te-player
Tulou plays them. It is hardly possible to find a more
finished execution. In Nourrit, the first tenor of the Grand
Opera, [Footnote: It may perhaps not be superfluous to point
out that Academie Royale (Imperial, or Nationale, as the case
may be) de Musique, or simply Academie de Musique, and Grand
Opera, or simply Opera, are different names for one and the
same thing--namely, the principal opera-house in France, the
institution whose specialties are grand opera and ballet.]
one admires the warmth of feeling which speaks out of his
singing. Chollet, the first tenor of the Opera-Comique, the
best performer of Fra Diavolo, and excellent in the operas
"Zampa" and "Fiancee," has a manner of his own in conceiving
the parts. He captivates all with his beautiful voice, and is
the favourite of the public.

CHAPTER XV.

1831-1832.

ACQUAINTANCES AND FRIENDS: CHERUBINI, BAILLOT, FRANCHOMME, LISZT,
MILLER, OSBORNE, MENDELSSOHN.--CHOPIN AND KALKBRENNER.--CHOPIN'S AIMS AS
AN ARTIST.--KALKBRENNER'S CHARACTER AS A MAN AND ARTIST.--CHOPIN'S FIRST
PARIS CONCERT.--FETIS.--CHOPIN PLAYS AT A CONCERT GIVEN BY THE PRINCE
DE LA MOSKOWA.--HIS STATE OF MIND.--LOSS OF HIS POLISH
LETTERS.--TEMPORARILY STRAITENED CIRCUMSTANCES AND BRIGHTENING
PROSPECTS.--PATRONS AND WELL-WISHERS.--THE "IDEAL."--A LETTER TO HILLER.

Chopin brought only a few letters of introduction with him to Paris:
one from Dr. Malfatti to Paer, and some from others to music-publishers.
Through Paer he was made acquainted with Cherubini, Rossini, Baillot,
and Kalkbrenner. Although Chopin in one of his early Paris letters calls
Cherubini a mummy, he seems to have subsequently been more favourably
impressed by him. At any rate, Ferdinand Hiller--who may have
accompanied the new-comer, if he did not, as he thinks he did, introduce
him, which is not reconcilable with his friend's statement that Paer
made him acquainted with Cherubini--told me that Chopin conceived a
liking for the burbero maestro, of whom Mendelssohn remarked that he
composed everything with his head without the help of his heart.

The house of Cherubini [writes Veron in his "Memoires d'un
Bourgeois de Paris"] was open to artists, amateurs, and
people of good society; and every Monday a numerous assembly
thronged his salons. All foreign artists wished to be
presented to Cherubini. During these last years one met often
at his