The performances that followed confirmed the impressions of the beautiful first performance of February 16, 1892. The work was sung by the celebrated artists Marie Renard and Ernest Van Dyck. That same year, 1892, Carvalho again became the director of the Opéra-Comique, then in the Place du Chatelet. He asked me for _Werther_, and in a tone so full of feeling that I did not hesitate to let him have it. The same week Mme. Massenet and I dined with M. and Mme. Alphonse Daudet. The other guests were Edmond de Goncourt and Charpentier, the publisher. After dinner Daudet told me that he wanted me to hear a young artiste. "Music herself," he said. This young girl was Marie Delna! At the first bars that she sang (the aria from the great Gounod's _La Reine de Saba_) I turned to her and took her hands. [Illustration: Posthumia (_Roma_) _See page 297_] "Be Charlotte, our Charlotte," I said, utterly carried away. The day after the first performance at the Opéra-Comique, in January, 1893, I received this note from Gounod: "Dear Friend: "Our most hearty congratulations on this double triumph and we regret that the French were not the first witnesses." The following touching and picturesque lines were sent me at the time by the illustrious architect of the Opéra. "Amico mio, Two eyes to see you, Two ears to hear you, Two lips to kiss you, Two arms to enfold you, Two hands to applaud you. and "Two words to give thee all my compliments and to tell thee that thy _Werther_ is an excellent hit--do you know?--I am proud of you, and for your part do not blush that a poor architect is entirely satisfied with you. "CARLO." In 1903, after nine years of ostracism, M. Albert Carré revived this forgotten work. With his incomparable talent, his marvellous taste, and his art, which was that of an exquisite man of letters, he knew how to present the work to the public so as to make it a real revelation. Many famous artistes have sung the rôle since that time: Mlle. Marie de l'Isle, who was the first Charlotte at the revival and who created the work with her fine, individual talents; then Mlles. Lamare, Cesbron, Wyns, Raveau, Mmes. de Nuovina, Vix, Hatto, Brohly, and ... others whose names I will give later. At the revival due to M. Albert Carré, _Werther_ had the great good fortune to have Léon Beyle as the protagonist of the part; later Edmond Clément and Salignac were also superb and thrilling interpreters of the work. CHAPTER XVIII A STAR But to go back to the events the day after the destruction of the Opéra-Comique. The Opéra-Comique was moved to the Place du Chatelet, in the old theater called Des Nations, which later became the Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt. M. Paravey was appointed director. I had known him when he directed the Grand-Théâtre at Nantes with real talent.