g success in academic competitions the
chief aim of the professors and their pupils, yet a certain freedom has
always reigned in the institution. And though this freedom is mainly the
result of indifference, it has, however, permitted the more independent
temperaments to develop in peace--from Berlioz to M. Ravel. One should
be grateful for this. But such virtues are too negative to give the
Conservatoire a high place in the musical history of the Third Republic;
and it is only lately, under the direction of M. Gabriel Faure, that it
has endeavoured, not without difficulty, to get back its place at the
head of French art, which it had lost, and which others had taken.

The _Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire_, founded in 1828 under the
direction of Habeneck, has had its hour of glory in the musical history
of Paris. It was through this society that Beethoven's greatness was
revealed to France.[212] It was at the Conservatoire that the early
important works of Berlioz were first given: _La Fantastique_, _Harold_,
and _Romeo et Juliette_. It was there, nearer our own time, that
Saint-Saens's _Symphonie avec Orgue_ and Cesar Franck's _Symphonie_ were
played for the first time. But for a long time the Conservatoire seemed
to take its name too literally, and to restrict its sphere to that of a
museum for classical music.

[Footnote 212: It is to be noted that since 1807 the Conservatoire
pupils have made Beethoven's symphonies familiar to Parisians. The
_Symphony in C minor_ was performed by them in 1808; the _Heroic_ in
1811. It was in connection with one of these performances that the
_Tablettes de Polymnie_ gave a curious appreciation of Beethoven, which
is quoted by M. Constant Pierre: "This composer is often grotesque and
uncouth, and sometimes flies majestically like an eagle and sometimes
crawls along stony paths. It is as though one had shut up doves and
crocodiles together."]

In later years, however, the _Societe des Concerts_, with M. Marty,
began to consider new works. Its orchestra, composed of eminent
instrumentalists, enjoys a classical fame; though it is now no longer
alone in the excellence of its performances, and has perhaps lost a
little the secret that it claimed to possess for the interpretation of
great classical works. It excels in works of a neo-classic character,
like those of M. Saint-Saens, which are stronger in style and taste than
in life and passion. The Conservatoire concerts have also a