three weeks my work was ready for representation. The only thing
now wanting, was the divertissement, which was not composed until a long
time afterwards.

My imagination was so warmed by the composition of this work that I had
the strongest desire to hear it performed, and would have given anything
to have seen and heard the whole in the manner I should have chosen,
which would have been that of Lully, who is said to have had 'Armide'
performed for himself only. As it was not possible I should hear the
performance unaccompanied by the public, I could not see the effect of my
piece without getting it received at the opera. Unfortunately it was
quite a new species of composition, to which the ears of the public were
not accustomed; and besides the ill success of the 'Muses Gallantes' gave
too much reason to fear for the Devin, if I presented it in my own name.
Duclos relieved me from this difficulty, and engaged to get the piece
rehearsed without mentioning the author. That I might not discover
myself, I did not go to the rehearsal, and the 'Petits violons', by whom
it was directed, knew not who the author was until after a general
plaudit had borne the testimony of the work.

[Rebel and Frauneur, who, when they were very young, went together
from house to house playing on the violin, were so called.]

Everybody present was so delighted with it, that, on the next day,
nothing else was spoken of in the different companies. M. de Cury,
Intendant des Menus, who was present at the rehearsal, demanded the
piece to have it performed at court. Duclos, who knew my intentions,
and thought I should be less master of my work at the court than at
Paris, refused to give it. Cury claimed it authoratively. Duclos
persisted in his refusal, and the dispute between them was carried to
such a length, that one day they would have gone out from the
opera-house together had they not been separated. M. de Cury applied to
me, and I referred him to Duclos. This made it necessary to return to
the latter. The Duke d'Aumont interfered; and at length Duclos thought
proper to yield to authority, and the piece was given to be played at
Fontainebleau.

The part to which I had been most attentive, and in which I had kept at
the greatest distance from the common track, was the recitative. Mine
was accented in a manner entirely new, and accompanied the utterance of
the word. The directors dared not suffer this horrid innovation