r, manifested "a
childish surprise at the simplest harmonic combinations which departed
somewhat from the three chords which he had been using all his life."
Paer, a cunning Italian, was fond of letting people know that he had
known Beethoven, and of telling stories more or less unfavourable to the
great man, and flattering to the narrator. The critical young men of the
new generation were, however, not altogether fair in their judgments;
Cherubini, at least, and Boieldieu too, deserved better treatment at
their hands.

In 1830 Auber and Rossini (who, after his last opera "Guillaume Tell,"
was resting on his laurels) were the idols of the Parisians, and reigned
supreme on the operatic stage. But in 1831 Meyerbeer established himself
as a third power beside them, for it was in that year that "Robert le
Diable" was produced at the Academic Royale de Musique. Let us hear
what Chopin says of this event. Speaking of the difficulties with which
composers of operas have often to contend he remarks:--

Even Meyerbeer, who for ten years had been favourably known
in the musical world, waited, worked, and paid in Paris for
three years in vain before he succeeded in bringing about the
performance of his opera "Robert le Diable," which now causes
such a furore. Auber had got the start of Meyerbeer with his
works, which are very pleasing to the taste of the people,
and he did not readily make room for the foreigner at the
Grand Opera.

And again:--

If there was ever a brilliant mise en scene at the Opera-
Italien, I cannot believe that it equalled that of Robert le
Diable, the new five-act opera of Meyerbeer, who has also
written "Il Crociato." "Robert" is a masterpiece of the new
school, where the devils sing through speaking-trumpets and
the dead rise from their graves, but not as in "Szarlatan"
[an opera of Kurpinski's], only from fifty to sixty persons
all at once! The stage represents the interior of a convent
ruin illuminated by the clear light of the full moon whose
rays fall on the graves of the nuns. In the last act appear
in brilliant candle-light monks with ancense, and from behind
the scene are heard the solemn tones of the organ. Meyerbeer
has made himself immortal by this work; but he had to wait
more than three years before he could get it performed.
People say that he has spent more than 20,000 francs for the
organ and other things made us