At this period Ambroise Thomas was one of the lions of the day, and a favourite at the Court of Napoleon III. His presence at the sumptuous entertainments given by the Emperor at the palace of Compiègne will be remembered by many who profited by the Imperial hospitality. Every autumn the beautiful château was used to entertain series of visitors, and all the notabilities of Paris were bidden thither as the Emperor's guests. How some of these requited his hospitality later on, when trouble had gathered about his head, is unhappily a matter of history. Ambroise Thomas had now reached the apogee of his fame, and this was to receive its final consecration when he was called upon to succeed the veteran Auber, whose last days were embitterred, and possibly shortened, by the misfortunes that had befallen his country and disturbed his essentially pacific habits, as director of the Paris Conservatoire. This office he has continued to hold until the present day. Since then his dramatic compositions have been few and far between, and if we except "Gille et Gillotin," a one-act trifle written many years previously, and played at the Opéra Comique in 1874, have consisted of "Françoise de Rimini," a grand opera in five acts produced at the Opéra in 1882, and "La Tempête," a ballet given at the same theatre in 1889. These works have maintained their composer's reputation, without, however, in any material way adding to it. In examining the compositions of Ambroise Thomas it is impossible to avoid being struck by the eclecticism that pervades them all. The composer of "Mignon" is not one of those great leaders of musical thought whose individuality becomes stamped in an indelible fashion upon the art products of their period. He has been content to follow at a respectful distance the evolution that has gradually been effected in the "lyrical drama," taking care to avoid compromising himself through a too marked disregard of recognised traditions. Hence the presence of much needless ornamentation and countless florid passages, introduced obviously in order to show off the singer's voice, that cause many of his works to appear old-fashioned.