that we lost him. You little thought, no doubt, dear sir, that 
 he was dying when you were speaking to me about him, and he 
 expired while your letter was on its road to me. It is a sad 
 misfortune that this great man is no more, but it is a blessing 
 for him, since he has ceased to suffer, for he had been very long 
 time a martyr. Music loses much. She has still his works left, 
 but it is a great misfortune that he can write no more of them, 
 and that no one is left who can replace him. 
 
 Cherubini paid a much better tribute than this to the 
 manes of his illustrious brother in art. In 1805, Haydn 
 being then seriously ill, report reached Paris that he had 
 died, whereupon Cherubini composed an appropriate hymn, 
 for three voices and orchestra, in honour of the supposed 
 defunct. The work had, of course, to be put aside as soon 
 as it was found that Haydn still lived ; but when his death 
 actually took place, four years later, it was brought forward 
 and performed at a concert given by the pupils of the Con- 
 
45 LUIGI CHERUBIXI 
 
 servatoire. Great attention seems to have been excited by 
 the music. It was performed a second time, and then a 
 Parisian critic spoke as follows : — 
 
 The introduction of this fine composition is of a sombre and 
 religious tinge ; the violoncello, double basses, flutes and horns 
 play a mournful strain, which plunges the soul into a state 
 of dark melancholy and sorrowfully presents us with the mage 
 of Death, whose cruel scythe spares neither genius, wealth, 
 youth, nor beauty. . . . Haydn is no more. . . . The 
 Nymph of the Danube bewails the death of the great man whose 
 divine talent adorned the river banks, two shepherds offer her 
 consolation based on the immortal glory of Haydn, whose genius 
 and works will live for ever after him. Such is the substance 
 of this funeral scene, whence M. Cherubini has derived the 
 richest effects of harmony and melody. The manner in which 
 he has depicted the charm of Haydn's pure strains is so truthful 
 that we might almost believe the music to be written by Haydn 
 himself; he has imitated with great art one of the happiest 
 phrases in the oratorio. 
 
 The hymn was subsequently published with a dedication 
 to Prince Esterhazy, Haydn's patron and master, who 
 politely acknowledged the honour, at the same time for- 
 warding a snuffbox ornamented with gold and diamonds. 
 
 Thoroughly restored to health and work, Cherubini com- 
 posed " Pimmalione," a one-act Italian opera, which was 
 produced (November 30, 1809) at the theatre in the Tuileries 
 before the Emperor and Empress. Upon this event M. 
 Pougin bases another argument against the reported feud 
 between Napoleon and the Florentine, but we need not here 
 reopen the subject. It is more to the purpose to note that 
 having written an ode for the marriage of the Emperor with 
 Marie Louise (May 20, 1810) he brought out at the Opera- 
 Comique (September i, i8to) a one-act buffo opera, entitled 
 " Le Crescendo." Again the musician suffered for the sins 
 of the librettist. A contemporary critic wrote : — 
 
 The plot, though tolerably well worked out, appeared devoid 
 of interest and even of comicality. . . . A discontented spectator 
 allowed a slight hiss to escape his lips ; his neighbours fell foul 
 of him ; he retorted by saying he had been bored for some time, 
 and wanted to amuse himself a little by hissing. His reason was 
 heard and backed up by others who also were bored. The heresy 
 that a man must hiss when he is bored made rapid progress, and 
 this produced a crescendo of hisses as fatal to the piece as the 
 crescendo of music was to the Baron. 
 
HIS LIFE. 47 
 
 On its merits, the music of " Le Crescendo " met with 
 universal approval, but, as Garaude pointed out at the time, 
 ** musical beauties alone are not suiBcient in an opera offered 
 to a French audience, who require, in addition to these, 
 reasonable action, a piquant plot, and novel situations, or, at 
 least, a story that shall fix the spectator's attention by the 
 natural and probable connection of scenes attractive by their 
 gaiety or interest." The same writer continued as follows : — 
 The French want a complete whole, and M. Cherubini has 
 proved more than once that he can successfully supply it. How 
 is it that, on the present occasion, he has profaned his genius by 
 associating it with such a rhapsody ? On reflecting, we might 
 return more than one answer to this question. In the first place, 
 had he a choice ? Are good works so common ? May he not 
 have thought that an innovation of this nature would be wel- 
 comed by the public ? And is the taste of the public so sure that 
 we may reasonably guarantee its infallibility ? Who are the 
 literary men and composers that would dare to predict with assur- 
 ance the failure or success of an opera ? 
 
 These questions are not worth much as excusing Cheru- 
 bim's repeated mistakes in the matter of libretti, the merits 
 of which he seemed quite incapable of appreciating, and so 
 took good or bad with perfect submission to the whims of 
 chance. From a letter of the master dated December 12, 
 1810, he appears to have begun an opera entitled " Nausicaa," 
 and there gives reasons to the author, one Toug, why he felt 
 unable to complete it. The year iSii was almost a blank, 
 save for the Mass in D minor — an important qualification 
 truly — written between March and October, while in 1812 
 Cherubini did even less; only one composition — a cantata for 
 some convivial occasion — appearing in his catalogue. It 
 was during this year, however, that he began "Les Aben- 
 cerages," the book of which had been written, from Florian's 
 " Gonsalve de Cardone," by Jouy. The old story, now 
 grown tiresome, here repeats itself. Jouy's libretto turned 
 out to be as bad as the rest, while the music, though re- 
 deemed by the fine overture and some concerted pieces, did 
 not come up to Cherubini's usual mark. Under these circum- 
 stances success could not be hoped for. The opera struggled 
 on for twenty nights ; was then withdrawn to be condensed 
 into two acts, and appeared no more. 
 
 The great political and national crisis which marked the 
 fall of Napoleon did not fail to touch Cherubini personally. 
 
48 LUIGI CHERUBINI: 
 
 As soon as France realised what had happened on the blood- 
 stained fields of Germany, and heard a banded Continent 
 thundering at her gates, the men in power adopted 
 every imaginable device for the purpose of stimulating 
 patriotism. Amongst other things they revived the practice 
 of the Republican days, and ordered the preparation of plays 
 and spectacles intended to excite martial ardour. These 
 were hurriedly compiled, generally by two or three authors 
 in collaboration, and as hastily put upon the stage. One 
 opera, in two acts, entitled "Bayard a Mezieres," was the 
 joint production of no less than six authors — that is to say, 
 two librettists and four composers, of whom Cherubini was 
 one. This work was produced at the Opera-Comique on 
 February 12, 1814, and we learn of it from Cherubini's own 
 catalogue that our master's share therein was a trio, a con- 
 certed piece, and a martial song, A journalist of the period 
 states that " Bayard a Mezieres," though composed " by 
 order of the police," had a great success, and that Cheru- 
 bini's air was *' full of energy and originality." According 
 to M. Pougin, Cherubini wrote, also, a war-song for a drama, 
 " La Rangon de Duguesclin," by Arnault, brought out at the 
 Comedie-Frangaise on March 17. It was not alone as a 
 stage composer that Cherubini contributed his share to the 
 stirring circumstances of the time. The Government having 
 revived the National Guard, a band was organised for it, the 
 musicians being entirely supplied by the Conservatoire. 
 This event w^as chronicled as follows in the Journal des 
 Dcbats of February 18, 1814 : — 
 
 Zeal for the National Guard is manifested among all classes ; 
 the artists, never backward when called upon to display their 
 devotion, have just given another proof of it. On the invitation 
 of the Prefect of the Seine and the general staff, the members of 
 the Imperial Conservatoire have formed among themselves a 
 company of 120 volunteer musicians. The director commands 
 it ; the lieutenants are MM. Mehul, Cherubini, Cotel, and Pael. 
 The distini^uished wind-instrumentalists trained in the institution, 
 united with the professors, constitute the body of 120 performers. 
 
 A very notable band, indeed, this must have been, and no 
 doubt Lieutenant Cherubini was proud of it. As a matter 
 of course, he helped to provide new music. His catalogue 
 speaks of a March and a Double Quick composed for the 120 
 patriots; but a curious commentary upon Lieutenant Cheru- 
 bini's own zeal for France is that the same catalogue records, 
 
HIS LIFE. 49 
 
 only a little later, the issue of a number of military pieces at 
 the request of the colonel of a Prussian regiment. Well, the 
 master, after all, had only adopted France as his mother 
 land. It should also be remembered that he had no par- 
 ticular reason to identify himself with Napoleon's cause. 
 Hence he was quite ready to write for the Prussian colonel, 
 and, as happened directly after the restoration of the mon- 
 archy, to compose cantatas in honour of the Bourbon King. 
 For him art had neither politics nor nationality. Cherubini 
 prepared two Restoration Cantatas; one, in three parts with 
 accompaniment, for a military /e/c given on July 20; the other 
 — for several voices, with choruses and accompaniments — 
 being performed before the King on August 29. More im- 
 portant than all these things put together was a work bearing 
 the same date. In 1814 our master composed his first string 
 quartet (E flat) the refined and classic beauty of which, if it 
 needed a foil, would find one in its author's warlike effusions. 
 The Government of Louis XVIII. was not slow to mark 
 Cherubini's worth by official honours, which had been denied 
 him by the unforgiving Napoleon. In December, 1814, the 
 master was gazetted Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, and 
 in the same month he succeeded M. Martini as Superinten- 
 dent of the King's musical establishment. Nevertheless, all 
 things did not run quite smoothly under the new regime. 
 The Government played havoc with the Conservatoire ; dis- 
 missing its founder and director, Sarette, under circumstances 
 of positive contumely, and so disorganising the establish- 
 ment that Cherubini found himself without anything to do. 
 Under these circumstances an invitation came to him from 
 England, which he at once accepted. Just then the London 
 Philharmonic Society was in the full flush of youthful vigour. 
 It had been founded by Cramer, dementi, Neate, and their 
 fellows, less than two years before, and naturally desired to 
 achieve something of a sensational nature. Hence the 
 invitation to Cherubini, who was the first to receive a com- 
 pliment afterwards accepted by Beethoven, Spohr, Weber, 
 Mendelssohn, Wagner, and Gounod. In our master's case 
 the offer was to compose two works, and conduct them him- 
 self. These pieces took the form of an overture and a sym- 
 phony; but Cherubini also wrote a vocal composition, which, 
 together with several selections from his repertory, were duly 
 performed. According to his diary, he started for London 
 on February 25, 1815, and returned to Paris on June 8. 
 
50 LUIGI CHERUDIXI: 
 
 Admirers of Cherubini are indebted to M. Pougin for 
 mucb further information concerning the master in London 
 than was available before the appearance (1882-3) of his 
 articles in Le McncstrcL Mr. Bellasis, who for the purpose 
 of his biography consulted all known authorities, was driven 
 to dismiss Cherubini's second experience in this country with 
 less than a couple of pages. Within that limited space, 
 however, he presents a translation of an Italian letter, 
 which appears not to have been before published. It is 
 undated and addressed to a Mr. S. Vestri, 6, Rupert Street, 
 Haymarket. Mr. Vestri was, from the terms of the note, 
 collaborating with his illustrious countryman — probably upon 
 the pastoral cantata " Inno alia Primavera," and, like most 
 of his tribe, had failed to keep up a proper supply of " copy." 
 The master writes to hurry him on : — 
 
 Most esteemed Signer Vestri, — Well, I shall expect your work 
 to-morrow morning without fail. I hope you will do me the 
 favour of coming to me, or of letting me know whether I am 
 to go to you. I warn you that I shall be unable to wait longer 
 for those words, as the Philharmonic Concerts are going to 
 conclude, and this piece must be ready for the last, which will 
 take place shortly. Believe me, as I have the pleasure of signing 
 myself, your affectionate friend and servant, L. Cherubini. 
 
 M. Pougin also prints letters of Cherubini for the first time, 
 but they are of real and high importance, because originally 
 conveying to the master's wife, who remained in France, 
 interesting particulars of his London doings. Unfortunately, 
 the French biographer does not possess the complete set. 
 Cherubini reached London at the end of February, whereas 
 the first printed letter bears date March 22, and it is other- 
 wise evident that he had not neglected to write earlier. 
 The letter just referred to begins with a long account of 
 the circumstances under which Madame Cherubini's third 
 and fourth epistles to her husband reached his hands in 
 inverted order, the fourth coming before the third. Inci- 
 dentally therefrom we learn that he "dined at the house of 
 Mr. Hroadwood, with Erard's son, who was one of the 
 party," Cramer also being present ; and that on the same 
 evening, he went to the Opera, "where I felt thoroughly 
 wearied, so bad was it." Another paragraph has more 
 interest, and should be transcribed entire: — 
 
 Do not be afraid, my dear, of writing at too great length. I 
 am too eager for your letters and for news about you not to relish 
 
HIS LIFE. 51 
 
 them deliberately, however long they may be. I have no patience 
 to read long epistles from those for whom I do not care, but I 
 take a pleasure in perusing from beginning to end those of 
 persons whom I cherish. I am now in the midst of dinner 
 parties and society, where I am very well received and petted. 
 The day before yesterday I went to a grand dinner given me by 
 Braham, the best singer in London, and husband of Madame 
 Storace,* whose portrait you saw at that good creature Haydn's. 
 The dinner was given with several directors of the Philharmonic 
 Concerts. H.R.H. the Duke of Sussex, one of the king's sons, 
 a great musical amateur, very affable, and altogether a good 
 fellow, was present. He would have me placed next him at 
 table, and was exceedingly amiable. We drank like fishes, and 
 remained three hours and a half at table. At ten o'clock we had 
 coffee ; we then played whist, and left at half-past twelve. 
 
