One evening he
heard _Les Danaides_ of Salieri. It came upon him like a thunderclap. He
ran to the Conservatoire library and read Gluck's scores.
[Footnote 54: _A travers chants_, pp. 8-9.]
[Footnote 55: In truth, this genius was smouldering since his childhood;
it was there from the beginning; and the proof of it lies in the fact
that he used for his _Ouverture des Francs-Juges_ and for the _Symphonie
fantastique_ airs and phrases of quintets which he had written when
twelve years old (see _Memoires_, I, 16-18).]
He forgot to eat and drink; he was like a man in a frenzy. A
performance of _Iphigenie en Tauride_ finished him. He studied under
Lesueur and then at the Conservatoire. The following year, 1827, he
composed _Les Francs-Juges_; two years afterwards the _Huit scenes de
Faust_, which was the nucleus of the future _Damnation_;[56] three years
afterwards, the _Symphonie fantastique_ (commenced in 1830).[57] And he
had not yet got the _Prix de Rome_! Add to this that in 1828 he had
already ideas for _Romeo et Juliette_, and that he had written a part of
_Lelio_ in 1829. Can one find elsewhere a more dazzling musical debut?
Compare that of Wagner who, at the same age, was shyly writing _Les
Fees, Defense d'aimer_, and _Rienzi_.
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