"Fidelio" seems to have been noted by many critics both of contemporary
and succeeding times.

Cherubini would gladly have written more for the Viennese, by whom
he had been so cordially treated; but the unsettled times and his
homesickness for Paris conspired to take him back to the city of his
adoption. He exhausted many efforts to find Mozart's tomb in Vienna, and
desired to place a monument over his neglected remains, but failed to
locate the resting-place of one he loved so much. Haydn, Beethoven,
Hummel, Salieri, and the other leading composers reluctantly parted
with him, and on April 1, 1806, his return to Paris was celebrated by
a brilliant fête improvised for him at the Conservatory. Fate, however,
had not done with her persecutions, for fate in France took the shape of
Napoleon, whose hostility, easily aroused, was implacable; who aspired
to rule the arts and letters as he did armies and state policy; who
spared neither Cherubini nor Madame de Staël. Cherubini was neglected
and insulted by authority, while honors were showered on Méhul, Grétry,
Spontini, and Lesueur. He sank into a state of profound depression, and
it was even reported in Vienna that he was dead. He forsook music and
devoted himself to drawing and botany. Had he not been a great musician,
it is probable he would have excelled in pictorial art. One day the
great painter David entered the room where he was working in crayon on a
landscape of the Salvator Rosa style. So pleased was the painter that he
cried, "Truly admirable! Courage!" In 1808 Cherubini found complete
rest in a visit to the country-seat of the Prince de Chimay in Belgium,
whither he was accompanied by his friend and pupil Auber.


VII.