 From this truly convivial subject the letter turns to 
 business. Cherubini had in view a benefit concert, and he 
 speculates as to the amount it will bring him in : — 
 
 I think that if the place is full at half a guinea each — and that 
 price cannot be increased without making people cry out — the 
 receipts will amount to 250 or 300 guineas, from which must be 
 deducted the unavoidable expenses. It is better to give the 
 concert in the Philharmonic Rooms than in the Opera House 
 concert-room, which is much larger, and would drag me into 
 greater expenses. Whatever the concert may bring me in will 
 be so much profit, and many a mickle makes a muckle. If at 
 the end of my visit, I give " Le Mont St. Bernard " at the Opera 
 House, I think I shall make £"700, or a little more. That should 
 be in French money about 14,000 francs. f 
 
 The letter ends with a reassuring sentence for the anxious 
 wife whose husband was in the midst of temptation : " Adieu, 
 my dear, I am as good as gold." 
 
 Cherubini wrote again on April 7. The Hundred Days 
 had then begun, and communication with France was 
 exceedingly difficult. Letters, however, could be smuggled 
 from one country to the other through Belgium, and in this 
 way the master and his wife contrived to correspond. The 
 circumstances were exceedingly unpleasant all round, as 
 the following paragraph shows : — 
 
 * This must be an error. Madame Storace's husband was Fisher, the 
 vioHnist, who, though he disappeared long before 1S15, was not known to 
 be dead. 
 
 t M. Pougin corrects Cherubini's arithmetic, and points out that ^700 makes 
 about 18,000 francs, which is, of course, right. 
 
 E 2 
 
52 LUIGI CHERUBINI : 
 
 You reproach me with not often writing to you ; your com- 
 plaint is not well founded, since I have sent you eight letters 
 to your six. Were I sure that the letters would go by the 
 ordinary way, I would write to you oftener ; but, being uncertain, 
 I write only when I am sure my letters will go. A time will 
 come when I shall not be able to hear from you nor you from 
 me. This is a distressing prospect, and grieves me very much. 
 Besides this apprehension, I have that of not knowing what 
 road I shall be able to take when I wish to return to France. 
 M. Sorbet told me that, when he is obliged to go back, in six 
 weeks' time, he fears he shall be compelled to reach the Con- 
 tinent by the coast of Spain. Fancy my being obliged to do 
 the same ! What a terrible and what a long journey! 
 
 There is next a reference to some negotiations going on 
 between himself and a Prussian Count as to a matter 
 awaiting notice in its place. From this Cherubini passes 
 to his London concerns : — 
 
 Last Monday they played my new overture (in G) at the Phil- 
 harmonic Concert ; it was very successful, and they had it over 
 again. They also sang the " Incarnatus est" from the three- 
 part Mass, and that also had to be repeated. Despite this 
 success, I foresee that my journey here will be a failure ; I 
 expect hardly any profit from it. We have reckoned up the 
 expenses, and they come to loo guineas. If I have not a full 
 house I risk, after taking a great deal of trouble, gaining only 
 fifty guineas, if, indeed, I am not something out of pocket. 
 Money runs away here like water, and the slightest things 
 are proportionately dear. The outlay will amount to so much, 
 since I shall not be able to have more than three parts of the 
 band without paying them. There is no longer any idea of 
 the opera of " Eliza " ; this is why I consider my journey a 
 failure, and, had I foreseen such a result, I should certainly not 
 have undertaken it, for I should at least have received in Paris 
 the net sum of ;^2oo, which, as things now stand, is broken in 
 upon and pledged for my travelling and living here. All this 
 clouds my soul, and I am so affected by it, so sad, that, with the 
 work I am obliged to do, if I do not fall ill it will be a miracle. 
 Already my health, which up to now has been good, is becoming 
 bad ; for several days my nerves luivc been ill, and I sutler from 
 a melancholy which I cannot overcome. All this troubles, 
 consumes, and wears me away. 
 
 M. Pougin adds that the English climate had undoubtedly 
 a bad effect upon Cherubini's health, and that, after return- 
 ing to Paris, he suffered for three }ears from a nervous 
 
HIS LIFE. 53 
 
 affection. Our climate is a tryinj^ one, granted ; but if 
 gentlemen come here from more abstemious countries, sit 
 three hours and a half at dinner, and drink like fishes, what 
 can they expect ? 
 
 Mention has been made of a negotiation going on between 
 Cherubini and a certain Prussian nobleman. The distin- 
 guished individual in question was Count von Bruhl, 
 Chamberlain of Frederic William's Court, and Intendant 
 of the Royal Theatres. He had been commissioned by his 
 master to organise the Court music on a fitting scale, and 
 his natural desire was to obtain the services of an eminent 
 composer. He thought at once of Cherubini, whom it 
 would be a double pleasure to secure, since the gain of 
 Berhn meant the loss of Paris. Count Bruhl forthwith 
 wrote to Cherubini in the French capital — not knowing that 
 the master was on the other side of the Channel — and 
 asked him his terms for the following duties : To write two 
 operas each year ; to conduct them, and, alternately with 
 the second director, to conduct grand operas by foreign 
 composers ; to conduct a Court concert when ordered by the 
 King ; and, in case a Conservatory should be established, to 
 act as one of the professors. The Count graciously added : — 
 " Everything shall be done to please and content you." 
 And then, like a frugal German: "I only trust that the 
 pecuniary conditions may not be such as place too many 
 obstacles in the way of the treasury of the Theatre Royal." 
 
 Cherubini received this letter in London, as we already 
 know, and it seems to have presented a difficulty. He was, 
 of course, doubtful of his position in France, Napoleon 
 having regained the throne. There was a possibility of 
 Louis XVHL returning, in which case the Berlin appoint- 
 ment would not be needed. On the other hand, the 
 Emperor might hold his ground, and then Cherubini would 
 be glad of such a position. Under these circumstances the 
 master's reply to the Count was adapted to delay a con- 
 clusion till the imminent struggle between Napoleon and 
 the Allies should have been determined. As a means to 
 this end, Cherubini's letter is skilful. In the first place, 
 he questioned whether, under the altered political circum- 
 stances, the offer still held good : — 
 
 Were the proposal which you made me before this state of 
 things still to be made, sir, would you make it now ? Unless 
 
54 LUIGI CHERUBINI : 
 
 you have the kindness to reassure me, I fear, in this storm, to 
 accept an engagement which might afterwards be broken by the 
 force of circumstances. Do you not therefore think, M. le 
 Comte, that it would be better to wait till the tempest is over 
 before proceeding with what you propose ? 
 
 The master then went on to say that he must remain 
 faithful to his French engagement, which was not hopelessly 
 lost, but that he did not decline the Count's, only asking 
 to have it left in abeyance for awhile. On the point of 
 terms, Cherubini asked a salary of 16,000 francs a year 
 (£"640), his professorship at the projected Conservatorium 
 to be an extra, as at Paris, where he received 5,000 francs, 
 with a residence. He also desired travelling expenses for 
 himself and family, and 2,000 francs down a month before 
 leaving Paris. 
 
 When, a few weeks later, the battle of Waterloo — 
 
 On that loud Sabbath, shook the spoiler do\vn, 
 
 there was an end to all palaver with Berlin. The stupid 
 Bourbons went lumbering back to Paris, and Cherubini 
 remained faithful to his French allegiance. He went home 
 gladly, and on the way experienced ail the miseries of old 
 fashioned travel in sailing boats and diligences. This we 
 know from a letter written at Calais to his wife, and dated 
 June 5, eight a.m. Therein we read — and reading, are 
 thankful for the days of steam — as follows : — 
 
 I quitted London at half-past five, and, after travelling all 
 night, arrived at Dover at nine in the morning. I made the 
 indispensable arrangements with regard to passports and 
 luggage, then I took my place on board a French packet which 
 was to start in the afternoon for Calais. At half-past six I went 
 on board ; the weather was very favourable, but the wind 
 extremely high, which made me as sick as a pig during all the 
 passage, which began at seven o'clock, and we entered the port 
 of Calais at ten in the evening. Not being at that hour able 
 to enter the town, which was closed, we slept on board the 
 packet, and at six o'clock in the morning of to-day the com- 
 missary came to examine our passports. . . . About ten they 
 will examine the luggage. . . . The diligence leaves here 
 every day, and if the luggage could have been examined before 
 the hour of its departure, I should have been able to set out 
 to-day. But as that cannot be, on account of the Custom House, 
 I shall not start before to-morrow ; and on Thursday, about 
 eleven, I shall arrive in Paris. 
 
HIS LIFE. 55 
 
 • The master concludes : — 
 
 Good-bye, my dear. I can scarcely contain myself for joy at 
 being near the moment of embracing you all after so much bother 
 and anxiety with regard to my affairs and our correspondence. 
 Farewell, my darlings ; we shall soon see each other again. 
 
 It should be mentioned here that Cherubini was returning 
 to Paris as a member of the Institute, having been elected 
 in his absence. Here, also, it may be mentioned that his 
 English works were three— an Overture in G, a Symphony 
 in D (the themes of which were subsequently used for the 
 Quartet in C), and the "Hymn to Spring," of which mention 
 has already been made. None of these had a great success 
 then or later, wherefore the master's second visit to London 
 cannot be accounted as a brilliant episode in his career. 
 
 On arriving in Paris Cherubini at once resumed his 
 commanding position. The Florentine's genuis^ was the 
 greatest that France then possessed, and when important 
 work had to be done he was sought as a matter of course. 
 Hence we learn from his Diary that in August, 1815, he 
 composed a " Chorus and Couplets for the Festival of 
 St. Louis " ; also that (January 29, 1816) he wrote a 
 " Cantata for several voices with chorus and full band " for 
 the banquet given by the Royal Guard to the National 
 Guard on February 5. Nevertheless, the master's position 
 was by no means satisfactory at this time. The Napoleonic 
 Conservatoire met with little favour from the restored 
 government, who not only changed its name to " Royal 
 School of Music and Declamation," but reduced its 
 allowance to 80,000 francs, dismissed all the professors 
 suspected of attachment to the late regime, and cut down 
 the salaries of those who, like Cherubini, were retained. 
 Our master, however, managed to better himself. As In- 
 spector of Instruction and Professor of Composition, 
 Cherubini had been, since 1812, in the receipt of 5,000 
 francs a year. The Bourbon ministers reduced this to 3,000 
 by abolishing the first-named office, and from that small 
 amount took off three per cent, to provide a pension. On 
 the other hand, Cherubini received an annual 1,600 francs 
 as a member of the Institute, and two yearly allowances 
 from the King of 2,000 francs and 800 francs respectively. 
 These amounts brought his salary up to 7,400 francs, or 
 £296. The master was at this time fifty-six years old, and 
 
56 LUIGI CHERUDINI: 
 
 it is hardly to be wondered at that Fortune thought the 
 hour had come in which to do him a good turn. This she 
 accompHshed by removing from earthly life Martini, the 
 Superintendent of the King's music, of whose post, valued 
 at 6,000 francs per annum, Cherubini held the reversion. 
 We take the particulars concerning this matter from M. 
 Pougin, by whom it is shown that Castil-Blaze, and, 
 necessarily, all who have copied him, including Mr. Bellasis, 
 are wrong when they say, " M. Lesueur, Director of Napo- 
 leon's Chapel, became Superintendent of Louis XVIII. 's, 
 and shared the sceptre of harmony with an illustrious 
 colleague, Cherubini." In the first place, Lesueur was 
 not Louis XVIII. 's chapel-master, though he had been 
 Napoleon's. This M. Pougin conclusively proves by an ex- 
 tract from the official Monitcur for February iS, 1816, in 
 which we read, after an announcement of Martini's death : 
 " M. Cherubini, who had the reversion, succeeds to the 
 place as master of the music of the chapel." If it be asked 
 how Martini came to supersede Lesueur, the answer is that 
 the Bourbons were accustomed to sell the place, and that, 
 in Louis XVI. 's time. Martini bought the reversion for 
 16,000 livres. Of course the bargain had no force during 
 the Republic and Empire, but as soon as Louis XVIII. 
 appeared on the scene, Martini claimed his right, and 
 Lesueur was dismissed to make room for him. How 
 Cherubini obtained the reversion in turn does not appear, 
 but there is evidence to show that his appointment took 
 place the very day after Martini's death. In the oft-quoted 
 Diary we read : — 
 
 I did duty with the Royal choir, in the place of M. Martini, ill, 
 February 2, 1816. Martini died February 14, 1816, at five 
 o'clock p.m., and on Thursday, the 15th of the same month, I 
 was appointed to the post of Superintendent. 
 
 This raised his salary to nearly 14,000 francs, or ;^56o, 
 and relieved him from all anxiety with regard to means of 
 living. 
 
 Cherubini's promotion had a most important effect upon 
 his future career as a composer. It took him away from the 
 operatic stage, for which he afterwards wrote but one work 
 of any consequence, and it turned the current of his genius 
 in the direction of the Church with a force and steadiness 
 before unknown. It becomes desirable, therefore, to know 
 
HIS LIFE. 57 
 
 something of the conditions under which the master entered 
 upon his new place. He found, we are told, an orchestra 
 and choir " whose equal, perhaps, no other place in Europe 
 could then show." The singers comprised twelve soli and 
 thirty-nine chorus voices; there were fourteen violins — 
 played by, amongst others, Baillot, Habeneck, and Kreutzer 
 — four violas, six violoncellos, four double-basses, flutes, 
 oboes, clarinets, trombones, bassoons (two of each), three 
 horns, two harps, and drums. Two pianists and as many 
 organists were also in \.h.e personnel of this really royal band. 
 
