all Paris before the opera could be produced.  Carvalho therefore advised a change of subject, which was such a blow to Gounod that he was incapable of applying himself to work for a week.  Finally, Carvalho came to the rescue with a request for a lyric comedy based on one of Moliere’s plays.  Gounod chose “Le Medecin malgre lui,” and the opera had its production at the Theatre Lyrique on the anniversary of Moliere’s birth, January 15, 1858.  The melodrama at the Porte Saint-Martin turned out to be a failure in spite of its beautiful pictures, and Carvalho recurred to the opera, which had been laid aside, and Gounod had it ready by July.  He read it to the director in the greenroom of the theatre in that month, and Mme. Carvalho, wife of the director, who was present, was so deeply impressed with the role of Marguerite that M. Carvalho asked the composer’s permission to assign it to her.  “This was agreed upon,” says Gounod, “and the future proved the choice to be a veritable inspiration.”

Rehearsals began in September, 1858, and soon developed difficulties.  Gounod had set his heart upon a handsome young tenor named Guardi for the titular role, but he was found to be unequal to its demands.  This caused such embarrassment that, it is said, Gounod, who had a pretty voice and was rather fond of showing it, seriously pondered the feasibility of singing it himself.  He does not tell us this in his autobiography, but neither does he tell us that he had chosen Mme. Ugalde for the part of Marguerite, and that he yielded to M. Carvalho in giving it to the director’s wife because Mme. Ugalde had quarrelled with him (as prima donnas will), about Masse’s opera, “La Fee Carabosse,” which preceded “Faust” at the Lyrique.  The difficulty about the tenor role was overcome by the enlistment of M. Barbot, an artist who had been a companion of Carvalho’s when he sang small parts at the Opera Comique.  He was now far past his prime, and a pensioned teacher at the Conservatoire, but Gounod bears witness that he “showed himself a great musician in the part of Faust.”  Of Belanque, who created the part of Mephistopheles, Gounod says that “he was an intelligent comedian whose play, physique, and voice lent themselves wonderfully to this fantastic and Satanic personage.”  As for Mme. Carvalho, it was the opinion of the composer that, though her masterly qualities of execution and style had already placed her in the front rank of contemporary singers, no role, till Marguerite fell to her lot, had afforded her opportunity to show in such measure “the superior phases of her talent, so sure, so refined, so steady, so tranquil—­its lyric and pathetic qualities.”