studies under the great Italian master were of much service, for
his next work, "Ma Tante Aurore," produced in 1803, showed noticeable
artistic progress.

It was during this year that Boieldieu, goaded by domestic misery
(for he had married the danseuse Clotilde Mafleuray, whose notorious
infidelity made his name a byword), exiled himself to Russia, even then
looked on as an El Dorado for the musician, where he spent eight years
as conductor and composer of the Imperial Opera. This was all but a
total eclipse in his art-life, for he did little of note during the
period of his St. Petersburg career.

He returned to Paris in 1811, where he found great changes. Mehul and
Cherubini, disgusted with the public, kept an obstinate silence; and
Nicolo was not a dangerous rival. He set to work with fresh zeal, and
one of his most charming works, "Jean de Paris," produced in 1812, was
received with a storm of delight. This and "La Dame Blanche" are the two
masterpieces of the composer in refined humor, masterly delineation,
and sustained power both of melody and construction. The fourteen years
which elapsed before Boieldieu's genius took a still higher flight
were occupied in writing works of little value except as names in a
catalogue. The long-expected opera "La Dame Blanche" saw the light in
1825, and it is to-day a stock opera in Europe, one Parisian theatre
alone having given it nearly 2,000 times. Boieldieu's latter years were
uneventful and unfruitful. He died in 1834 of pulmonary disease, the
germs of which were planted by St. Petersburg winters. "Jean de Paris"
and "La Dame Blanche" are the two works, out of nearly thirty operas,
which the world cherishes as masterpieces.

II.

Daniel Francois Esprit Auber was born at Caen, Normandy, January 29,
1784. He was destined by his parents for a mercantile career, and was
articled to a French firm in London to perfect himself in commercial
training. As a child he showed his passion and genius for music, a fact
so noticeable in the lives of most of the great musicians. He composed
ballads and romances at the age of eleven, and during his London life
was much sought after as a musical prodigy alike in composition and
execution. In consequence of the breach of the treaty of Amiens in
1804, he was obliged to return to Paris, and we hear no more of the
counting-room as a part of his life. His resetting of an old libretto
in 1811 attracted the attention of Cherubini, who impress