 It is much to be regretted that Cherubini was not allowed 
 to write as he pleased for the King's fine choir. Louis 
 XVIII., despite abundant reason to feel thankful and 
 devout, did not love long religious services. The shorter 
 they were the sweeter he found them, and his new chapel- 
 master was under obligation to bear the fact in mind. 
 Hence, the number of short masses composed by Cherubini 
 subsequent to his appointment, and also the many frag- 
 ments written in order that at least one movement might be 
 properly developed. One of the complete masses due to this 
 period is the " Requiem " for four voices and orchestra, per- 
 formed at an anniversary of Louis XVI. 's death. Con- 
 templation of this work opens up the whole question — if 
 question be the right word— of Cherubini's greatness as a 
 religious composer. As to the " Requiem " itself two very 
 different men have spoken — Fetis and Ferdinand Hiller. 
 The one says : — 
 
 Although we may object, perhaps, that the " Dies iras" is too 
 noisy and its forms too dramatic, the art with which the whole 
 is written is so remarkable, and all the other numbers are at one 
 and the same time of so noble and so melancholy a character, 
 that we may class the work among the finest its author ever 
 wrote. The last number, in which he has expressed, with as 
 much simplicity as depth, the exhaustion of all vital sentiment 
 and the entering into eternal repose, impresses the heart, and 
 strikes it with terror. 
 
 On the same subject Hiller writes : — 
 
 While speaking of Cherubini's sacred works, I must mention 
 one which may undoubtedly be called the most perfect of all — 
 the " Requiem " he composed for the anniversary of Louis XVI. 's 
 death. This is a work almost unique in music. It is possible 
 that Cherubini may not have reached in it the ideal beauty or 
 the profundity of thought and sentiment which we find in certain 
 
58 LUIGI CHERUBINI : 
 
 pages of Mozart's " Requiem." But, as we know, that 
 " Requiem" was not completed by its divine author, all the 
 parts are not equally elevated, and the style wants the finished 
 unity which gives even secondary ideas the elevated character 
 they ought to have. In Cherubini's work it appears that every- 
 thing as far as the words will admit, is developed out of the 
 eternal lamentation " Dust thou art ; to dust thou shalt return." 
 What ardent supplication ! What depth of lamentation ! What 
 dread of the Last Judgment ! And how, at the end, life appears 
 to be annihilated in one long moan ! In the fugue on the words 
 recalling the promise made to Abraham and his race, the daring 
 contrapuntist rouses himself, and not only asserts his rights, but 
 obstinatel}' claims them ; the episode being, perhaps, necessary 
 in order that the effect of the work might not be too terrific. 
 This composition is truly surprising from the simplicity of the 
 means employed, the colour of the instrumentation, and the 
 truly vocal manner in which the voices are treated. Had 
 Cherubini left nothing else, this alone would suffice to place 
 every true musician under the obligation of considering him as 
 the most extraordinary and the most sublime of composers. 
 
 This is high praise, but few who have made careful study 
 of Cherubini's sacred works will care to contest it. They 
 see in them not only the consecration of great genius to 
 religion, but consecration under the guidance of sound 
 judgment. Cherubini's masses are free with an ordered 
 freedom, and they exemplify the fact that a truly great 
 composer is the master of his art, not its slave, and that to 
 exercise a judicious liberty he need not rise in insurrection 
 against rule. The critic last quoted writes : — 
 
 The fruit of the severe studies to which he had so constantly 
 devoted himself in his youth was now apparent in all parts of 
 his music, and, while he employed every modern harmonic license, 
 that music preserved at bottom a character of austerity which, 
 like leaven, imparted to the composition a healthy mordant. 
 
 Referring again to the " Requiem" for Louis XVI., it may 
 be interesting to add that the work was appointed for per- 
 formance at the funeral of Boieldieu, in 1834, but could only 
 be given in the Chapel of the Invalides — a place out of 
 episcopal jurisdiction — because the then Archbishop of Paris, 
 like Cardinal Manning in our own day, forbade women to 
 sing in choirs. Cherubini was much annoyed at this, and 
 said : — 
 
 Very well, then ; since they have resolved that women's voices 
 
HIS LIFE. 59 
 
 shall not be heard in a church, I will write for my own funeral a 
 " Requiem" against which they shall have no objection. 
 
 This he did, and the second " Requiem," for three-part 
 male choir and orchestra, was duly performed over his body. 
 Cherubini, by the way, attended Boieldieu's obsequies, and 
 made a speech at his grave. This has, happily, been pre- 
 served — happily not less for the orator than for his subject, 
 since it shows what real generosity and frank appreciation 
 the master could show towards the memory of a fellow- 
 artist. We make no apology for quoting a few sentences : — 
 
 To-day we have to weep over Boieldieu, my very dear friend, 
 whose death will be for us a never-ending source of regret. I 
 was long connected by the bonds of friendship with this kindly 
 man, with this composer of distinguished genius. I saw him 
 first enter on his musical career, in which he proceeded from one 
 success to another. I will not now mention the admirable works 
 he composed. They are immortal ; we all know and shall never 
 forget them. ... I cannot refrain from expressing the deep 
 grief I feel at his death. I have lost a friend and a brother, of 
 whom I shall have nothing left but a sorrowful recollection. . . . 
 Farewell, Boieldieu, farewell ! I preceded you in life and in the 
 career you so nobly followed, yet I now regret you, and weep 
 over the earth about to close upon you, for God has chosen to 
 call you to Him before me. 
 
 The year of Cherubini's appointment as chapel-master 
 was one of remarkable fecundity. Besides the " Requiem" 
 already mentioned, the composer wrote the Mass in C 
 (No. 6), nine Kyries, a Laudate, a Sanctus, an Salutaris, 
 the Mass in E flat (No. 7), several hymns, a cantata (" Le 
 Manage de Salomon"), and a Lauda Sion. Considering the 
 age at which Cherubini had arrived, this list shows the 
 enthusiasm with which he entered upon his duties and the 
 real devotion he bore to art. Actual production, however, 
 does not represent all his labour. In order to fit himself for 
 Church writing he made careful studies of Palestrina, even 
 going so far as to copy out a number of his works, transposed 
 into other ke3's, so that the old master's method might 
 become thoroughly familiar. Thus, with all his genius, did 
 Cherubini plod, and only by plodding can genius of any kind 
 reach the highest position. Pegasus is all very well, but his 
 wings are not strong enough for the loftiest place. 
 
 In the course of his interesting and valuable biography of 
 Cherubini, M. Arthur Pougin regards the master's appoint- 
 
6o LUIGI CHERUBINI: 
 
 ment to the King's Chapel as the beginning of a new stage 
 in his career, and pauses therefore to deal with certain 
 matters important to a fair understanding of his character. 
 We gladly pause, likewise, because the French writer 
 furnishes us with some really important information on a 
 point as to which considerable misapprehension may prevail. 
 Cherubini is frequently spoken of as the " stern Florentine," 
 and set down as a hard, uncouth man, with few loves and 
 many hates. For this Berlioz is partly responsible, through 
 holding up the Italian musician to ridicule and contempt 
 in his famous autobiography. It is remembered against 
 Cherubini, moreover, that he refused or neglected to answer 
 Beethoven when written to regarding the Missa solennis 
 in D, while not a few stories are current, all tending to 
 the same unfavourable conclusion. We do not dispute the 
 existence of some ground for the prevailing idea. Cherubini 
 had a temper like most men, and was particularly impatient 
 of incompetence and presumption. His manner, too, was 
 wanting in French polish, and the occasions were many in 
 which he spoke the truth without periphrasis. Yet there 
 is ample evidence to prove that he had a kind and gentle 
 heart — that he was capable of loving and, therefore, obtained 
 the love of others. We now ask the reader to accept some 
 portion of the testimony in question. 
 
 Cherubini's intimacy with Mehul has already appeared 
 in the course of these remarks. The terms in which he 
 dedicated his " Medee" to the composer of "Joseph," and 
 in which, when writing to his wife from London, he referred 
 to his friend and colleague, cannot have escaped observation. 
 It will now be seen how anxiously he could, with true paternal 
 solicitude, safeguard the interests of a humble student. On 
 one occasion an Overture by Berton was to be performed at 
 the Institute, together with a Cantata written by one of 
 Cherubini's pupils. Berton, resolved to make a noise if 
 nothing else, applied to Cherubini for the loan of the big 
 drum, cymbals, and triangles belonging to the Conserva- 
 toire, and, no doubt, the master's first impulse was to 
 consent, as a matter of course. That impulse he resisted, 
 however, by extreme thoughtfulness and circumspection, 
 which led him to address Berton thus: 
 
 Will you allow me to make an observation with regard to this 
 matter ? It is this : I think it out of place to employ these 
 instruments within the walls of the Institute, especially when 
 
HIS LIFE. 
 
 the composition they have to accompany is by an academician. 
 I say nothing of the uproar such a combination will produce, 
 but I may remark that your Overture will crush the Cantata of 
 the poor student who comes afterwards, and his feeble powers 
 will not be able to struggle against it. I defend my pupil, as I 
 would yours under similar circumstances. Thus, my dear Berton, 
 for all these reasons I beg you to give up the notion of having 
 the Overture performed by military instruments. There is no 
 scarcity of beautiful Overtures of your composition, amongst 
 which you might find a preferable one. I think you will feel 
 the force of my argument and kindly appreciate it. 
 
 This letter speaks volumes for Cherubini's generous nature. 
 It shows us the master refusing his friend a favour, and 
 running the risk of giving him umbrage, entirely out of 
 consideration for an obscure youth, whose name, even, has 
 not come down to us. 
 
 Let us now see what was the conduct of the "grim 
 Florentine " in relation to Lesueur when that composer 
 was timorously making his first essay as a writer for the 
 stage. Happening one day to be at the Theatre Feydeau 
 when Lesueur was rehearsing his initial opera, the master's 
 attention became attracted by the inexperience and embarass- 
 ment of the composer, who, unacquainted with stage business, 
 was permitting serious faults to pass uncorrected. For a 
 while Cherubini looked on impatiently, and then, starting 
 up, said, " You can write music, but you do not know how 
 to make them perform it." With these words he took the 
 baton and conducted the rehearsal to its end, earning in a 
 few minutes Lesueur's everlasting gratitude. After like 
 manner did he behave to Boieldieu, who himself tells a 
 remarkable story of an encounter with Cherubini during 
 the run of " Le Calife de Bagdad " : — 
 
 Meeting me in one of the corridors of the theatre, Cherubini 
 seized hold of me by my coat-collar and said, with his somewhat 
 rough frankness, " Unhappy wretch, are you not ashamed to 
 achieve so great a success and do so little to deserve it?" I 
 remained stupefied at his words^I might well have been so at 
 even less — and could find nothing to say in reply. But after 
 Cherubini had left me, feeling how much reason there was in his 
 reproach, I lost no time in going to him and asking his advice. 
 It was settled that he should take me with him to the country- 
 house of Saint-Just, the writer of my librettos, including the 
 libretto of " Le Calife," and that he should there make me have 
 
62 LUIGI CHERUBIXI: 
 
 an unpleasant time of it. I did so for two seasons. After that 
 I knew what I was about. But for Cherubini I should probably 
 still be ignorant that science in no way detracts from expression. 
 
 This event was the beginning of a long and intimate 
 connection between the composers. Cherubini never 
 abated his interest in Boieldieu's fortunes, and admitted 
 him to all the privileges of close friendship, even to that 
 of pointing out faults. It is said of the Italian master 
 that he rarely met a request with other than a refusal. 
 This was his habit, and contributed no little to give him 
 a reputation for unkindness. Strangers took the "No" 
 as final, and went away calling him a churl. Those, 
 however, who knew the man asked a second time, and 
 then the "No" v/as, more often than otherwise, changed 
 to "Yes." Boieldieu studied this curious part of his 
 friend's character to considerable advantage, and could 
 obtain from him almost anything he wished. But he 
 could not break Cherubini's habit of saying " No " to a 
 first application, and one day, patience giving way a little, 
 he remarked, "Oh! my dear Cherubini, what a pity your 
 second impulse never precedes your first ! It would be so 
 agreeable for those who have business with you if it did!" 
 
 The theorist, Catel, was another who benefited by the 
 kind heart which throbbed under Cherubini's rough exterior. 
 He published his famous " Treatise on Harmony " while 
 still a very young man, but he was not too young for the 
 great master's notice. Cherubini actually wrote an article 
 on the book, in which he said : — 
 
 It so reconciles them (the different systems of the schools) 
 with each other that its usefulness and merit cannot be 
 contested, save by the self-sufficiency of prejudice, by jealousy 
 or bad faith. Citizen Catel has proved that youth is no obstacle 
 to the production of what appears beyond its strength, ex- 
 perience, meditation, and natural talent, improved by study, 
 have brought with them the ripeness of age before the usual 
 time, and every one who judges men and things impartially 
 will see in Citizen Catel an artist who will do his country 
 honour, and in his Treatise a work which will at last be 
 generally adopted. 
 
