the foundation of his musical
skill--that verdict has been affirmed over and over again by the world.
For in "Faust" we recognize not only some of the most noble music ever
written, but a highly dramatic expression of spiritual truth. It is
hardly a question that Gounod has succeeded in an unrivaled degree in
expressing the characters and symbolisms of _Mephistopheles, Faust,
and Gretchen_ in music not merely beautiful, but spiritual, humorous,
subtile, and voluptuous, accordingly as the varied meanings of Goethe's
masterpiece demand.

Visitors at Paris, while the American civil war was at its height, might
frequently have observed at the beautiful Theatre Lyrique, afterward
burned by the Vandals of the Commune, a noticeable-looking man, of
blonde complexion and tawny beard, clear-cut features, and large,
bright, almost somber-looking eyes. As the opera of "Faust" progresses,
his features eloquently express his varying emotions, now of approval,
now of annoyance at different parts of the performance. M. Gounod is
criticising the interpretation of the great opera, which suddenly lifted
him into fame as perhaps the most imaginative and creative of late
composers.

An aggressive disposition, an energy and faith that accepted no rebuffs,
and the power of "toiling terribly," had enabled Gounod to battle his
way into the front rank. Unlike Rossini and Auber, he disdained social
recreation, and was so rarely seen in the fashionable quarters of Paris
and London that only an occasional musical announcement kept him before
the eyes of the public. Gounod seems to have devoted himself to the
strict sphere of his art-life with an exclusive devotion quite foreign
to the general temperament of the musician, into which something
luxurious and pleasure-loving is so apt to enter. This composer,
standing in the very front rank of his fellows, has injected into the
veins of the French school to which he belongs a seriousness, depth, and
imaginative vigor, which prove to us how much he is indebted to German
inspiration and German models.

Charles Gounod, born in Paris June 17, 1818, betrayed so much
passion for music during tender years, that his father gave him every
opportunity to gratify and improve this marked bias. He studied under
Reicha and Le Sueur, and finally under Halevy, completing under
the latter the preparation which fitted him for entrance into the
Conservatory. The talents he displayed there were such as to fix on
him