osed forty-two operas,
and modern musicians and critics give him a notable place among those
who were prominent in building up a national stage. A pupil and disciple
of Gluck, a cordial co-worker with Cherubini, he contributed largely to
the glory of French music, not only by his genius as a composer, but
by his important labors in the reorganization of the Conservatory,
that nursery which has fed so much of the highest musical talent of the
world.

II.

Luigi Gaspardo Pacifico Spontini, born of peasant parents at Majolati,
Italy, November 14, 1774, displayed his musical passion at an early age.
Designed for holy orders from childhood, his priestly tutors could not
make him study; but he delighted in the service of the church, with its
or^an and choir effects, for here his true vocation asserted itself. He
was wont, too, to hide in the belfry, and revel in the roaring orchestra
of metal, when the chimes were rung. On one occasion a stroke of
lightning precipitated him from his dangerous perch to the floor below,
and the history of music nearly lost one of its great lights. The bias
of his nature was intractable, and he was at last permitted to study
music, at first under the charge of his uncle Joseph, the cure of Jesi,
and finally at the Naples Conservatory, where he was entered at the age
of sixteen.

His first opera, "I Puntigli delle Donne," was composed at the age of
twenty-one, and performed at Rome, where it was kindly received. The
French invasion unsettled the affairs of Italy, and Spontini wandered
somewhat aimlessly, unable to exercise his talents to advantage till he
went to Paris in 1803, where he found a large number of brother Italian
musicians, and a cordial reception, though himself an obscure and
untried youth. He produced several minor works on the French stage,
noticeably among them the one-act opera of "Milton," in which he stepped
boldly out of his Italian mannerism, and entered on that path afterward
pursued with such brilliancy and boldness. Yet, though his talents began
to be recognized, life was a trying struggle, and it is doubtful if he
could have overcome the difficulties in his way when he was ready to
produce "La Vestale," had he not enlisted the sympathies of the
Empress Josephine, who loved music, and played the part of patroness as
gracefully as she did all others.

By Napoleon's order "La Vestale" was rehearsed against the wish of the
manager and critics of the Academy of Music,