French Emperor's nature in spite of his greatness continued to be
shown in his ebullitions of wrath because Cherubini persisted in holding
his own musical views against the imperial opinion. Napoleon, however,
on the eve of his return to France, urged him to accompany him, offering
the long-coveted position of musical director; but Cherubini was under
contract to remain a certain length of time at Vienna, and he would not
break his pledge.

The winter of 1805 witnessed two remarkable musical events at the
Austrian capital, the production of Beethoven's "Fidelio" and the last
great opera written by Cherubini, "Faniska." Haydn and Beethoven were
both present at the latter performance. The former embraced Cherubini
and said to him, "You are my son, worthy of my love." Beethoven
cordially hailed him as "the first dramatic composer of the age." It is
an interesting fact that two such important dramatic compositions should
have been written at the same time, independently of each other; that
both works should have been in advance of their age; that they should
have displayed a striking similarity of style; and that both should
have suffered from the reproach of the music being too learned for the
public. The opera of "Faniska" is based on a Polish legend of great
dramatic beauty, which, however, was not very artistically treated
by the librettist. Mendelssohn in after years noted the striking
resemblance between Beethoven and our composer in the conception
and method of dramatic composition. In one of his letters to Edouard
Devrient he says, speaking of "Fidelio": "On looking into the score,
as well as on listening to the performance, I everywhere perceive
Cherubim's dramatic style of composition. It is true that Beethoven did
not ape that style, but it was before his mind as his most cherished
pattern." The unity of idea and musical color between "Faniska" and
"Fidelio" seems to have been noted by many critics both of contemporary
and succeeding times.

Cherubini would gladly have written more for the Viennese, by whom
he had been so cordially treated; but the unsettled times and his
homesickness for Paris conspired to take him back to the city of his
adoption. He exhausted many efforts to find Mozart's tomb in Vienna, and
desired to place a monument over his neglected remains, but failed to
locate the resting-place of one he loved so much. Haydn, Beethoven,
Hummel, Salieri, and the other leading composers reluctantly part