same offer to Gluck. This breach of good faith led to a furious war,
in which all Paris joined; it was fierce and bitter while it lasted.
Even politics were forgotten for the time being. Part of the press
took up one side and part the other. Many pamphlets, poems and satires
appeared, in which both composers were unmercifully attacked. Gluck
was at the time in Germany, and Piccini had come to Paris principally
to secure the tempting fee offered him. The leaders of the feud kept
things well stirred up, so that a stranger could not enter a café,
hotel or theater without first answering the question whether he stood
for Gluck or Piccini. Many foolish lies were told of Gluck in his
absence. It was declared by the Piccinists that he went away on
purpose, to escape the war; that he could no longer write melodies
because he was a dried up old man and had nothing new to give France.
These lies and false stories were put to flight one evening when the
Abbé Arnaud, one of Gluck's most ardent adherents, declared in an
aristocratic company, that the Chevalier was returning to France with
an "Orlando" and an "Armide" in his portfolio.

"Piccini is also working on an 'Orlando,'" spoke up a follower of that
redoubtable Italian.

"That will be all the better," returned the abbé, "for we shall then
have an 'Orlando' and also an 'Orlandino.'"

When Gluck arrived in Paris, he brought with him the finished opera of
"Armide," which was produced at the Paris Grand Opera on September
23, 1777. At first it was merely a _succès d'estime_, but soon became
immensely popular. On the first night many of the critics were against
the opera, which was called too noisy. The composer, however, felt he
had done some of his best work in "Armide"; that the music was written