might be, none, not even his most intimate friends, knew what it was.
He never made any complaint. Halévy's nature was rich, open and
communicative. He was well organized, accessible to the sweets of
sociability and family joys. In fine, he had, as one may say, too many
strings to his bow to be very unhappy for any length of time. To define
him practically, I would say he was a bee that had not lodged himself
completely in his hive, but was seeking to make honey elsewhere too."


IV.

MÉHUL labored successfully in adapting the noble and severe style of
Gluck to the changing requirements of the French stage. The turmoil and
passions of the revolution had stirred men's souls to the very roots,
and this influence was perpetuated and crystallized in the new forms
given to French thought by Napoleon's wonderful career. Méhul's
musical conceptions, which culminated in the opera of "Joseph," were
characterized by a stir, a vigor, and largeness of dramatic movement,
which came close to the familiar life of that remarkable period. His
great rival Cherubini, on the other hand, though no less truly dramatic
in fitting musical expression to thought and passion, was so austere
and rigid in his ideals, so dominated by musical form and an accurate
science which would concede nothing to popular prejudice and ignorance,
that he won his laurels, not by force of the natural flow of popular
sympathy, but by the sheer might of his genius. Cherubini's severe works
made them models and foundation stones for his successors in French
music; but Méhul familiarized his audiences with strains dignified yet
popular, full of massive effects and brilliant combinations. The people
felt the tramp of the Napoleonic armies in the vigor and movement of his
measures.