Felicien David and Victor Massé. The younger composers at once
shout treason and scandal. Then, they select masterpieces by Mozart
and Weber and there are the same outcries and recriminations. In
the final analysis where are these young composers of genius? Who
are they and what are their names? Let them go to the orchestra and
hear _Le Nozze di Figaro_, _Obéron_, _Freischutz_ and _Orphée_ ...
we are doing something for them by placing such models before them.

The young composers who were thus politely invited to be seated
included, among others, Bizet, Delibes, Massenet, and the writer of
these lines. Massenet and I would have been satisfied with writing a
ballet for the Opéra. He proposed the _Rat Catcher_ from an old German
tale, while I proposed _Une nuit de Cléopâtra_ on the text of Théophile
Gautier. They refused us the honor, and, when they consented to order a
ballet from Delibes, they did not dare to trust him with the whole work.
They let him do only one act and the other was given to a Hungarian
composer. As the experiment succeeded, they allowed Delibes to write,
without assistance, his marvellous _Coppélia_. But Delibes had the
legitimate ambition of writing a grand opera. He never reached so far.

[Illustration: The Paris Opéra]

Bizet and I were great friends and we told each other all our troubles.
"You're less unfortunate than I am," he used to tell me. "You can do
something besides things for the stage. I can't. That's my only
resource."

When Bizet put on the delightful _Pêcheurs de Perles_--he was helped by
powerful influences--there was a general outcry and an outbreak of
abuse. The Devil himself straight from Hell would not have received a