 What such testimony as this, coming from such a 
 quarter, was worth to the 5'oung musician is easily 
 imagined. Let us now turn to a remarkable proof of 
 Cherubini's generosity. Gretry's death, in 1813, vacated 
 
HIS LIFE 63 
 
 a chair at the Institute, and among the candidates who 
 aspired to fill i^ was Monsigny, then a man of eighty- 
 five, who had produced nothing for forty years. It was, 
 perhaps, not unnatural that the members of the Institute 
 inclined to prefer Cherubini, a great and active master, to 
 the aged composer whom the world had almost forgotten. 
 At any rate, some of them openly talked of putting up the 
 Florentine as a candidate. Hearing of this, Cherubini 
 wrote a noble letter, saying : — 
 
 Not wishing to oppose an artist of M. Monsigny's merit 
 and age, I would beg those members of the fourth class who 
 may intend giving me their suffrages to unite them for the 
 Nestor of French composers, in order that he may be elected 
 as he deserves to be — unanimously. 
 
 The master saw his wish gratified, and old Monsigny 
 lived several years to enjoy the distinction he had coveted 
 for half-a-century. 
 
 M. Pougin J3rings forward many other instances of 
 Cherubini's goodness and genuine nobility, but those to 
 which the reader's attention has been directed amply suffice 
 for agreement with the French biographer when he says: — 
 
 Cherubini was, therefore, always ready to be useful or agreeable 
 to his colleagues, and constantly employed, either in a quiet 
 manner or before the eyes of the public, in helping them, in 
 assisting them in their career, their efforts, and even the com- 
 pletion of their education. If the abruptness, the quasi -hvutality 
 for which he was afterwards reproached, and which resulted from 
 his state of health and his continual condition of over nervous 
 excitement, was, indeed, one of the disagreeable elements in his 
 character, we must allow that he amply redeemed the slio-ht 
 drawbacks attached to it by acts so full of generosity and loyalty. 
 Eager to do good, ignorant of what envy or jealousy was, 
 Cherubini was always ready when a service had to be done, and 
 there was perhaps not a single one among his colleagues who 
 had not cause to be grateful to him for something or other, and 
 reason to consider himself lucky in having met him on his path. 
 We know that Spontini, whose admirable genius was seconded 
 only by an education which unfortunately was very incomplete, 
 would, without Cherubini, probably never have mastered the 
 inextricable confusion of the instrumentation in " La Vestale " 
 and we remember the signal service Cherubini did Hummel b\' 
 making known in Paris the latter's music, which he brou"-ht 
 back with him from Vienna." 
 
64 LUIGI CHERUBINI : 
 
 It is now time to look at Cherubini in his ordinary 
 relations with eminent contemporaries — those who did 
 not need his friendly services, but only desired his friend- 
 ship, Rossini was one of these, and, when passing 
 through Paris to London in 1823, he did not fail to call 
 upon his illustrious countryman, whom he had never 
 met. The story of their interview has thus been told : — 
 
 He (Rossini) went to the residence of Cherubini, and, having 
 been ushered into the drawing-room, sat down at the piano, 
 while waiting for the master of the place, and struck up at the 
 top of his voice — he had a superb one — an air from " Guilio 
 Sabino," one of Cherubini's earliest Italian operas, which Rossini 
 had learnt in his youth from the very artist who created the part. 
 Cherubini came in while he was singing, and said, not without 
 some slight emotion, "Che, che, che, so you know that air, do 
 you?" "Yes, I do, Maestro, as you perceive." " And where 
 the deuce did you hear it, for it is a very long time since it used 
 to be played ? " " Oh ! " replied Rossini, carrying out his graceful 
 compliment, "I heard it in the streets, where it is still sung; and 
 having a good memory, I have retained it." Cherubini was 
 delighted and they were quickly friends. 
 
 When Rossini afterwards settled in Paris these masters 
 formed a close intimacy, though, perhaps, no two rnen 
 were ever more unlike. Rossini became a frequent visitor 
 at the Florentine's house, and, with characteristic freedom, 
 did not scruple sometimes to take his austere countryman 
 to task. On one occasion he even made bold to interfere 
 in Cherubini's family arrangements. The elder master 
 had a daughter, Zenobia, to whose marriage with an 
 Italian diplomat he was strongly adverse. Rossini naturally 
 took the girl's part, and, one day at dinner, urged her 
 father to sanction the union. 
 
 "Che, che, che," said Cherubini, "you will kill me if you talk 
 like that." " Confound it," replied Rossini, " you have nothing. 
 You find an idiot ready to take your daughter without a dowry, 
 without an outfit, without anything, and yet you turn up your 
 nose at him. It is absurd." " Che, che, che, I will not allow 
 any one to speak to me in that manner," answered Cherubini, 
 getting angry. " Oh ! you will not frighten me," said Rossini, 
 laughing. " You possess more talent than I do, that is well 
 known ; but my pizzicati are worth more than all your fugues, 
 look you." 
 
 Cherubini tolerated and, in his heart, even enjoyed the 
 
HIS LIFE. 65 
 
 brilliant sallies of his fascinating countryman. Hence the 
 pleasure he always seemed to feel in Rossini's company, and 
 the genuine affection which found vent when " Guillaume 
 Tell" was produced. Cherubini was one of those who 
 attended Habeneck's orchestra from the theatre to Rossini's 
 house for the purpose of serenading him, and he it was who 
 headed a deputation to present the successful composer with 
 a gold wreath. The two men fell into each other's arms 
 and embraced with effusion. That Rossini ardently reci- 
 procated his friend's feeling, a thousand circumstances go to 
 prove, one especially of a date as recent as 1855. _ In that 
 year the master discovered a portrait of Cherubini in a 
 broker's shop. It represented him as a young man, and 
 was a charming picture, though no one could tell anything 
 about its history. Rossini bought it, of course, and 
 sent a photograph copy to Madame Cherubini, with a note 
 saying : — 
 
 Here is the portrait of the great man, who is still as young in 
 your heart as he is in my mind. Kindly accept it as a tender 
 memento from your affectionate G. Rossini. 
 
 The portrait thus presented vanished after Madame 
 Cherubini's death and cannot now be found, though M. Pougin 
 beheves that some Englishman secured it for a good round 
 sum. 
 
 Ferdinand Hiller was another of Cherubini's visitors, and 
 has given to the world a most interesting account of the 
 master as he found him — an acount which may fairly be 
 set against the remarks made on the same subject by 
 Mendelssohn in the days of his youth. Hiller thus describes 
 the Italian master's personal appearance : — 
 
 I was somewhat disappointed on entering his study to find a 
 small spare man. But the disappointment was only momentary. 
 There was a penetrating light in his eyes ; tufts of white hair 
 fringed his head, which was comparatively majestic ; and his 
 features, though somewhat impaired by age, still showed traces 
 of almost regular beauty. His general appearance was that of a 
 distinguished statesman rather than a musical composer. This 
 may be seen in the magnificent portrait by Ingres, which seems 
 not so much painted as sculptured in colours, and which repro- 
 duces Cherubini's face with wonderful truth. 
 
 The German musician then goes on to give a curious 
 confirmation of what has already been said regardmg 
 
 F 
 
66 LUIGI CHE RUBIN I: 
 
 Cherubini's habit of refusing requests and then granting 
 them : — 
 
 He was particularly attached to the letter of the law, and his 
 usual reply, " It cannot be done," has become, so to speak, 
 proverbial. At the beginning of our acquaintanceship I had 
 occasion to find, however, that there was a kind heart under this 
 disagreeable form. I had asked leave to take home two volumes 
 from the Conservatoire library, and received an answer " It 
 cannot be done ; it is not allowed." It was useless to press my 
 request, so I changed the conversation ; but as I was bidding 
 him good-bye he said, " What did you want to borrow from our 
 library ? " When I replied that it was a collection of Palestrina's 
 motetts, the old gentleman answered, in an almost confidential 
 tone, " I will send for them for myself. In this manner you can 
 have them." . . One favour which he granted me a few days 
 only before I left Paris, and still more the manner in which it 
 was granted, are too characteristic not to be recorded here. I 
 asked him to give me one of his manuscripts. The last Sunday 
 I spent in Paris he invited me to dine with his family, and 
 before we sat down to table handed me two scores, begging me 
 to choose one of them. Without examining them very atten- 
 tively I seized on the more bulky of the two, and was about 
 putting it in my pocket, when the well-known " It cannot be 
 done" sounded in my ears. It appears that the manuscripts had 
 their proper place, duly marked according to the letter and 
 number affixed to them, in his library, and that they could not 
 be removed at any price. On the following Tuesday, however, 
 I received a copy of the score I had chosen (a fine "Agnus Dei"), 
 which the indefatigable old gentleman had made in two days, 
 with a trembling hand but with the greatest clearness and neat- 
 ness. Some letters I afterwards received from him are written 
 in terms of such tender kindness that it is impossible to recognise 
 in them the severe director with his " It cannot be done." 
 I feel certain that he would never have accustomed himself, 
 except in writing, to employ the expressions he used in his 
 letters to me. 
 
 Hiller thus sums up the masters character : — 
 Excellent and honourable in all his actions, and, to the very 
 bottom of his heart, of a kindly and well-nigh naive nature, his 
 most friendly words and acts were tinged with a kind of bitter- 
 ness. It was evident that he felt no anxiety as to whether he 
 himself or his music was agreeable. Endowed with clear in- 
 telligence and sound judgment, never did he soften the harshness 
 of his remarks by any gentle expression. Like the mild chest- 
 nut tree, his very good nature had a rough bark. 
 
HIS LIFE. 67 
 
 How superficially must the young Mendelssohn have 
 judged the master when he said : — 
 
 You would never have imagined a man could be a great com- 
 poser without possessing sensibility, heart, or any other kind of 
 sentiment, whatever its name might be. Well, I declare to you 
 that with Cherubini everything comes from the brain alone. 
 
 With Auber, Cherubini's relations were as intimate as 
 wath Rossini. He had made the brilliant Frenchman's 
 acquaintance when as yet he was " about town," with fine 
 prospects from his father, and only taking up music in an 
 amateurish sort of way for personal amusement. It was 
 under these circumstances that the two men became 
 familiar, the elder showing towards the younger an almost 
 paternal regard. Presently Auber's father died without 
 leaving the expected fortune, and the son, gravely perplexed, 
 went to Cherubini for advice. " The matter is very simple," 
 said the Florentine ; " you are a musician ; you have ideas ; 
 work." " That is very easily said," replied Auber; " but I 
 am not accustomed to it, and it is not to my taste." ** Very 
 well," was the retort, " then throw yourself out of the 
 window." This was not to the Frenchman's taste either, 
 and in the end he began taking lessons of his friend— at the 
 age of thirty-five! — with what results all the world knows. 
 Halevy was another pupil of the great master, and not only 
 a pupil but a familiar friend, for whom there were always an 
 open door and a place at table. In return, Halevy's love 
 was that of a son. At Cherubini's funeral he acted as a 
 pall-bearer — " large tears were coursing down his cheeks, 
 and at each roll of the funeral drums, at each plaint of the 
 instruments singing the sublime ' Requiem ' which ac- 
 companied the great artist's remains, he staggered as 
 though struck to the heart." We are indebted to Halevy 
 for a fine glimpse of Cherubini's character as it took shape in 
 his last days, when the proud spirit kept old age and death 
 at arm's length till the last moment. With the subjoined 
 quotation we end our illustrations of the master's personal 
 traits : — 
 
 It was on March 15, 1842, that he succumbed, bowed down 
 by years, but struggling courageously against death, as up to 
 that supreme day he had struggled courageously against old 
 age, which had in consequence respected him. He had pre- 
 served all his energy of will, all his distinctness of judgment, 
 
 F 2 
 
68 LUIGI CHERUBINI 
 
 all his clearness of intelligence. ... He repelled old age out 
 of pride, the cause of his force and resistance. His clear- 
 sighted genius kept watch with too much zeal and inquietude 
 for him not to perceive the enemy's persevering attacks, and not 
 to feei its cold blows, knowing very well he would be vanquished 
 the day on which he was not the stronger. Men of this stamp, 
 who esteem naught in life but intelligence, live on fighting to 
 the end and die fully armed. " I am beginning to get old ! " he 
 said to me one day. He was then more than eighty. These 
 words, which would have been commonplace coming from other 
 lips, struck me grievously proceeding from his, and filled me 
 with sadness. I saw in them the presentiment and symptom of 
 approaching dissolution. For me his death began on that day. 
 Three months later he was no more. His life was, therefore, 
 exempt from the period of trouble and enfeeblement in which 
 the faculties are obscured and the gleams of the soul extinguished 
 — a slow and painful state of transition, during which death is 
 installed. . . . One might almost fancy that the noble Muse, 
 whom the brush of Ingres imagined and placed by the composer's 
 side, sustained him down to the last day with her vigorous hand, 
 and preserved him from the peril surrounding vulgar lives. 
 
