to produce the "Jugement de Midas," a satire on the old style of music,
which met with remarkable popular favor, though it was not so well
received by the court.

The crowning work of this composer's life was given to the world in
1785. This was "Richard Coeur de Lion," and it proved one of the great
musical events of the period. Paris was in ecstasies, and the judgment
of succeeding generations has confirmed the contemporary verdict, as
it is still a favorite opera in France and Germany. The works afterward
composed by Grétry showed decadence in power. Singularly rich in fresh
and sprightly ideas, he lacked depth and grandeur, and failed to suit
the deeper and sounder taste which Cherubini and Méhul, great followers
in the footsteps of Gluck, gratified by a series of noble masterpieces.
Grétry's services to his art, however, by his production of comic
operas full of lyric vivacity and sparkle, have never been forgotten nor
underrated. His bust was placed in the opera-house during his lifetime,
and he was made a member of the French Academy of Fine Arts and
Inspector of the Conservatory. Grétry possessed qualities of heart which
endeared him to all, and his death in 1813 was the occasion of a
general outburst of lamentation. Deputations from the theatres and
the Conservatory accompanied his remains to the cemetery, where Méhul
pronounced an eloquent eulogium. In 1828 a nephew of Grétry caused the
heart of him who was one of the glorious sons of Liege to be returned to
his native city.

Grétry founded a school of musical composition in France which has since
been cultivated with signal success, that of lyric comedy. The efforts
of Lulli and Rameau had been turned in another direction. The former had
done little more than set courtly pageants to music, though he had
done this with great skill and tact, enriching them with a variety