ng a model the resemblances occur in the
faults and not in the excellences, for the latter are inimitable. So the
excellences of the _Requiem_ are not due to Leuseur but to Berlioz. He
had already thrown off the trammels of school and shown all the richness
of his vigorous originality to which the value of his scores is due.

In his _Memoirs_ Berlioz related the tribulations of his _Requiem_. It
was ordered by the government, laid aside for a time, and, finally,
performed at the Invalides on the occasion of the capture of Constantine
(in Algeria) and the funeral services of General Damremont. He was
astonished at the lack of sympathy and even actual hostility that he
encountered. It would have been more astonishing if he had experienced
anything else.

[Illustration: Hector Berlioz]

We must remember that at this time Berton, who sang _Quand on est
toujours vertuex, on aime a voir lever l'aurore_, passed for a great
man. Beethoven's symphonies were a novelty, in Paris at least, and a
scandal. Haydn's symphonies inspired a critic to write, "What a noise,
what a noise!" Orchestras were merely collections of thirty or forty
musicians.

We can imagine, therefore, the stupefaction and horror when a young man,
just out of school, demanded fifty violins, twenty violas, twenty
violoncellos, eighteen contrabasses, four flutes, four oboes, four
clarinets, eight bassoons, twelve horns, and a chorus of two hundred
voices as a minimum. And that is not all. The _Tuba Mirum_ necessitates
an addition of thirty-eight trumpets and trombones, divided into four
orchestras and placed at the four cardinal points of the compass.
Besides, there have to be eight pairs of drums, played by ten drummers,
four tam-tams, and ten cymbals.

The story of this array of drums is rather interesting. Reicha,
Berlioz's first teacher, had the original idea of playing drum taps in
chords of three or four beats. In order to try out this effect, he
composed a choral piece, _L'Harmonie des Spheres_, which was published
in connection with his _Traite d'Harmonie_. But Reicha's genius did not
suffice for this task. He was a good musician, but no more than that.
His choral piece was insignificant and remained a dead letter. Berlioz
took this lost effect and used it in his _Tuba Mirum_.

However, it must be confessed that this effect does not come up to
expectations. In a church or a concert hall we hear a confused and
terrifying mingling of sounds, and from t