were occupied in writing works of little value except as names in a
catalogue. The long-expected opera "La Dame Blanche" saw the light in
1825, and it is to-day a stock opera in Europe, one Parisian theatre
alone having given it nearly 2,000 times. Boïeldieu's latter years were
uneventful and unfruitful. He died in 1834 of pulmonary disease, the
germs of which were planted by St. Petersburg winters. "Jean de Paris"
and "La Dame Blanche" are the two works, out of nearly thirty operas,
which the world cherishes as masterpieces.


II.

Daniel François Esprit Auber was born at Caen, Normandy, January 29,
1784. He was destined by his parents for a mercantile career, and was
articled to a French firm in London to perfect himself in commercial
training. As a child he showed his passion and genius for music, a fact
so noticeable in the lives of most of the great musicians. He composed
ballads and romances at the age of eleven, and during his London life
was much sought after as a musical prodigy alike in composition and
execution. In consequence of the breach of the treaty of Amiens in
1804, he was obliged to return to Paris, and we hear no more of the
counting-room as a part of his life. His resetting of an old libretto
in 1811 attracted the attention of Cherubini, who impressed himself
so powerfully on French music and musicians, and the master offered to
superintend his further studies, a chance eagerly seized by Auber. To
the instruction of Cherubini Auber owed his mastery over the technical
difficulties of his art. Among the pieces written at this time was
a mass for the Prince of Chimay, of which the prayer was afterward
transferred to "Masaniello." The comic opera "Le Séjour Militaire,"
produced in 1813, when Auber was thirty, was really his début as a