1830, carried off the blue I'ibbon — the 'Grand Prix de Rome.' Proceeding in the terms of the prize to Italy, he heard Romeo et GiuUeita ' d'un petit polisson nomme Bellini,’ and La Vestale, 'd'un miserable eunuch appele Paccini.'
In Rome he met Mendelssohn, and played many a joke on him in his own rough way, which was not appreciated. Mendelssohn talks of Berlioz in his letters as a ' perfect caricature without a shadow of talent,' but he himself figures in the impressionable Frenchman's correspondence as all that is good and attractive : ' C'est un talent enorme, extraoi-dinaire, superb, prodigieux.' He was at this time busy belying Mendelssohn's unfair criticism in the composition of the Symphonie Faiilasliqiie, ' Episode in the Life of an Artist.' This work, however, did not win the approval of the great historian and critic Fetis, whose opposition to Berlioz always remained very strong.
M. Jullien throws copious light on the whole extra- ordinary story of Berlioz's passion for Miss Smithson, the Irish actress, her coldness, his public insult and consolation in the arms of ' Ariel,' their reconciliation and marriage.
The remarks on the famous Messe dc.i Moris are particularly interesting, but are too long for quotation.
In 18.S8 the failure of his opera, Benveiiiilo Cellini (thirteen years later produced by Liszt at Weimar with great success), drove Berlioz to the concert-room, and it was at his first concert that Paganini fell down publicly and kissed the hand of ' Beethoven's heir and successor,' and next day wrote his extraordinary letter enclosing 20,000 francs. M. Jullien has some curious commentaries to make on this theatrical scene, which according to him was acted much against the penurious Paganini's will, but insisted on for far-seeing reasons by Janin. Liszt is given as the authority for this explosion of an old and widely received story.
The next few years include a successful tour in Germany (in Leipzig especially, where he was received with great enthusiasm), and in Hungary and Bohemia, where he collected material for his Damnalion de Faust. 1847 saw him in Russia, and dining in Sans Souci with King Frederick William of Prussia. A short visit to Paris only afl^orded time for a furious dispute with the directors of the Academy before he set out to fulfil an engagement at Drury Lane. Rap- turously received, 'i la fin on lui offrait meme un souper on Miss Dobby (Dolby ), Miss Lyon, et le tenor Reeves chantaient en son honneur de " glees," ou anciens madrigaux ' — a touch worthy of Max O'Rell. The papers hailed him with 'incredible warmth,' ' a I'exception d'un vieux niais du Morning PosI,' but all efforts to give a second Berlioz concert failed.
A great deal of space is given to L'Eiifimce du Christ, and it is a pity that the numerous illustrations do not include music ; for such motives as find place in this work ought to be more widely known. It had the most general acceptance of all his works. As Berlioz says, ' II a un succes enorme. Toutes les presses frangaises, anglaises, allemandes, beiges chan- tent hosanna sur tous les tons.'
On his third visit to London in 1855 to conduct the concerts of the ' New Philharmonic,' he found himself side by side with Richard Wagner, who was engaged by the ' Philharmonic' Both wrote to their common friend Liszt of the pleasm-e they found in each other, which, however, did not prevent Berlioz's in- constant mind from doing his best to damage Wagner and Tannliduser when it was produced in Paris.
A characteristic piece of Berlioz's wit is given in con- nection with his libretto oi Beatrice el Benedict. He has kept to Shakespeare's words, but has omitted all the burlesque passages and introduced passages and per- sonages of his own. One of these latter is a pedantic chapel-master — (Fetis, chapel-master to the King of Belgium) — who discourses in this style : ' The word fugue comes from /»§«, a flight; that is why I chose a double fugue, to remind young married people of the flight of time ! '
Les Troyens was his last work, begun in 1856 on an enormous scale. He had to contend with great ditti- culties in his attempts to get it accepted. Two acts were removed bodily and published separately as La Prise de Troie, and the opera was at length performed. Its staging and music afforded numerous opportunities for satire, of which advantage was promptly and fully taken. Abuse was heaped on it — the theatre lost heavily ; the prima donna accepted another engage- ment ; Berlioz himself was lying ill — and so the great work was withdrawn. A journey to Russia preceded his withdrawal to Monaco in shattered health, and he died in Paris in 1869.
So far M. Jullien has only supplemented and cor- rected other ' lives ' of Berlioz. In the two chapters which bring his work to a conclusion he sets forth his estimate of Berlioz as 'L' Artiste et le Createur,' and ' Le Critique et I'Homme.' He gives him a high place among the apostles of the New School (represented in literature by Victor Hugo and in painting by Delacroix), whose dream and ambition was to combine all the good tendencies of the Romantic influences — ' to be heroic, like Spontini ; full of fantasy, like Weber ; touching, like Virgil ; at once trivial and sublime, like Shakespeare; grand, like Beethoven.' The revolutionary element in this school strongly attracted Berlioz, and he became thoroughly identified with it; so that, while his detractors find numberless points for attack and ridicule in his ultra-romantic style of programme, in his employment of such numbers of instruments and effects, in his want of broad melody, his advocates are supported not only by the many excellences in his work, but also by the whole movement in which Berlioz played so prominent a part.
A peculiar apology is offered for the notorious inaccuracy and colouring in his Memoires. ' He wrote them for his own pleasure — to amuse himself and his readers, and by no means to give information. Besides, he acknowledges that they are incomplete, and refuses