 M. Arthur Pougin finishes the chapter devoted to 
 Cherubini's relations with his contemporaries in these 
 words: "I will here terminate this long chapter, not because 
 more documents fail me, but because it threatens to go on 
 for ever and fatigue the reader." In truth, however, the 
 reader could stand a great deal more of the same kind, for 
 here we have a contribution to the master's real biography. 
 It removes the veil that covers the more personal life of the 
 man, and enables us to penetrate beneath the conventional 
 mask which every individual, above all the public individual, 
 is compelled to wear. Happily, M. Pougin does not omit 
 reference to Cherubini and I3erlioz. In our sketch of the 
 French composer's life* the opinion which Berlioz had formed 
 regarding the head of the Paris Conservatoire is set forth 
 by copious extracts from his " Memoirs." It there plainly 
 appears that Berlioz cherished a genuine animus against 
 the Italian master, and not only held him up to ridicule — in 
 itself a sufficient offence, considering the relative positions 
 of the two men — but tried to m.ake him hateful as well, 
 crediting him, for example, with mean and despicable 
 motives. Our readers may possibly remember the case of 
 the " Requiem " composed by Berlioz, at the instance of 
 • Novcllo's Primers of Musical Biography. Hector Berlioz. 
 
HIS LIFE. fq 
 
 the Government, for the anniversary of the July Revolution, 
 but actually performed at the Invalides in memory of General 
 Damremont and the heroes of Constantine. Berlioz tells 
 the world in his " Memoirs " that he chanced to be at the 
 office of the Journal des Dehats one day when Halevy called 
 to interview the editor, Bertin, and to tell him that the 
 preference of the Government for the French composer had 
 so affected Cherubini as to make him ill. Berlioz adds 
 that :— 
 
 Halevy had come to beg M. Bertin to use his power to obtain 
 for the illustrious master the Commander's Cross of the Legion 
 of Honour by way of consolation. M. Bertin's stern voice then 
 interrupted him with these words, " Yes, my dear Halevy, we 
 will do what you wish in order that a distinction he has well 
 merited shall be bestowed upon Cherubini. But as to the 
 * Requiem,' if any arrangement regarding his work is proposed 
 to Berlioz, and he is weak enough to yield a hair's breadth, I 
 will not speak to him again as long as I live." Halevy must 
 have withdrawn rather more than confounded by this answer. 
 In reply, M. Pougin does not call Berlioz a liar outright, 
 but he more than insinuates as much. Here are his 
 words : — 
 
 I do not hesitate to declare that Berlioz here lost a fine 
 occasion of holding his tongue, and that this little narrative does 
 more honour to his invention than to his delicacy. What person 
 will he make believe that Cherubini, of whom we cannot cite a 
 single trait of envy or jealousy in the whole course of his career, 
 was so jealous of Berlioz as to be " ill in bed " in consequence ? 
 . . . What person will he make believe that Cherubini could 
 commission any one to go to M. Bertin and beg a Commander's 
 collar of the Legion of Honour for him, a Member of the Institute, 
 the Director of the Conservatory, an artist illustrious among the 
 most illustrious, and who certainly needed no one's "patronage" 
 or "recommendation" to obtain no matter what? What person, 
 lastly, will he make believe that, desiring so eagerly this distinc- 
 tion, Cherubini had to wait for it several years, since he did not 
 receive it till 1844, towards the end of his life, when he resigned 
 the post which he held in the Conservatory ? Of a truth, all this 
 is puerile, as well as rather naive, and calculated to prove that 
 Berlioz was merely a persistent hater. 
 
 The foregoing argument to character first appeared in 
 Le Mencstrel — M. Pougin's work being published by weekly 
 instalments— and at once drew remonstrance and com- 
 plaint from the admirers of Berlioz. M. Pougin lost no 
 
yo LUIGI CHERUDINI : 
 
 time in putting forth a crushing reply, beginning thus : " I 
 am absolutely obliged to remark to my kind correspondents 
 that my severity was, if anything, rather less than it should 
 have been." He then went on to observe that Berlioz had 
 actually written to Cherubini on the very matter in question, 
 thanking him for efforts made on behalf of himself and his 
 •' Requiem." Here is the conclusive document : — 
 
 Sir — I am deeply touched by the noble abnegation which has 
 led you to refuse your admirable " Requiem " for the ceremony 
 at the Invalides. Kindly believe that I am profoundly grateful. 
 As, however, the determination of the Minister of the Interior is 
 irrevocable, I now earnestly beg you to think no longer of me, and 
 not to deprive the Government and your admirers of a master- 
 piece which would throw so much lustre on the solemnity. I remain, 
 with profound respect, Sir, your devoted servant, H. Berlioz. 
 
 Although some points in this letter are not quite clear, it 
 leaves no doubt of the main fact at issue, and compels us 
 to agree with M. Pougin when he says of Berlioz that he 
 *' did not always trouble himself to obsen-e the exact truth 
 wdth regard to things on which he was better informed than 
 any one else." 
 
 Cherubini's record, between his appointment as Master of 
 the Royal Chapel, in 1814, and as Director of the Con- 
 servatoire, in 1822, is almost entirely taken up with 
 compositions for the Church. His secular w^orks during that 
 period are easily enumerated. Thus we read of a Cantata, 
 " Le Mariage de Salomon," written for the wedding 
 festivities of the Due de Berri, and performed at the 
 Tuileries, June 17, 1816. This was shortly followed by a 
 two-voice romance, " Je ne t'aime plus," two pieces for 
 oboe and bassoon respectively, and an air for " Lodoiska," 
 in view of a revival of that opera. In 1821, the birth of a 
 son (the late Count de Chambord) to the Duchesse de Berri 
 caused Cherubini to write a " Cantata for several voices, 
 with choruses interspersed," which was performed at the 
 Hotel de Ville, on May 2. He also collaborated with 
 Berton, Boieldieu, Kreutzer, and Paer in the production of 
 a one-act Opera, " Blanche de Provence," first represented 
 at the Court Theatre, on May i, and subsequently twice at 
 the Academic Royale, then located in the Theatre Favart, 
 the opera house having been destroyed after the Due de 
 Berri's assassination. M. Pougin says : — 
 
 Of this unfortunate work all that survived was an adorable 
 
HIS LIFE. 71 
 
 chorus of the most exquisite efifect, " Dors, mon enfant," which 
 formed part of t^ie third tableau, precisely the one written by 
 Cherubini. This chorus, still celebrated, was inscribed in the 
 programme of the first Concert given on March 9, 1828, by the 
 Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire ; since then it has always 
 remained in the repertory of that famous institution. 
 
 It was of this chorus, no doubt, that Moscheles, who 
 attended a performance, wrote in his diary : " The final 
 chorus, by Cherubini, made an indelible impression on my 
 mind." 
 
 The more important sacred works during this period were 
 an " Iste Dies " (1817), a " Tantum ergo " (1817), a " Regina 
 Coeli " (1818), of which a French critic, Girod, remarks : — 
 " It is incontestably the most beautiful piece of its kind, and 
 a magnificent ovation to the Queen of Heaven " ; and a 
 Mass in E, attributable to the last-named year, but, 
 according to one authority, not yet published. To 1819 
 belongs the Mass in G, composed for the coronation of 
 Louis XVIII. This, it should be observed, is not the work 
 generally known as Cherubini's " Coronation Mass," which 
 was written five years later for the ceremony wherein 
 Charles X. acted the principal part. The Mass of 1819 
 brought Cherubini at least an honorary recompense. He 
 was created a Knight of the Order of St. Michael — one of 
 those ephemeral distinctions which sprang up with the 
 return of the Bourbons, only to be crushed by the next 
 revolution. To the year just named belongs also the 
 Quartet in E flat, which, if Spohr's evidence may be 
 credited, was composed in ignorance of the masterpieces by 
 Mozart and Beethoven. From evidence supplied by M. 
 Pougin, it would appear that, about this time, Cherubini 
 much desired the managership of the Opera, and was 
 actually a candidate for the place against his old friend 
 Viotti, who carried off the honour. This seems to have 
 been unknown, or, at any rate, unremembered, till M. 
 Pougin found, among the documents entrusted to him by 
 Cherubini's family, a letter from Viotti (dated November 5, 
 1819), after his appointment. In that letter, Viotti said : — 
 
 I have been informed, my dear friend, that you are angry. If 
 it is with me, you are wrong, and it will not be difficult for me to 
 convince you of this. . . I did not seek the post with which 1 
 am honoured or the position which once more puts an end to my 
 tranquillity. The whole matter has been arranged I know not 
 
LUIGI CHERUBINI: 
 
 how, and it was only ten days or a fortnight ago that I was sent 
 for from Chatillon to give my consent. . . As a matter of 
 course I appreciate profoundly the kindness of the Comte de 
 Pradel ; he has a right to my gratitude and I shall do all I can 
 to prove this to him ; but I cannot help feeling extremely sorry 
 at having been the rival of a friend whom I love and whose 
 genius I have always respected and appreciated — of a man whom 
 I shall never cease to love, whatever change may take place in 
 his heart. 
 
 A letter thus frank and manly should have soothed 
 Cherubini's ruffled spirit, at least as regards the writer ; 
 but this does not appear to have been the case, and the two 
 friends were never again to each other quite as before. 
 
 We now come to the time (1822) when Cherubini found 
 himself at the head of the great institution which he, as a 
 professor, had helped to establish. 
 
 On April 19, 1822, the Minister of the King's Household 
 formally invested our master with all the honours and 
 privileges of Director of the Royal School of Music for a 
 term of twenty years, vice Perne resigned. The choice took 
 nobody by surprise, for not only was Cherubini the greatest 
 available composer, but the most successful professor. With 
 three of his pupils he had, in five years, won seven nomi- 
 nations to the Grand Prix de Rome. All circumstances, 
 therefore, pointed out Cherubini as a man likely to raise the 
 school from the depths into which it had fallen since the 
 Restoration, and he soon began to justify the trust reposed 
 in him. M. Pougin thus sums up the comprehensive mea- 
 sures carried out under the regime of the new director : — 
 
 Not only was his directorship fertile in salutary measures and 
 ameliorations of every kind, but it was specially excellent as 
 regards the exactitude, the method, and the regularity in the 
 work of each day, the general course of study, and the happy 
 impulse imparted to every branch of instruction. It was under 
 Cherubini's reign that a double committee of instruction was 
 created for music and for elocution, as well as a committee of 
 management ; that the boarding-house for male pupils (and even 
 that for female pupils, which it was afterwards necessary to do 
 away with) was re-opened ; that public performances were re- 
 established and their number fixed ; that the terms of engagement 
 between the pupils and the Theatres Royal were settled ; that 
 classes for the harp, double-bass, preparatory piano for women, 
 and reading aloud were created ; that opera and comic opera and 
 instruction in lyrical declamation were divided into two distinct 
 
HIS LIFE. 73 
 
 branches ; that the schools of music in the departmental towns 
 of Lille, Toulouse, Marseilles, and Metz were created branches 
 of the parent school ; that the terms on which the professors 
 should retire were exactly defined, &c. 
 
 This statement says enough for Cherubini as an organiser 
 and administrator — as, in fact, a man of business in his art. 
 It would be easy to add many other particulars, such as 
 those found, for example, in Lassabathie's Histoire d» Con- 
 servatoire. There we learn that the master devoted his whole 
 time to the work of the institution. His discipline was 
 severe and carried out under his own personal observation, 
 as, by the way, Berlioz found when he presumed to enter 
 the Conservatoire building by the door set apart for female 
 students. As he was himself, so he expected all the pro- 
 fessors and servants to be. Ever firm and impartial, he 
 gave way to no considerations but those of strict duty. He 
 even dared to refuse the request of royalty. On one occa- 
 sion Queen Marie-Amelie recommended a certain Mdlle. 
 Hebler for admission into the school, little doubting but that, 
 as usual in such cases, her request would be acted upon as a 
 command. Cherubini answered her Majesty's private secre- 
 tary thus : — 
 
 I have just heard Mdlle. Hebler, whom you did me the honour 
 to recommend on the part of the queen, and who desired to be 
 admitted into the Conservatoire. Despite all my inclination to 
 second her majesty's kind intentions with regard to the young 
 lady, I regret very much that it is impossible for me to receive 
 her, on account of the feebleness of her natural means. I 
 acquainted her verbally with the motives preventing her ad- 
 mission, and advised her mother to bring her up to some other 
 career than that of the stage, for which nature has denied her 
 the most indispensable qualities — exterior and voice. 
 
 Cherubini could say "No" to his best friends with equal 
 readiness, when duty seemed to require it. We are told 
 that, on one occasion, Halevy used his influence on behalf 
 of a lady, well endowed with musical means, whose husband 
 had suffered a heavy reverse of fortune. The Director's 
 favourite pupil simply requested that she might be admitted 
 to Levasseur's operatic class, with a view to earning a living 
 on the stage. Cherubini readily consented to an interview 
 with the applicant, and when she entered the room, said : 
 " Are you the lady, madam, who wished to come out at the 
 opera?" "Yes, sir." "It is impossible." "Why, sir?" 
 
74 
 
 LUIGI CHERUBINJ . 
 
 " Why ! Ask your glass." We agree with M. Pougin's 
 comment upon this: "It was harsh, without doubt, and 
 somewhat brutal, but was it not artistically honest ? " The 
 qualities of harshness and roughness to which reference is 
 here made, and has often been made before, seem to have 
 developed under the constant friction of a great institution, 
 with its conflicting interests and many worries. This was 
 partly the result of over-zeal. Cherubini would insist on 
 seeing to everything himself, and taking directly upon his 
 own shoulders responsibilities which should have been left 
 to subordinates. Yet the entire Conservatoire felt the in- 
 fluence of his untiring and unswerving honesty. His in- 
 fluence descended through all grades to the lowest, and the 
 great French School rapidly became great in the best sense 
 of the term. 
 
