Produced by Ben Beasley and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net [Illustration: The Master, Camille Saint-Saens] MUSICAL MEMORIES BY CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS TRANSLATED BY EDWIN GILE RICH Translator of Lafond's "_Ma Mitrailleuse_," etc. [Illustration: (A publisher's seal, inscribed "SCIRE QVOD SCIENDVM".)] BOSTON SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY PUBLISHERS 1919, BY SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY (INCORPORATED) CONTENTS CHAPTER I MEMORIES OF MY CHILDHOOD II THE OLD CONSERVATOIRE III VICTOR HUGO IV THE HISTORY OF AN OPERA-COMIQUE V LOUIS GALLET VI HISTORY AND MYTHOLOGY IN OPERA VII ART FOR ART'S SAKE VIII POPULAR SCIENCE AND ART IX ANARCHY IN MUSIC X THE ORGAN XI JOSEPH HAYDN AND THE "SEVEN WORDS" XII THE LISZT CENTENARY AT HEIDELBERG (1912) XIII BERLIOZ'S REQUIEM XIV PAULINE VIARDOT XV ORPHEE XVI DELSARTE XVII SEGHERS XVIII ROSSINI XIX JULES MASSENET XX MEYERBEER XXI JACQUES OFFENBACH XXII THEIR MAJESTIES XXIII MUSICAL PAINTERS ILLUSTRATIONS The Master, Camille Saint-Saens The Paris Opera The First Performance of _Dejanire_ M. Saint-Saens in his Later Years The Madeleine where M. Saint-Saens played the organ for twenty years Hector Berlioz Mme. Pauline Viardot Mme. Patti M. Jules Massenet Meyerbeer, Composer of _Les Huguenots_ Jacques Offenbach Ingres, the painter famous for his violin MUSICAL MEMORIES MUSICAL MEMORIES CHAPTER I MEMORIES OF MY CHILDHOOD In bygone days I was often told that I had two mothers, and, as a matter of fact, I did have two--the mother who gave me life and my maternal great-aunt, Charlotte Masson. The latter came from an old family of lawyers named Gayard and this relationship makes me a descendant of General Delcambre, one of the heroes of the retreat from Russia. His granddaughter married Count Durrieu of the _Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres_. My great-aunt was born in the provinces in 1781, but she was adopted by a childless aunt and uncle who made their home in Paris. He was a wealthy lawyer and they lived magnificently.