operas were produced.

Halevy's full recognition, however, was found in the great work of "La
Juive," produced February 23, 1835, with lavish magnificence. It is said
that the managers of the Opera expended 150,000 francs in putting it
on the stage. This opera, which surpasses all his others in passion,
strength, and dignity of treatment, was interpreted by the greatest
singers in Europe, and the public reception at once assured the composer
that his place in music was fixed. Many envious critics, however,
declaimed against him, asserting that success was not the legitimate
desert of the opera, but of its magnificent presentation. Halevy
answered his detractors by giving the world a delightful comic opera,
"L'Eclair," which at once testified to the genuineness of his musical
inspiration and the versatility of his powers, and was received by the
public with even more pleasure than "La Juive."

Halevy's next brilliant stroke (three unsuccessful works in the mean
while having been written) was "La Reine de Chypre," produced in 1841.
A somewhat singular fact occurred during the performance of this opera.
One of the singers, every time he came to the passage,

Ce mortel qu'on remarque
Tient-il Plus que nous de la Parque
Le fil?

was in the habit of fixing his eyes on a certain proscenium box wherein
were wont to sit certain notabilities in politics and finance. As
several of these died during the first run of the work, superstitious
people thought the box was bewitched, and no one cared to occupy it. Two
fine works, "Charles VI." and "Le Val d'Andorre," succeeded at intervals
of a few years; and in 1849 the noble music to AEschylus's "Prometheus
Bound" was written with an idea of reproducing the supposed effects of
the enharmonic style of the Greeks.

Halevy's opera of "The Tempest," written for London, and produced in
1850, rivaled the success of "La Juive." Balfe led the orchestra, and
its popularity caused the basso Lablache to write the following epigram:

The "Tempest" of Halevy
Differs from other tempests.
These rain hail,
That rains gold.

The Academy of Fine Arts elected the composer secretary in 1854, and
in the exercise of his duties, which involved considerable literary
composition, Halevy showed the same elegance of style and good taste
which marked his musical writings. He did not, however, neglect his own
proper work, and a succession of operas, which were cordially