ts he employs has succeeded in making one forget this defect, and
accomplished marvels. No theatre in Paris has more artistic staging, and
some of the scenery that has been designed lately is a masterpiece of
its kind. The Opera-Comique has also the advantage of excellent
conductors, and one of them, M. Messager, who is now Director, has, by
his clever interpretations, greatly contributed to the success of the
works of the new school.

NEW MUSICAL INSTITUTIONS

1. _The Societe Nationale_

Before 1870, French music had already in the Opera and the Opera-Comique
(without counting the various endeavours of the Theatre Lyrique) an
outlet which was nearly enough for the needs of her dramatic
productions. Even when musical taste was most decadent, the works of
Gounod, Ambroise Thomas, and Masse, had always upheld the name of French
_opera-comique_. But what was almost entirely lacking was an outlet for
symphonic music and chamber-music. "Before 1870," wrote M. Saint-Saens
in _Harmonie et Melodie_, "a French composer who was foolish enough to
venture on to the ground of instrumental music had no other means of
getting his works performed than by himself arranging a concert for
them." Such was Berlioz's case; for he had to gather together an
orchestra and hire a room each time he wished to get a hearing for his
great symphonies. The financial result was often disastrous: the
performance of the _Damnation de Faust_ in 1846 was, for example, a
complete failure, and he had to give it up. The Conservatoire, which was
formerly more hospitable, rather reluctantly performed a portion of
_L'Enfance du Christ_; but it gave young composers no encouragement.

The first man who attempted to make the symphony popular, M. Saint-Saens
tells us in his _Portraits et Souvenirs_, was Seghers, a dissentient
member of the _Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire_, who during
several years (1848-1854) was conductor of the _Societe de
Sainte-Cecile_, which had its quarters in a room in the rue de la
Chaussee d'Antin. There he had performed Mendelssohn's _Symphonie
Italienne_, the overtures to _Tannhaeuser_ and _Manfred_, Berlioz's
_Fuite en Egypte_, and Gounod's and Bizet's early, works. But lack of
money cut short his efforts.

Pasdeloup took up the work. After having been conductor for the _Societe
des jeunes artistes du Conservatoire_ since 1851, in the Salle Herz, he
founded, in 1861, at the Cirque d'Hiver, with the financial support of a