was awarded him, the Prix de Rome, which allowed him to
go to Italy as a government stipendiary.

Our young laureate passed three years in Italy, spending most of his
time at Rome and Naples. The special result of his Italian studies was
a requiem mass, which was performed with great approbation from its
musical judges at Paris and Rome. After traveling in Germany, Thomas
returned to Paris in 1836, thoroughly equipped for his career as
composer, for he had been an indefatigable student, and neglected no
opportunity of perfecting his knowledge. The first step in the brilliant
career of Thomas was the production of a comic opera in one act, "La
Double Echelle," produced in 1837. This met with a good reception,
and it was promptly followed by the production of several other light
scores, that further enhanced his reputation for talent. He was not
generally recognized by musicians as a man of marked promise till he
produced "Mina," a comic opera in three acts, which was represented in
1843. The beauty of the instrumentation and the melodious richness of
the work were unmistakable, and henceforth every production of the young
composer was watched with great interest.

Ambroise Thomas could not be said to have reached a great popular
success until he produced "Le Caid," a work of the _opera-boitffe_
type, which instantly became an immense public favorite. This was first
represented in 1849, and it has always held its place on the French
stage as one of the most delightful works of its class, in spite of
the competition of such later outgrowths of the opera-bouffe, school
as Offenbach, Lecocq, and others. The score of this work proved to be
immensely amusing and brightly melodious, and it was such a pecuniary
success that the more judicious friends of Thomas feared that he might
be seduced into cultivating a field far below the powers of his poetic
imagination and thorough musical science. Strong heads might easily be
turned by such lavish applause, and it would not have been wonderful had
Thomas, dazzled by the reception of "Le Caid," remained for a long
time a wanderer from the path which lay open to his great talents. The
composer's ambition, however, proved to be too high to content itself
with ephemeral success, or cultivating the more frivolous forms of his
art, however profitable aid pleasant these might be.

In 1850 Ambroise Thomas produced two operas: "Le Songe d'une Nuit
d'Ete," resembling in style somewhat that ma