ne of the master minds of the age.

An opera, "Cora et Alonzo," had been composed at the age of twenty and
accepted at the opera; but it was not till 1790 that he got a hearing in
the comic opera of "Euphrasque et Coradin," composed under the direction
of Gluck. This work was brilliantly successful, and "Stratonice," which
anpeared two years afterward, established his reputation. The French
critics describe both these early works as being equally admirable in
melody, orchestral accompaniment, and dramatic effect. The stormiest
year of the revolution was not favorable to operatic composition, and
Mehul wrote but little music except pieces for republican festivities,
much to his own disgust, for he was by no means a warm friend of the
republic.

In 1797 he produced his "Le Jeune Henri," which nearly caused a riot in
the theatre. The story displeased the republican audience, who hissed
and hooted till the turmoil compelled the fall of the curtain. They
insisted, however, on the overture, which is one of great beauty,
being performed over and over again, a compliment which has rarely been
accorded to any composer. Mehul's appointment as inspector and professor
in the newly organized Conservatory, at the same time with Cherubini,
left him but little leisure for musical composition; but he found time
to write the spectacular opera "Adrian," which was fiercely condemned by
a republican audience, not as a musical failure, but because their alert
and suspicious tempers suspected in it covert allusions to the dead
monarchy. Even David, the painter, said he would set the torch to the
opera-house rather than witness the triumph of a king. In 1806 Mehul
produced the opera "Uthal," a work of striking vigor founded on an
Ossianic theme, in which he made the innovation of banishing the violins
from the orchestra, substituting therefor the violas.

It was in "Joseph," however, composed in 1807, that this composer
vindicated his right to be called a musician of great genius, and
entered fully into a species of composition befitting his grand style.
Most of his contemporaries were incapable of appreciating the greatness
of the work, though his gifted rival Cherubini gave it the warmest
praise. In Germany it met with instant and extended success, and it is
one of the few French operas of the old school which still continue to
be given on the German stage. In England it is now frequently sung as an
oratorio. It is on this remarkable work