er_
and foreign virtuosi, and the comparisons that their different styles
and interpretations afforded. Nothing has better helped forward the
improvement of Parisian orchestras than the emulation brought about by
the meetings between Parisian conductors and those of other countries.
At present our own conductors are worthy rivals of the best in Germany.
The string instruments are good; the wood has kept its old French
superiority; and though the brass is still the weakest part of our
orchestras, it has made great progress. One may still criticise the
grouping of orchestras at concerts, for it is often defective; there is
a disproportion between the different families of instruments and, in
consequence, between their different sonorities, some of which are too
thin and others too dull. But these defects are fairly common all over
Europe to-day. Unhappily, more peculiar to France is the insufficiency
or poor quality of the choirs, whose progress has been far from keeping
pace with that of the orchestras. It is to this side of music that the
directors of concerts must now bring their efforts to bear.

The Lamoureux Concerts have not had as stable a dwelling-place as the
Chatelet Concerts. They have wandered about Paris from one room to
another--from the Cirque d'Hiver to the Cirque d'Ete, and from the
Chateau-d'Eau to the Nouveau Theatre. At the present moment they are in
the Salle Gaveau, which is much too small for them. In spite of the
progress of music and musical taste, Paris has not yet a concert-hall,
as the smallest provincial towns in Germany have; and this shameful
indifference, unworthy of the artistic renown of Paris, obliges the
symphonic societies to take refuge in circuses or theatres, which they
share with other kinds of performers, though the acoustics of these
places are not intended for concerts. And so it happens that for six
years the Chevillard Concerts have been given at the back of a
music-hall, which has the same entrance, and which is only separated
from the concert-room by a small passage, so that the roaring choruses
of a _danse du venire_ may mingle with an adagio of Beethoven's or a
scene from the Tetralogy. Worse than this, the smallness of the place
into which these concerts have been crammed has been a serious obstacle
in the way of making them popular. Nevertheless, in the promenade and
galleries of the Nouveau Theatre, in later years, arose what may be
called a little war over concertos.