wonderful paper. The first was a long essay, De la musique
allemande, in which I expressed with the enthusiastic
exaggeration characteristic of me at that time my appreciation of
the sincerity and earnestness of German music. This article led
my friend Anders to remark that the state of affairs in Germany
must, indeed, be splendid if the conditions were really as I
described. I enjoyed what was to me the surprising satisfaction
of seeing this article subsequently reproduced in Italian, in a
Milan musical journal, where, to my amusement, I saw myself
described as Dottissimo Musico Tedesco, a mistake which nowadays
would be impossible. My essay attracted favourable comment, and
Schlesinger asked me to write an article in praise of the
arrangement made by the Russian General Lwoff of Pergolesi's
Stabat Mater, which I did as superficially as possible. On my own
impulse I then wrote an essay in a still more amiable vein called
Du metier du virtuose et de l'independance de la composition.

In the meantime I was surprised in the middle of the summer by
the arrival of Meyerbeer, who happened to come to Paris for a
fortnight. He was very sympathetic and obliging. When I told him
my idea of writing a one-act opera as a curtain raiser, and asked
him to give me an introduction to M. Leon Pillet, the recently
appointed manager of the Grand Opera, he at once took me to see
him, and presented me to him. But alas, I had the unpleasant
surprise of learning from the serious conversation which took
place between those two gentlemen as to my future, that Meyerbeer
thought I had better decide to compose an act for the ballet in
collaboration with another musician. Of course I could not
entertain such an idea for a moment. I succeeded, however, in
handing over to M. Pillet my brief sketch of the subject of the