ared with Lesueur, the old incumbent) placed him above
the daily demands of want. So, at the age of fifty-five, this great
composer for the first time ceased to be anxious on the score of his
livelihood. Thenceforward the life of Cherubini was destined to flow
with a placid current, its chief incidents being the great works in
church music, which he poured forth year after year, to the admiration
and delight of the artistic world. These remarkable masses, by their
dramatic power, greatness of design, and wealth of instrumentation,
excited as much discussion and interest throughout Europe as the operas
of other composers. That written in 1816, the C minor requiem mass, is
pronounced by Berlioz to be the greatest work of this description ever
composed.

We get some pleasant glimpses of Cherubini as a man during this serene
autumn of his life. Spohr tells us how cordially Cherubini,
generally regarded as an austere and irritable man, received him.
The world-renowned master, accustomed to handle instruments in great
orchestral masses, was not familiar with the smaller compositions known
as chamber music, in which the Germans so excelled. He was greatly
delighted when the youthful Spohr turned his attention to this form of
music, and he insisted on the latter directing little concerts over and
over again at his house.

In 1821 Moscheles writes in his diary, apropos of Cherubini and his
artistic surroundings: "I spent the evening at Ciceri's, son in-law of
Isabey, the famous painter, where I was introduced to one of the most
interesting circles of artists. In the first room were assembled the
most famous painters, engaged in drawing several things for their own
amusement. In the midst of these was Cherubim, also drawing. I had the
honor, like every one newly introduced, of having my portrait taken in
caricature. Begasse took me in hand and succeeded well. In an adjoining
room were musicians and actors, among them Ponchard, Levasseur, Dugazon,
Panseron, Mlle, de Munck, and Mme. Livere, of the Theatre Francais. The
most interesting of their performances, which I attended merely as
a listener, was a vocal quartet by Cherubini, performed under his
direction. Later in the evening, the whole party armed itself with
larger or smaller 'mirlitons' (reed-pipe whistles), and on these small
monotonous instruments, sometimes made of sugar, they played, after
the fashion of Russian horn music, the overture to 'Demophon,'
two frying-pans