During
these thirty years it had given more than eight hundred concerts, and
had performed the works of about three hundred composers, of which half
were French. The four composers most frequently heard at the Chatelet
were Saint-Saens, Wagner, Beethoven, and Berlioz.[217]
[Footnote 216: It must be remembered that the prices of the seats were
much cheaper than they are to-day; the best were only three francs.]
[Footnote 217: There were about 340 performances of Saint-Saens' works,
380 of Wagner's, 390 of Beethoven's, and 470 of Berlioz's. I owe these
details to the kind information of M. Charles Malherbe and M. Leon
Petitjean, the secretary of the Colonne concerts.]
Berlioz is almost the exclusive property of the Chatelet. Not only have
they performed his works there more frequently than anywhere else,[218]
but they are better understood there than in other places. The Colonne
orchestra and its conductor, gifted with great warmth of spirit,--though
it is sometimes a little intemperate--are rather bothered by works of a
classic nature and by those that show contemplative feeling; but they
give wonderful expression to Berlioz's tumultuous romanticism, his
poetic enthusiasm, and the bright and delicate colouring of his
paintings and his musical landscapes.
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