 Many stories are told of Cherubini's punctilious regard 
 for what most people look upon as small matters. On one 
 occasion he said to the Minister of the King's Household, 
 who was behind time at a prize distribution, "You are very 
 late, Monseigneur ! " Habeneck, it appears, would never 
 learn punctuality, and was always being rated in consequence. 
 One day, however, he bustled in hot with hurry and said 
 triumphantly to the Director, " You cannot reproach me 
 now ! " Cherubini looked at his watch and answered, "You 
 are three minutes too soon ; you are not punctual now." 
 As regards the Director's very plain speaking, the following 
 stories are not without interest : — 
 
 At an examination of condidates for admission as singing 
 pupils, a poor misshapen fellow apppeared and sang with 
 excellent taste, displaying also a beautiful voice. The 
 examiners felt that they could not admit a person so dis- 
 qualified by nature for stage work, but they desired to make 
 known admiration of his talent. Cherubini undertook to 
 settle the matter with the candidate, and going to him said : — 
 
 " My young friend, your voice is magnificent. Yes, your voice 
 is superb, and you sing with a great deal of taste. The Com- 
 mittee are, in consequence, delighted to have heard you. At 
 the same time they regret exceedingly they cannot admit you." 
 " What is their reason, sir ? " asked the anxious applicant. 
 " What is their reason ! " replied Cherubini. " Why, my young 
 friend, because we cannot on your account open a theatre for 
 monkeys." 
 
 This, most people will agree with us, was simple brutality. 
 
HIS LIFE. . 75 
 
 so unmanly that had the candidate inflicted personal chas- 
 tisement upon the Director then and there no more than 
 justice would have been done. 
 
 A second story affords more pleasant reading. _ Miel is 
 responsible for it, and we may use a translation of his words, 
 premising that the people concerned were, besides Cherubini, 
 an anxious father of gigantic stature, and a pretty little boy, 
 his son, who, being musically gifted, was a candidate for 
 admission to the Conservatoire, 
 
 Advised by their friends, the applicants (tall father and tiny 
 child) posted themselves in a room which the Director never failed 
 to traverse when starting on his visit to the class-rooms. On 
 opening the door, Cherubini found himself confronted by a 
 colossus, who, from the eminence of his six feet, was awkwardly 
 holding by the hand a perfect little cherub. Surprised at the 
 meeting, and, no doubt, taken aback at this contrast between the 
 extremes of human stature, he said in a haughty tone to the 
 giant, " What can I do for you ? " Then, on being informed of 
 his visitor's wish, he added, proceeding on his way, " I do not 
 take infants to wet nurse." The poor father was thunderstruck. 
 
 Subsequently Cherubini found the little boy in one of the 
 class-rooms, seated at a pianoforte. 
 
 There was now no father present. . . . The choice of the 
 pieces and the manner of their execution struck him ; he stopped, 
 sat down, and listened. The age, the grace, and the talent of the 
 executant had produced their effect. Caresses and words of 
 encouragement were followed by questions ; on the principles of 
 the art the child was not to be shaken. " Bravo, my little friend ! "' 
 said Cherubini, delighted, "but why are you here, and what can I 
 do for you ?" " Something very easy for you," replied the appli- 
 cant, " and something which will make me very happy ; admit me 
 to the Conservatoire.'' " The thing is done," replied the Director, 
 " you are one of us." Thereupon he left the room and gaily related 
 what had happened, adding, laughingly, " I took very good care 
 not to push my questions further, for the brat would have proved 
 to me that he knew more than I did." 
 
 The foregoing tale, which no biographer of Cherubini ven- 
 tures to omit, is the best practical illustration of Adolphe 
 Adam's remarks upon his master's character : — 
 
 The sensations experienced in approaching Cherubini were 
 so strange that it would be hard to define them and much more 
 to understand them. The veneration that you had for his great 
 age and fine talent, was suddenly altered by ridicule aroused by 
 
76 LUIGI CHERUBINI: 
 
 little trifles to which he clung with a persevering obstinacy. Then, 
 at the end of a few minutes, as though he had understood that it 
 was too long a time to act the disagreeable to no purpose, his 
 face relaxed, that smile, so refined and shrewd, came to animate 
 the fine head of the old man, good nature resumed the ascendant, 
 little by little the faults of a spoilt child disappeared, he became 
 a good man in spite of himself; his heart opened out to )'ours, 
 and then you could resist him no more; you left him charmed, 
 and altogether surprised to have felt towards this extraordinary 
 man, in so short a time, sentiments so different — repulsion, 
 admiration, and enthusiasm. 
 
 After what has been said regarding the bearing and conduct 
 of Cherubini, there is no need for further details in explana- 
 tion of his somewhat tyrannical and often stormy reign at 
 the Conservatoire. The master suffered from nerves and 
 gave way to them ; his attention to trifles was a perennial 
 source of irritation, and as years went on his sensitiveness 
 grew into a chronic infirmity of temper, so as almost to hide 
 the real goodness that existed beneath. How lovable he 
 was, an fond, his pupils have told us with all the warmth of 
 passionate affection. 
 
 Cherubini's rule of the Conservatoire was distinguished 
 by the establishment (in 1822) of the famous and still existing 
 Concerts, initiated by Habeneck and supported by the 
 Director with all possible energy. It was through Cherubini 
 that the proposal to give Concerts in the hall of the Con- 
 servatoire obtained Government sanction and aid, while the 
 master himself acted as President of the Committee by whom 
 the new institution was managed. It is important to observe 
 that the main purpose w^as the performance of Beethoven's 
 works. Both English and Germans are apt to sneer at the 
 backwardness of the French as regards appreciation of 
 Beethoven, but we may reasonably question whether any 
 society outside France can show such a record of true homage 
 to that master as the Soci^te des Concerts du Conservatoire. 
 Mr. Bellasis tells us that in thirty-four years there were 280 
 performances of his symphonies, 38 of his overtures, 41 of 
 his works for the chamber; in all, 359. As for the great 
 " Choral " Symphony, till within the last few years almost 
 unknown in lingland, it was executed in Paris during the 
 above-mentioned period no fewer than nineteen times. The 
 wonderful perfection of the concerts given under Habeneck 
 has often been described, and the secret of it is found, as 
 
HIS LIFE. 77 
 
 usual, in the absolute authority of one master mind, having 
 at command unlimited opportunities for impressing upon 
 subordinates his slightest will. We have now amongst us 
 an eminent artist — M. Sainton — who belonged to Habeneck's 
 orchestra, and can tell of the extraordinary preparation which 
 that body had to undergo. Every section was separately 
 rehearsed again and again, if needful, till all its component 
 parts worked together like one man ; the first violins, for 
 example, bowing every passage with absolute uniformity, 
 and playing with such regulated expression — the expression 
 determined by the conductor — that the effect might have 
 come from a single instrument. The sections being thus 
 drilled, the grand divisions were brought together, and finally 
 the entire orchestra, so that, in performance, each player 
 was but a machine carrying out his part of a great executive 
 design conceived by the one presiding mind. It is thus, and 
 only thus, that famous things are done in the performance 
 of musical masterpieces. Compared with the result so pro- 
 duced, that attained by English orchestras after, at best, two 
 rehearsals, is but a scramble, wherein whatever appears 
 really excellent comes from chance, or the power of extra- 
 ordinary skill triumphing over adverse conditions. 
 
 Another memorable incident of Cherubini's period at the 
 Conservatoire is the publication (1835) of his " Cours de 
 Contrepoint et de Fugue," in order that, as he himself said: — 
 
 Instruction in counterpoint should form part of the course of 
 study in the establishment which I have the honour of directing — 
 words that mean, perhaps, more attention to counterpoint, 
 rather than the setting it up as a new study. The Director 
 seems to have intended presenting this work to the Academic, 
 and a memorandum intended to accompany it was found 
 among his papers. This document begins by declaring that 
 counterpoint is universal rather than national — " the same 
 in all countries." It then continues : — 
 
 By counterpoint the faculty of composing purely and vigorously 
 is acquired. Thus, when a man is thoroughly master of counter- 
 point and fugue, he is certain of being an accomplished composer ; 
 he then knows sufficient to give himself up to the impulses of 
 genius and imagination, to undertake what is called high com- 
 position, whether vocal or instrumental. It is then that the 
 Italian, German, or French style may be embraced, according to 
 the choice, taste, and liking of a young composer. But he must, 
 above all, have learned counterpoint, as mentioned above. 
 
78 LUIGI CHERUBIXI: 
 
 It is not quite needless to cite these remarks at the present 
 moment. 
 
 It is now time to speak of the compositions which 
 Cherubini gave to the world in his last years— that is to say, 
 between 1830, when the choir of the Chapel Royal and his 
 office connected therewith were suppressed, and 1839, when 
 he ceased to write. During that period, the master, as may 
 be supposed, was several times tempted to resume work in 
 connection with the lyric stage. M. Pixerecourt, author of 
 the drama, '* Les Mines de Pologne," from which the libretto 
 of " Faniska" was taken, had previously sought Cherubini's 
 help in an adaptation of the work for the Opera Comique. 
 The composer consented, but found, on looking at the score, 
 that it could not be made to suit a French audience, and 
 the project consequently fell through. Indeed his zeal for 
 opera had abated, in presence of increasing love for the 
 music of the Church. It was, therefore, with no great hope 
 of success that Scribe and Melesville approached him on the 
 subject of his opera, " Koukourgi," written in 1793, and 
 never produced. M. Pougin gives a very clear account of 
 the transaction that ensued, and his words may be quoted 
 with advantage : — 
 
 Why was the work never brought out ? That is what no one 
 to-day can tell. One thing, however, is certain : the libretto 
 was supplied by Duveyrier, father of the ingenious and fertile 
 dramatic author who made himself known under the name of 
 Melesville, and who, wishing to derive some profit from the 
 paternal prose, suggested to Scribe, his usual literary colleague, 
 the idea of joining him in re-arranging the book of" Koukourgi," 
 which no longer suited the taste of the day, and of making the 
 public acquainted with Cherubini's music. The two authors 
 called upon the composer, and explained to him their desire, 
 which he seems to have agreed to without much pressure. As 
 is invariably the case under such circumstances, they were to 
 follow almost exactly the original course of the story, so that 
 the situations might be reproduced, and the sense of the music 
 and the form of the numbers not changed. But, as is also 
 invariably the case, changes and modifications cropped up in the 
 course of tbe work, and the musician was bound to have his 
 share of them. Thus Cherubini was obliged to write a large 
 number of new pieces. Then " Koukourgi" was in three acts 
 only, while " All Baba"— such were the new title and subject 
 adopted — was in four, with a prologue ; moreover, the work was 
 remodelled, and first destined for the Opfira Comique, was 
 
HIS LIFE. 
 
 eventually taken to the Opera, and naturally subjected to fresh 
 modifications and important alterations. It was not, conse- 
 quently, till after the lapse of several years that it could possibly 
 be brought out. 
 
 Fetis states that the work thus laboriously put together 
 was " almost entirely new," and that the manuscript ran to 
 no less than a thousand pages. He adds, with great truth 
 and force : — 
 
 It is something marvellous that a master whose first 
 compositions are dated 1773 should have been able to 
 write with the spirit of youth, sixty years afterwards, an 
 immense musical work ; modify his talent with rare facility, 
 without ceasing to be himself; find fresh and brilliant ideas, 
 when only experience and learning were expected from him, 
 and light upon accents of love and passion in a septuagenarian 
 heart. 
 
 We have seen that the work was carried to the Opera, 
 but it must not be supposed that the authorities of the grand 
 theatre were very anxious to have it. Dr. Veron, the then 
 director, accepted "Ali Babi " against his own judgment, 
 entirely out of respect for an illustrious old composer. Nor 
 does it appear that Cherubini himself cherished very san- 
 guine hopes. We learn from Halevy that, though he 
 attended the rehearsals— and at times made his presence 
 very much felt there — he ran away from the performance, 
 going to Versailles, and, watch in hand, letting his fancy 
 follow what was at the moment being done in Paris. " At 
 five-and-twenty minutes past eleven ' Ali Baba ' was over by 
 his watch, which, he said, went very well and kept Opera 
 time." He retired to bed, slept soundly, returned to Paris 
 only after having received a re-assuring despatch, and never 
 went to see this opera, of which he never spoke again, 
 except to observe, " It is too old to live long. It was forty 
 when it came into the world." Readers of the Memoirs of 
 Berlioz may remember that, according to his own account, 
 that excellent hater of Cherubini greatly distinguished him- 
 self by offering an increasing number of francs for an idea, 
 and it must be said in some sort of justification that the 
 Parisians generally had no great opinion of " Ali Baba." It 
 was played four times, set aside for two months while 
 Nourrit took his holidays, reproduced on that artist's return, 
 and soon finally withdrawn, Mr. Bellasis quotes from 
 
8o LUIGI CHERUBINI. 
 
 Boi.t^ne's " Petits Memoires de I'Opera " a rather amusing 
 account of its first night's reception :— 
 
 In "AH Baba" everything was wearisome and soporific — 
 poem, music, and ballet ; the airs of which were, however, com- 
 posed by Halevy. Those fastidious forty thieves had better 
 have rested eternally in their jars and in the works of Galland. 
 Cherubini demanding hospitality at the Opera for " Ali Baba " 
 has the same effect with me as would Belisarius holding out his 
 helmet to the passers by. " Ali Baba " is one of those fossilised 
 operas which a director only accepts when they are thrust 
 down his throat by illustrious old age, and for fear of being 
 declared a vandal, the director had to pass it off for a chef 
 d'ceuvre, and with a loss of fifty to sixty thousand francs. But 
 the public, who were not bound by the same considerations as 
 M. Veron, yawned so much and so widely, under Ali Babas very 
 nose, that real hissing would have spoken less eloquently. The 
 public condemned without appeal, and executed pitilessly those 
 forty thieves who had not stolen anything. 
 
