the Conservatoire. The following year, 1827, he
composed _Les Francs-Juges_; two years afterwards the _Huit scenes de
Faust_, which was the nucleus of the future _Damnation_;[56] three years
afterwards, the _Symphonie fantastique_ (commenced in 1830).[57] And he
had not yet got the _Prix de Rome_! Add to this that in 1828 he had
already ideas for _Romeo et Juliette_, and that he had written a part of
_Lelio_ in 1829. Can one find elsewhere a more dazzling musical debut?
Compare that of Wagner who, at the same age, was shyly writing _Les
Fees, Defense d'aimer_, and _Rienzi_.

[Footnote 56: The _Huit scenes de Faust_ are taken from Goethe's
tragedy, translated by _Gerard de Nerval_, and they include: (1) _Chants
de la fete de Paques_; (2) _Paysans sous les tilleuls_; (3) _Concert des
Sylphes_; (4 and 5) _Taverne d'Auerbach_, with the two songs of the Rat
and the Flea; (6) _Chanson du roi de Thule_; (7) _Romance de
Marguerite_, "D'amour, l'ardente flamme," and _Choeur de soldats_; (8)
_Serenade de Mephistopheles_--that is to say, the most celebrated and
characteristic pages of the _Damnation_ (see M. Prudhomme's essays on
_Le Cycle de Berlioz_).]

[Footnote 57: One could hardly find a better manifestation of the soul
of a youthful musical genius than that in certain letters written at
this time; in particular the letter written to Ferrand on 28 June, 1828,
with its feverish postscript. What a life of rich and overflowing
vigour! It is a joy to read it; one drinks at the source of life
itself.]

He wrote them at the same age, but ten years later; for _Les Fees_
appeared in 1833, when Berlioz had already written the _Fantastique_,
the _Huit scenes de Faust, Lelio_, and _Harold; Rienzi_ was only played
in 1842, after _Benvenuto_ (1835), _Le Requiem_ (1837), _Romeo_ (1839),
_La Symphonie funebre et triomphale_ (1840)--that is to say, when
Berlioz had finished all his great works, and after he had achieved his
musical revolution. And that revolution was effected alone, without a
model, without a guide. What could he have heard beyond the operas of
Gluck and Spontini while he was at the Conservatoire? At the time when
he composed the _Ouverture des Francs-Juges_ even the name of Weber was
unknown to him,[58] and of Beethoven's compositions he had only heard an
_andante_.[59]

Truly, he is a miracle and the most startling phenomenon in the history
of nineteenth-century music. His audacious power dominates all his age;
and i