The tune of "Robin Adair," introduced by Boïeldieu and described as "le
chant ordinaire de la tribu d'Avenel," would hardly be recognized by a
genuine Scotchman; but what it loses in homely vigor it has gained in
sweetness. The musician's taste is always gratified in Boïeldieu's two
great comic operas by the grace and finish of the instrumentation, and
the carefully composed _ensembles_, while the public is delighted with
the charming ballads and songs. The airs of "La Dame Blanche" are more
popular in classic Germany than those of any other opera. Boïeldieu may
then be characterized as the composer who carried the French operetta
to its highest development, and endowed it in the fullest sense with all
the grace, sparkle, dramatic symmetry, and gamesome touch so essentially
the heritage of the nation.

Auber's position in art may be defined as that of the last great
representative of French comic opera, the legitimate successor of
Boïeldieu, whom he surpasses in refinement and brilliancy of individual
effects, while he is inferior in simplicity, breadth, and that firm
grasp of details which enables the composer to blend all the parts into
a perfect whole. In spite of the fact that "La Muette," Auber's greatest
opera, is a romantic and serious work, full of bold strokes of
genius that astonish no less than they please, he must be held to be
essentially a master in the field of operatic comedy. In the great opera
to which allusion has been made the passions of excited public feeling
have their fullest sway, and heroic sentiments of love and devotion are
expressed in a manner alike grand and original. The traditional forms
of the opera are made to expand with the force of the feeling bursting
through them. But this was the sole flight of Auber into the higher
regions of his art, the offspring of the thoroughly revolutionized
feeling of the time (1828), which within two years shook Europe with