 The same writer tells us— we may acccept the statement 
 or not— that Cherubini laid all the blame of failure on the 
 chorus, remarking, "With such miserable choristers as those 
 of the 'Opera no success is possible. I could never make 
 one of my forty thieves sing, or even march, in time." 
 Mendelssohn, as readers of his letters may recollect, criti- 
 cised the music of the piece with his usual freedom, declar- 
 ing that, though "enchanted" with many parts, he could 
 not accept Cherubini's new-fangled orchestration, in ^vhich 
 it seemed "as if the instruments v/ere nothing and the effect 
 everything. . . . As if it were the audience who had 
 skins of parchment instead of the drums." On the other 
 hand, a writer in the Nicdcrrhcinische Musik Zcitung said : — 
 Cherubini was seventy-three years of age, but both his head 
 and his heart had remained young, and his latest dramatic pro- 
 duction displayed, in conjunction with the maturest knowledge 
 and the most beautiful form, the loveliest blossoms of profound 
 feeling and youthful passion. That the work did not retain its 
 place in the repertory was not astonishing in the case of a public 
 intoxicated by the perfumes arising from the flowery path which 
 Rossini and his imitators had forced the opera to take. 
 
 This was not the only remark of German appreciation. 
 " Ali Baba," produced in Paris, July 22, 1S33, was per- 
 formed in Berlin, Februaiy 27, 1835, " with great success." 
 Thenceforth the old master wrote no more for the stage. 
 
HIS LIFE. 8i 
 
 It has been stated on an earlier page that Cherubini 
 diversified his' labours, when about fifty years of age, by 
 writing a string Quartet in E flat. We now find him, 
 nearly a quarter of a century later, returning with almost 
 youthful zest to that form of composition ; which, no doubt, 
 he found better suited to his years than the more exciting 
 labour of operas and masses. " It occupies and amuses me," 
 he said to Ferdinand Hiller, " for I have not the least pre- 
 tension in the matter." About the value of this music con- 
 noisseurs differ greatly. For example, Professor Macfarren, 
 having before him the Quartet in E flat (1814) and that in 
 C (1829), founded on Cherubini's London Symphony, writes 
 in the " Imperial Dictionary " as follows : — 
 
 Their merit entitles them to no distinction, and it is scarcely 
 to be supposed that his several subsequent works of the same 
 class which have not been printed can possess any greater in- 
 terest, since these prove the author's entire want of feeling for the 
 style, and aptitude for the form, of instrumental chamber, music. 
 
 On the other hand, Hiller describes the Quartet as " full 
 of delicacy and piquancy," which indeed it is ; Schumann 
 speaks of it as "full of life," and adds that the Finale 
 sparkles " like a diamond when you shake it"; while Fetis 
 remarks of all the Quartets: — 
 
 These compositions are of a very high order. Cherubini has 
 here a style of his own, as in all his works. He imitates neither 
 the manner of Haydn, nor that of Mozart, nor that of Beethoven. 
 
 Between Professor Macfarren and the majority opposed to 
 him, we shall not pretend to decide; but simply express a 
 modest opinion that Cherubini's instrumental works for the 
 chamber are not only interesting — as, bearing his name, they 
 must needs be— but a distinct and valuable addition to the 
 repertory of their class, because so full of fresh and charm- 
 ing individuality. The revival of the old master's regard for 
 this form of music seems to have been due to the eminent 
 violinist, Baillot, who introduced the Quartet in E flat at 
 one of his Quartet parties with much applause. Then, as 
 we have seen, Cherubini founded a second upon the sym- 
 phony written in London, and subsequently composed four 
 others, three of which, it appears, still remain in manuscript. 
 Concerning the Quartet in C, Schumann says : — 
 
 A few dry bars, the work of the intellect alone, there are, as in 
 most of Cherubini's works, but even in these there is always 
 
 G 
 
82 LUIGI CHERUBINI: 
 
 something interesting in the passage, some ingenious con- 
 trivance or imitation, something to think about. There is most 
 spirit in the Scherzo and last movement, which are both full of 
 wonderful life. The Adagio has a striking individual A minor 
 character, something romantic and Proven^alish. After hearing 
 it several times its charms grow, and it closes in such a manner 
 as to make you begin listening again, though knowing that the 
 end is near at hand. 
 
 The master's last chamber composition was a Quintet, 
 written in 1836. Of this Ferdinand Hiller tells us : — 
 
 When I left Paris in 1836, Cherubini was writing a Quintet 
 for stringed instruments, and told me with perfect simplicity that 
 he intended to write half-a-dozen more. . . . The Quintet 
 was executed in his own room, when he was seventy-eight, and 
 greatly surprised the artists of Paris. 
 
 Fetis adds to this: — 
 
 In the winter of 1838, Cherubini invited to his house a few 
 artists, and had performed for them the Quintet he had just 
 finished. They all experienced the liveliest emotion at the 
 work, the author of which was then seventy-eight years old. 
 Even if we grant that this great age was not entirely without 
 influence on the impression produced, it is no less true that 
 every one perceived in the work a freshness of ideas which, it 
 might have been thought, could scarcely belong to an old man 
 on the brink of the grave. Cherubini's hand trembled when 
 tracing these last emanations of his talent, but his mind had 
 preserved all its clearness and all its vigour. 
 
 Following the Quintet came a few solfeggi, and when 
 Cherubini, in 1839, ^^^ written an arietta for an album, the 
 old man's work was done ; the pen dropped for ever from his 
 tired fingers, and the few years of life remaining belonged to 
 his family and friends alone. Respectful interest and 
 admiration naturally desire to follow him into his home, and 
 happily we are not left to imagine what sort of a place it was, 
 and how its master bore himself amid relatives and friends. 
 It need not be pointed out, after what has already been said 
 as to Cherubini's personal character, that he was no surly 
 misanthrope, shutting himself up and growling like a bear in 
 his den. On the contrary, "the grim Florentine" never 
 pulled his latch-string in against artists, colleagues, and 
 friends. However apparently stern and unsympathetic in 
 his official relations, at home and in the social circle he was 
 
HIS LIFE. 83 
 
 genial and even gay. Under his roof, if we may believe M. 
 Pougin — 
 
 There prevailed an affectionate neighbourly feeling, a charm- 
 ing familiarity, and an intercourse entirely free from restraint, 
 revealing a new and unknown Cherubini — a Cherubini v/ho had 
 lost all "his ruggedness ; smiling because he had thrown off the 
 last trace of his official positions ; attentive to every one, and 
 ready to enter into friendly conversation — in a word, quite 
 another Cherubini to the one we have always been shown up to 
 the present time, and very different to the by no means flattering 
 portrait biographers have been pleased to draw of him. 
 
 How many distinguished artists used to visit the old man 
 thus revealed to us as happy and lovable in his home ! At 
 times might have been met there Boieldieu and his wife ; 
 Carafa, Berton, Bordogni, the singing-master, and his wife ; 
 Madame Rigault ; Narderman, the harpist; Zimmermann, 
 the pianist ; Viotti, Kalkbrenner, Heller, Chopin, Thalberg, 
 Rossini, and a host of others. These— Viotti excepted, for 
 Cherubini could never forget the affair of the Opera direction 
 — were admitted into the inner circle, and made free of the 
 house. Most welcome of all, perhaps, to the quiet self-con- 
 tained Cherubini was boisterous expansive Rossini — les 
 extremes se toiichent. 
 
 He who brought with him life, movement, and gaiety ; he 
 whose beaming and sonorous laugh, and meridional fluency of 
 speech, together with his vibrating and re-echoing voice, came to 
 disturb with a sort of violence the ordinarily discreet echoes of 
 the always calm and half-silent household was Rossini— Rossini, 
 then in all the prime of age and health, jocose by nature and by 
 taste ; an inexhaustible narrator of good stories, never at a loss 
 for anecdotes and piquant tales ; a man who appeared unable 
 to look at anything seriously ; who had always a bit of sly malice 
 to slip into the conversation, and whom two men only, Cherubini 
 and Boieldieu, could induce to speak of art in a reasonable 
 manner, and without laughing at people. 
 
 This great, full life must indeed have come into the houSe 
 like a whirlwind, making everything whirl and dance in 
 rhythm with itself. When Rossini entered at the door, 
 quietness flew out at the window. " Tranquillity was im- 
 possible. He set every one off with his good-humoured 
 sarcasm and rollicking high spirits ! " But when Rossini 
 was not there, order prevailed. 
 
 The ladies talked among themselves. Sometimes the com- 
 
 G 2 
 
84 LUIGI CHERUDINI: 
 
 pany played at cards : bouillot, all-fours, or whist, Cherubini 
 willingly taking a hand, especially at whist, of which he was 
 particularly fond ; sometimes, also, he would play backgammon, 
 either with Salvador or Gide. On other occasions, when 
 Boieldieu and Ciceri were there, he would join them. All three 
 then began drawing, and all three being very clever, produced 
 some charming things. Sometimes, again, it happened that 
 Cherubini, leaving his wife to look after his guests, v/ould retire 
 a little to work. He used to seat himself at the table placed 
 against his old Erard piano, and there, with a quantity of music 
 paper under his hand, absorbed and abstracted in his inspiration, 
 he would write a piece of music without a single erasure or 
 correction, and afterwards carefully put it away in one of his 
 portfolios. It mattered nothing to him that twenty persons went 
 on talking, laughing, and arguing ; provided they did not sing, 
 it was immaterial to him what they did. 
 
 Into this haven of rest and enjoyment Cherubini retired, 
 when his work in the world was done, and there he awaited 
 the angel of Death. He was prepared for the coming of the 
 good spirit, w^hich Gothic fancy has so horribly mis- 
 represented in more than one way. He had, for example, got 
 ready his own " Requiem," under the circumstances already 
 detailed. The old master did not keep this work by him, as 
 sacred to the purpose for which he primarily intended it. 
 According to Mr. Bellasis, the " Dies Irae " was performed 
 at a Conservatoire concert, in March, 1837, and, a year later, 
 the whole Mass was given under the same auspices. 
 Previously to this Mendelssohn had heard of it, \vith perfect 
 faith in its worth, for we find him writing to the directors of 
 the Lower Rhine Festival, in January 1838, as thus : — 
 
 With regard to the second day, I may first enquire whether 
 you intend to apply to Cherubini for his grand " Requiem " ; it 
 must be translated (?) and is entirely for men's voices ; but as it 
 will only last an hour, even less, that would not much matter, 
 and, according to the universal verdict, it is a splendid work. 
 
 The events of Cherubini's life between the composition of 
 the Quintet— in effect his last work— and the day when he 
 passed away, were naturally few. Moschelcs tells of a visit 
 to him in 1839, and of the aged composer saying that : — 
 
 With the exception of the Directorship at the Conservatoire, 
 he had nothing more to do with music ; he couldn't write another 
 note ; he wasn't strong enough to hear and enjoy musical 
 impressions. 
 
HIS LIFE. 85 
 
 In 1841 Cherubini sat for his portrait to Ingres, and the 
 result was the well-known picture, half literal, half allegorical, 
 wherein the master appears in his ordinary dress, while 
 Polyhymnia, in classic attire, stretches her hand over her 
 votary. In February, 1842, the old man voluntarily put an 
 end to his long connection with the great school he had 
 helped to found in the stormy days of the Revolution. 
 Failing health made it impossible for him to discharge the 
 duties of his high office, and so strict a disciplinarian was 
 not likely to sanction in himself, for whatever reason, the 
 neglect he had never allowed in others. So he sent in his 
 resignation and insisted on its acceptance, refusing point- 
 blank to avail himself of " unlimited leave of absence." On 
 this. King Louis Philippe, never very ready at generous and 
 graceful acts, woke up to a perception of what was fitting, 
 and bestowed upon Cherubini the Commander's Cross of the 
 Legion of Honour — a dignity never before awarded to a 
 musician. The master enjoyed it but a little while. He 
 rapidly became weaker, and on March 12, 1842, while his 
 family and friends, among whom was the faithful Halevy, 
 stood around his bed, he peacefully fell asleep, in the eighty- 
 second year of his age. 
 
 Cherubini's death, though naturally looked for, made a 
 profound impression in musical Europe. The master had 
 lived so long and filled so great a place, that he was instinc- 
 tively regarded almost as an institution. His departure 
 created a void that nothing seemed able to fill, and from all 
 quarters came the tribute of grief and respectful sympathy. 
 In one English journal it was said : — 
 
 Cherubini is no more ! The founder of the French Conserva- 
 toire, the instructor of a thousand eminent musicians, the 
 composer of innumerable undying productions, who for more 
 than forty years has been loved by those who knew him person- 
 ally, and admired by all Europe, who has outlived all rivals, and 
 sustained the highest undisputed glory of his art. 
 
 Another English writer compared the master's death to — 
 
 The extinguishment of the sacred fire upon an altar, which 
 overspreads the whole temple with a sudden gloom, and leaves 
 but the sweet odour of the incense, which shall burn no more. 
 
