youth he was not opposed to historical opera, for he eulogized _La
Musette de Portici_, _La Juive_, and _La Reine de Chypre_. He made some
justifiable criticisms of the libretto of the last work, although he
admitted that the composer had contrived to write beautiful passages.

"We cannot praise Halévy too highly," he wrote, "for the firmness with
which he resists every temptation, to which many of his contemporaries
succumb, to steal easy applause by relying blindly on the talent of the
singers. On the contrary, he demands that his _virtuosi_, even the most
famous of them, shall subordinate themselves to the lofty inspiration
of his Muse. He attains this result by the simplicity and truth he knows
how to stamp on dramatic melodies."

This is what Richard Wagner said about _La Juive_ in 1842.

Fortunately we no longer demand that operas be mythological, for if we
did we should have to condemn the famous Russian operas and that is out
of the question. However, the method of treatment is still in dispute
and this question is involved. One method of treatment is admitted and
another is not and it is extremely difficult to tell what is what.

I am now going to do a little special pleading for my _Henri VIII_,
which, it would seem, is not in the proper manner. Not that I want to
defend the music or to protest against the criticisms it has inspired,
for that is not done. But I may, perhaps, be permitted to speak of the
piece itself and to tell how the music was adapted to it.

According to the critics it would seem that the whole of _Henri VIII_ is
superficial and without depth, _en façade_; that the souls of the
characters are not revealed, and that the King, at first all sugary