however, that some friends induced her to attend the concert, the success of which is said to have been tremendous.  The composer had the happiness of meeting the actress the same evening.  The next day he called on her.  Their engagement lasted nearly a year, opposed by her mother and sister, and also by Hector’s family.  The following summer Henrietta Smithson, all but ruined from her theatrical ventures, and weak from a fall, which made her a cripple for some years, was married to Hector Berlioz, in spite of the opposition of their two families.

And now there opened to Berlioz a life of stress and struggle, inseparable from such a nature as his.  At one moment he would be in the highest heaven of happiness, and the next in the depths of despair.  His wife’s heavy debts were a load to carry, but he manfully did his best to pay them.  We can be sure that every work he ever produced was composed under most trying circumstances, of one kind or another.  One of his happiest ventures was a concert of his own compositions, given at the Conservatoire on October 22, 1833.  Of it he wrote:  “The concert, for which I engaged the very best artists, was a triumphant success.  My musicians beamed with joy all evening, and to crown all, I found waiting for me a man with long black hair, piercing eyes and wasted form.  Catching my hand, he poured forth a flood of burning praise and appreciation.  It was Paganini!”

Paganini commissioned Berlioz to write a solo for his beautiful Strad. viola.  The composer demurred for a time, and then made the attempt.  While the result was not just what the violinist wished, yet the themes afterward formed the basis for Berlioz’ composition “Childe Harold.”

The next great work undertaken by Berlioz was the Requiem.  It seems that, in 1836, the French Minister of the Interior set aside yearly, 3,000 francs to be given to a native composer, chosen by the Minister, to compose a religious work, either a mass or an oratorio, to be performed at the expense of the Government.

“I shall begin with Berlioz,” he announced:  “I am sure he could write a good Requiem.”

After many intrigues and difficulties, this work was completed and performed in a way the composer considered “a magnificent triumph.”

Berlioz, like most composers, always wished to produce an opera.  “Benvenuto Cellini” was the subject finally chosen.  It took a long time to write, and perhaps would never have been finished, since Berlioz was so tied to bread-winning journalistic labors, if a kind friend—­Ernest Legouve—­had not offered to lend him two thousand francs.  This loan made him independent for a little time, and gave him the necessary leisure in which to compose.

The “Harold” music was now finished and Berlioz advertised both this and the Symphonie Fantastique for a concert at the Conservatoire, December 16, 1838.  Paganini was present, and declared he had never been so moved by music before.  He dragged the composer back on the platform, where some of the musicians still lingered, and there knelt and kissed his hand.  The next day he sent Berlioz a check for twenty thousand francs.