 After saying that it would be idle grief to lament for one 
 who lived so long and nobly, the same writer went on : — 
 
85 LUIGI CHERUBINI: 
 
 Still, one cannot help an emotion almost amounting to awe, 
 when we learn that such a man has passed away from among 
 us ; when we are brought to contemplate the rational miracle of 
 a human mind which, for more than seventy years, has continually 
 poured forth its beautiful imaginings in countless variety. When 
 we but surmise how rich and vast the reminiscences and associa- 
 tions of such a mind must be, mingling as it has done with all 
 the brightest and best of its kindred nature during three-quarters 
 of a century ; and when we are forced to know that such a man 
 and such a mind, and siich a treasury of golden tokens, are 
 henceforth to be themselves but a memory. 
 
 On the other side of the Channel the deceased composer's 
 pupil, Adolphe Adam, lifted up an eloquent voice and said : — 
 
 That name shall be immortal, that glory will not perish, for, 
 though Cherubini may cease to be numbered among the first of 
 composers, where is the master who has produced such scholars ? 
 The excellence of his system is best proved by the diversity of 
 talent developed in those who have enjoyed the advantage of his 
 admirable lessons. To each he gave an individuality, but to all 
 that unaffected purity of style of which his own works furnish 
 such beautiful examples, and which it is delightful to see reflected 
 in the compositions of the musical generation he has created. 
 
 Cherubini's funeral was worthy of so ^eat a man. The 
 body, after lyin^ in state in the great hall of the Conserva- 
 toire, was escorted to the Church of St. Roch by a procession 
 of over three thousand persons in some way or other connected 
 with the musical art. The cortege was preceded by two 
 regiments of infantry in compliment to the rank of the 
 deceased as a Commander of the Legion, a band of sixty-five 
 instruments playing the Dead March written by him for the 
 funeral of General Hoche, and the pall being borne by Auber, 
 Halevy, Ingres, and Raoul-Kochette. In the church the 
 " Requiem " for male voices was performed by the artists of 
 the Opera, the Italian Opera, and the Opera Comique, and, 
 at its conclusion, the honoured remains were carried to Pore 
 la Chaise. The grave was dug near those of Grotry and 
 I)oieldieu, and standing above it Raoul-Rochette, Lafont, 
 Halevy, and a pupil of the Conservatoire eulogised the 
 deceased and bade him farewell, a great crowd listening 
 unaffected by a downpour of hail. So, with fitting rites, 
 passed from the world a great and remarkable man, whose 
 fame will outlive all changes of taste, because the principles 
 his works exemplify are the eternal principles of true art. 
 
INDEX 
 
 " Abenceraces, Les" .. 
 
 " ACHILLE A SeYROS" .. 
 
 "Adrianoin Syrio " .. 
 
 " Alessandro nell' Indie, L' 
 
 " Ali Baba " 
 
 " Amphion " 
 
 " Anacreon " 
 
 Anecdotes of Cherubini 
 
 "Armida" 
 
 Auber and Cherubini . . 
 
 Bartolomeo Cherubini 
 
 " Bayard a Mezieres ". . 
 
 Berlioz and Cherubini 
 
 Bizarri, Pietro . . 
 
 " Blanche de Provence " 
 
 Boieldieu 
 
 BOUILLV . . 
 Brull, Count von 
 
 Castrucci, Giuseppe . . 
 Cherubini.. 
 " Circe" .. 
 Conservatoire, Origin of the 
 
 ,, Concerts, The 
 
 "Coronation Mass" .. 
 CowpER, Lord 
 " Crescendo, Le" 
 Cherubini's parents and family 
 
 childhood . . 
 
 early musical studies 
 ,, compositions 
 
 life in Florence . . 
 
 first start in life . . 
 
 studies under Sarti 
 
 first opera . . 
 
 PAGE 
 
 47 
 
 38 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 79 
 
 13 
 
 38 
 
 60 
 
 8 
 
 67 
 
 .. 48 
 .. 68 
 6 
 .. 70 
 , 61, 84 
 31—34 
 .. 53 
 
 2,3 
 19 
 25 
 76 
 
 71 
 9 
 
 46 
 2 
 3 
 3—5 
 5 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 7.8 
 
88 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Cherubini's operatic labours, 1781-3 .. 
 visit to England .. 
 reception in London 
 visit to Paris 
 first appearance there 
 return to London. . 
 re-appearance in Paris . . 
 visit to Turin 
 success with " Iphigenia " 
 return to Paris 
 " Demophon " . . 
 
 appointment to the Theatre de Monsieur 
 disasters during the Revolution 
 marriage .. 
 children 
 enlistment., 
 post at the Conservatoire 
 letters to his wife. . 
 imbroglio with Napoleon 
 " Deux Journees " period 
 " Journal d'Apollon " . . . . : 
 
 visit to Vienna 
 meeting with Napoleon 
 business speculations 
 return to Paris 
 card-drawing craze 
 nervous illness 
 
 visit to the Chimav family 
 
 beginning as a Church composer 
 
 regret for Haydn.. 
 
 hymn for Haydn . . 
 
 work in 18 14 
 
 fortunes under the Restoration. . 
 
 connection with the Philharmonic Society .. 
 
 second visit to London . . 
 
 offer from Berlin . . 
 
 return to Paris 
 
 appointment as chapel-master . . 
 
 good nature 
 
 relations with his fellow-musicians 
 
 works from 1814 to 1822 
 
 appointment to the Directorship of the Conservatoire 
 
 '• artistic honesty " 
 
 last compositions. . 
 
 retirement . . 
 
 death 
 
 funeral 
 
 PAGE 
 9, 10 
 
 13 
 17-19 
 
 3^5- 36- 37 
 
 31—35 
 
 35- 36 
 
 •• 39 
 
 .. 40 
 
 .. 40 
 
 .. 41 
 
 .. 42 
 
 .. 43 
 
 44 
 
 44 
 
 45 
 
 .. 45 
 
 47—49 
 
 49-55 
 
 49.52 
 
 50—54 
 
 •• 53 
 
 •• 55 
 
 .. 56 
 
 60—62 
 
 60 — 70 
 
 73—75 
 
 • 7S 
 82 
 
 • 85 
 86, 87 
 
INDEX. 
 
 89 
 
 " Demetrio " 
 
 " Demophon " 
 Desfaucherets 1. 
 Desriaux .. 
 " Deux JouRNEEs, Les " 
 
 " Elise " . . 
 "Emma" .. 
 " Epicure " 
 •' Estelle " 
 
 " Faniska " 
 
 Felicis, The 
 
 " Festivals of Youth and Gratitud 
 " Finta Principessa, La " 
 
 " GiuLio Sabini " 
 
 Halevy on Cherubini . . 
 
 HiLLER and Cherubini.. 
 
 HocHE " PoMPE Funebre," The 
 
 Hoffmann 
 
 " H6TELLERIE Portugaise, L' '' 
 
 '■ Idalide L' " 
 
 " Ifigenia IN Aulide " .. 
 
 Journal d'ApoIIon, Le . . 
 JouY, M 
 
 "koukourgi" 
 
 " Lamentations of Jeremiah " 
 Legros 
 
 Leonard 
 
 Leopold, Duke . . 
 
 Lesueur . . 
 
 •' lodoiska " 
 
 Louis, M 
 
 Marchesi . . 
 
 '• Mariage de Salomon " 
 
 Mar'montel 
 
 Mass in F. The 
 
 '■ Medee ". . 
 
 Mendouze 
 
 Messenzio 
 
 " Nausicaa " 
 
 Th 
 
 13, 16- 
 
 -19 
 
 31 
 16 
 
 -34 
 
 24 
 31 
 35 
 14 
 
 40 
 
 4 
 25 
 
 19 
 7 
 
 39.56 
 
 21—23 
 
 24,28 
 
 9 
 
 70 
 [6,18 
 
 44 
 25—27 
 38 
 
go 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Paisiello .. 
 
 " PiMMALIONE " . . 
 
 " PUBLICA, FeLICITX, La " 
 
 " PUNITION, La ". . 
 
 Quartet in E Flat, The 
 
 „ C, The 
 Quintet, The 
 " Quinto, Fabio, II '' . . 
 
 Records of Cherubini's Birth 
 " Republican Ode " 
 " Requiem," The. . 
 Rossini and Cherubini. . 
 
 Salpetre Republicain, Le" 
 
 Sarette .. 
 
 Sakti 
 
 '• Sposo di Tre, La " . . 
 
 Theatre de Monsieur, The 
 ,, Feydeau 
 
 TouG, M 
 
 Tourette, Mdlle. 
 
 Viotti 
 Vogel 
 
 PAGE 
 
 37 
 46 
 
 5 
 31 
 
 49 
 8r 
 
 82 
 
 26 
 57 
 64,83 
 
 . 26 
 
 25,49 
 
 . 7.8 
 
 9 
 
 20 
 
 12, 20, 71 
 
DEMY OCTAVO, WITH THIRTY-FIVE ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Researches into the Early History 
 
 OF THE 
 
 VIOLIN FAMILY 
 
 BY 
 
 CARL ENGEL. 
 
 PRICE SEVEN SHILLINGS AND SIXPENCE. 
 
 " The publication of this important book makes manifest to Us the full measure of the loss we have 
 sustained by the death of the author who, by common consent, was placed first among those who 
 devote themselves to the study of musical instruments. In no work from his pen have we had 
 such ripe fruit, in a province now recognised as a foundation of a general and philosophical systemi- 
 sation of the an, as in this masterpiece of erudition and sound judgment. With the deductions 
 suggested by what is at present known as the scientific basis of music Engel had little or nothing 
 to do. He spent his valuable life in continual observation and much reading, the outcome of whith 
 we may some day expect to gain in the four large volumes left by him in manuscript, with complete 
 illustration of all the known musical instruments in the world. When this magnum opus appears 
 the present view of the subject by which all Eastern and the so-called ethnological music is brought 
 into relation with our major and minor scales will be exhaustively satisfied. The dawn of another 
 view of the subject affecting our conception of it may be imminent, but Carl Engel's descriptions 
 and conclusions will be aKvays indispensable to the inquirer, as this volume on theorigin of bowed 
 instruments is to all those who concern themselves with the violin family. We notice in this essay 
 all the deep research, the clearness of expression, calm judgment, and ingenuity of reasoning 
 identified with Engel's writing. He starts with a chapter on available evidences, and then at once 
 attacks the root of the argument concerning the origin of the fiddle-bow, which he is inclined to 
 believe was gradually developed from the plectrum with which the Greeks and other ancient peoples 
 twanged their lyres. By this hypothesis the friction of a feather is the rudimentary idea of the 
 modern perfected bow. . . . Among the valuable illustrations contained in the book are woodcuts 
 of both Chinese and Japanese bowed instruments, and also of the Indian. The Hindu Saiinda 
 figured on page 17 is with one exception called Sarangi or Saringhi in the specimens, eleven in 
 number, in the cases of the Indian Museum at South Kensington. One only has the upper part of 
 the sound-body open— a peculiarity Engel describes as the rule— and that one has a different form 
 to the others, and to the illustration given by him. The Indian Museum instruments have complete 
 sound membranes of skin, and instead of three strings for bowing have four. They have also 
 sympathetic wires, not indicated in the woodcut. Our W'estern ' Viola d'Amore ' was also 
 sympathetically furnished with thin untouched strings. Ancient bows have fixed tension, so that 
 thty are very poor relations of our violin bow; however, the remarkable bow of the Japanese 
 ' Kokiu,' of which the writer has a fire specimen, is capable of adjusted tension, by a cord attached 
 to the lower end of the horsehair used for the friction. Our bow was-only perfected by Touite. at 
 the beginning o( the eighteenth century. Engel's problem is to show how, in European countries, 
 the bow became gradually used for cenain instruments the strings of which had previously been 
 twanged. This is the real interest to the reader of a very ingenious disquisition. Engel first treats 
 of the Welsh Crwth separately from the English Crowd, the Mediaeval Rotte, Rote, and Chrotta. 
 The Crwth is 
 
 A fair coffer with a bow, a girdle, 
 
 A finger-board, and a biidge ; its value is a pound. 
 
 We refer the reader to page 67 for an ingenious hypothesis of the origin of these names. Yet more 
 important is the noteworthy argument which deduces these forms of partially bowed instrumems 
 from the old Greek lyre. Engel's quotations from poets and other old authors are a mine of wealth 
 to the curious in such matters. . . . The later mediaeval bowed instruments are introduced by a 
 chapter on the Rebec, followed by the Geige, the Fiddle, the Vielle, and the Viols. . . . After the 
 Viols, when arrived at the Violin, the lamented author terminated his inquiry, considering he had 
 landed his reader on the terra firma of what is well known to musicians. We will, however, refer 
 to the curious illustration on page H2, which represents, from a sarcophagus found in Sicily and 
 probably dating 250 years before our era, two stringed instruments alike, which had the late Dante 
 Rossetti seen he might have depicted in one of his ideally pictorial conceptions. Engel saw in this 
 an instrument the strings of which could be stopped to produce notes of different pitch, as the violiu 
 or guitar are stopped. This expedient, older in Egjpt than the Pyramids, is connected with Greece 
 and Rome almost by this one example ! A brief retrospect shows that the violin family attained its 
 highest degree of perfection about the year 1700, which proves that there is finality to improvements 
 eveu in musical instruments. The index is copious and sufficient." — Musical Review, April 21, 1883. 
 
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