Mons. Hugues Imbert commences his interesting notice of the composer, included in his "Profils de Musiciens," with the following words: "If there be a French musician who by temperament and taste has left the French school in order to approach the German symphonic school; if there be a composer who has the profoundest respect for his art, who loves it with his whole soul; if there be a man who despises self-advertisement, and is averse to all concessions in favour of the doubtful taste of the public, it is Gabriel Fauré." Whilst agreeing with the measure of praise allotted to the composer in the above lines, and recognising the influence of German music discernible in his works, I am of opinion that his nationality is perhaps more marked than his biographer would seem to imagine. The nature of Fauré's talent has been appreciated by Mons. Camille Benoit in these terms: "Fauré's talent has especially manifested itself in 'La Musique Intime,' that which one hears in an artist's salon or at a concert of chamber music, that which wants neither scenery nor orchestra. From all points of view, if I had to liken him to a contemporary foreign composer, it is to the Norwegian, Eduard Grieg, that I should compare him. That is to say, that in France, G. Fauré is the first in the special line he has chosen, and towards which his nature has impelled him." I now come to a composer who has only comparatively recently made a name. Emmanuel Chabrier was born in 1842, and commenced his musical career somewhat late in life. Always a musical enthusiast, and having found time to cultivate his favourite art as a pastime, he threw up an administrative appointment in 1879, and resolved to devote himself entirely to composition. Two years previously he had written an "opéra bouffe," entitled "L'Etoile," which was played at the Bouffes Parisiens. It was not, however, in this style that he was destined to shine. Very different is "Gwendoline," an opera performed for the first time in 1886 at Brussels with great success, and which has since been given in Germany, notably at Carlsruhe and Munich, and is, I believe, shortly to be mounted in Paris. Highly imaginative and poetical, this work must undoubtedly rank amongst the best operas that have emanated from the brain of a French composer for many years. The intense admiration that Chabrier entertains towards Wagner has not obscured the individuality of his own musical ideas. Ernest Reyer wrote an extremely eulogistic article on this work, from which I will cite an extract:--"Je me trouve en présence d'une œuvre extrêmement intéressante, renfermant des pages superbes et qui dans ses parties les moins saillantes, porte quand même la griffe puissante d'un compositeur admirablement doué." For some reason, which I do not pretend to fathom, Chabrier has introduced a popular Irish melody into his score!