force, grace, and very often a beautiful cantileana.  His recitative is not as natural but much more varied than that of Lulli; admirable in a few scenes, but bad as a rule.”  Rousseau continues to reproach Rameau with a too powerful instrumentation, compared with Italian simplicity, and sums up that nobody knew better than Rameau how to conceive the spirit of single passages and to produce artistic contrasts, but that he entirely failed to give his operas “a happy and much-to-be-desired unity.”  In another part of the quoted passage Rousseau says that Rameau stands far beneath Lulli in esprit and artistic tact, but that he is often superior to him in dramatic expression.

A clear understanding of the musical position of Rameau is necessary to fully appreciate the place of Gretry, his antithesis as a composer.  For a short time the popularity of Rameau had been shaken by an Italian opera company, called by the French Les Bouffons, who had created a genuine sensation by their performance of airy and sparkling operettas, entirely removed in spirit from the ponderous productions of the prevailing school.  Though the Italian comedians did not meet with permanent success, the suave charm of their music left behind it memories which became fruitful.*

* In its infancy Italian comic opera formed the intermezzo between the acts of a serious opera, and—­similar to the Greek sylvan drama which followed the tragic trilogy—­was frequently a parody on the piece which preceded it; though more frequently still (as in Pergolcsi’s “Serra Padrona”) it was not a satire on any particular subject, but designed to heighten the ideal artistic effect of the serious opera by broad comedy.  Having acquired a complete form on the boards of the small theatres, it was transferred to the larger stage.  Though it lacked the external splendor and consummate vocalization of the elder sister, its simpler forms endowed it with a more characteristic rendering of actual life.

It furnished the point of departure for the lively and facile genius of Gretry, who laid the foundation stones of that lyric comedywhich has flourished in France with so much luxuriance.  From the outset merriment and humor were by no means the sole object of the French comic opera, as in the case of its Italian sister.  Gretry did not neglect to turn the nobler emotions to account, and by a judicious admixture of sentiment he gave an ideal coloring to his works, which made them singularly fascinating and original.  Around Gretry flourished several disciples and imitators, and for twenty years this charming hybrid between opera and vaudeville engrossed French musical talent, to the exclusion of other forms of composition.  It was only when Gluck * appeared on the scene, and by his commanding genius restored serious opera to its supremacy, that Grotry’s repute was overshadowed.  From this decline in public favor he never fully recovered, for the master left behind him gifted disciples, who embodied his traditions, and were inspired by his lofty aims—­preeminently so in the case of Cherubini, perhaps the greatest name in French music.  While French comic opera, since the days of Gretry, has become modified in some of its forms, it preserves the spirit and coloring which he so happily imparted to it, and looks back to him as its founder and lawgiver.