Berlioz's work did not spread itself evenly over his life; it was
accomplished in a few years. It was not like the course of a great
river, as with Wagner and Beethoven; it was a burst of genius, whose
flames lit up the whole sky for a little while, and then died gradually
down.[65] Let me try to tell you about this wonderful blaze.

Some of Berlioz's musical qualities are so striking that it is
unnecessary to dwell upon them here. His instrumental colouring, so
intoxicating and exciting,[66] his extraordinary discoveries concerning
timbre, his inventions of new nuances (as in the famous combining of
flutes and trombones in the _Hostias et preces_ of the _Requiem_, and
the curious use of the harmonics of violins and harps), and his huge and
nebulous orchestra--all this lends itself to the most subtle expression
of thought.[67]

[Footnote 65: In 1830, old Rouget de Lisle called Berlioz, "a volcano in
eruption" (_Mémoires_, I, 158).]

[Footnote 66: M. Camille Saint-Saëns wrote in his _Portraits et
Souvenirs_, 1900: "Whoever reads Berlioz's scores before hearing them
played can have no real idea of their effect. The instruments appear to
be arranged in defiance of all common sense; and it would seem, to use
professional slang, that _cela ne dut pas sonner_, but _cela sonne_
wonderfully. If we find here and there obscurities of style, they do not
appear in the orchestra; light streams into it and plays there as in the
facets of a diamond."]

[Footnote 67: See the excellent essay of H. Lavoix, in his _Histoire de