gain, though at the end of his life
he regretted not having been to Italy. It was because Rossini, who was
one of his idols, had said "that a musician should loiter away some of
his time under that sky." But almost immediately he comforted himself
with the thought that Paris, after all, was the only city worth living
in. "I was very fond of my mother, but I have one grievance against her
memory. What did she want to go to Caen for just at the moment when I
was about to be born? But for that I should have been a real Parisian."
I do not think it made much difference, for I never knew such an
inveterate Parisian as Auber. When the investment of Paris had become an
absolute certainty, some of his friends pressed him to leave; he would
not hear of it. They predicted discomfort, famine, and what-not. "The
latter contingency will not affect me much, seeing that I eat but once a
day, and very little then. As for the sound of the firing disturbing me,
I do not think it will. It has often been said that the first part of my
overture to 'Fra Diavolo' was inspired by the retreating tramp of the
regiment; there may be some truth in it. If it be vouchsafed to me to
hear the retreating tramp of the Germans, I will write an overture and
an opera, which will be something different, I promise you."

I do not suppose that, personally, Auber suffered any privations during
the siege. A man in his position, who required but one meal a day, and
that a very light one, was sure to find it somewhere; but he had great
trouble to find sufficient fodder for his old faithful hack, that had
carried him for years, and when, after several months of scheming and
contriving to that effect, he was forced to give it up as food for
others, his cup of bitterness was full. "Ils m'ont pris mon vieux cheval
pour le manger," he repeated, when I saw him after the event; "je
l'avais depuis vingt ans." It was really a great blow to him.

There is another legend about Auber which is not founded upon facts,
namely, that he was pretty well independent of sleep. It was perfectly
true that he went to bed very late and rose very early, but most people
have overlooked the fact that during the evening he had had a
comfortable doze, of at least an hour and a half or two hours, at the
theatre. He rarely missed a performance at the Opera or Opera-Comique,
except when his own work was performed. And during that time he
slumbered peacefully, "en homme du monde," said Nestor Ro