at Berlin and Frankfort, as well as in Italy, it was hailed with
acclamation. Bouilly was the author of the opera-story, suggested by the
generous action of a water-carrier toward a magistrate who was related
to the author. The story is so interesting, so admirably written, that
Goethe and Mendelssohn considered it the true model for a comic opera.
The musical composition, too, is nearly faultless in form and replete
with beauties. In this opera Cherubini anticipated the reforms of
Wagner, for he dispensed with the old system which made the drama a web
of beautiful melodies, and established his musical effects for the most
part by the vigor and charm of the choruses and concerted pieces. It
has been accepted as a model work by composers, and Beethoven was in the
habit of keeping it by him on his writing-table for constant study and
reference.

Spohr in his autobiography says: "I recollect, when the 'Deux Journées'
was performed for the first time, how, intoxicated with delight and
the powerful impression the work had made on me, I asked on that very
evening to have the score given me, and sat over it the whole night;
and that it was that opera chiefly that gave me my first impulse to
composition." Weber, in a letter from Munich written in 1812, says:
"Fancy my delight when I beheld lying upon the table of the hotel the
play-bill with the magic name _Armand_. I was the first person in the
theatre, and planted myself in the middle of the pit, where I waited
most anxiously for the tones which I knew beforehand would elevate and
inspire me. I think I may assert boldly that 'Les Deux Journées' is a
really great dramatic and classical work. Everything is calculated so
as to produce the greatest effect; all the various pieces are so much in
their proper place that you can neither omit one nor make any addition
to them. The opera displays a pleasing richness of melody, vigorous
declamation, and all-striking truth in the treatment of situations, ever