In his most famous works, _Robert le Diable_ (1831), _Les Huguenots_ (1836), _Le Prophète_ (1849), _Dinorah_ (1859), and _L’Africaine_ (1864), Meyerbeer shows his knowledge of effect, both vocally and orchestrally. Although over-elaborate and pompous, these operas are still performed at fairly frequent intervals, seeing that they are effective from a stage point of view, and also extremely gratifying to the singers, without descending to that inanity which so often characterizes operatic music written to please vocalists. [Sidenote: =Auber, 1782-1871=] Passing over that eccentric genius, Hector Berlioz, who made a few bids for popularity in operatic composition, with remarkable lack of success, we must notice the brilliant Auber, whose light-hearted music filled the Opera Comique audiences with delight for many years. Although only known to us in England by the overtures which are so popular with sea-side orchestras and amateur bands, his operas are still popular enough on the Continent. He wrote both for the Grand Opera and the Opera Comique, his most lasting successes being achieved in the latter field; of the larger type, _Masaniello_ is the best known, and is important as inaugurating a new career for French grand opera, in so far as it breaks from the classic model of Gluck and his followers and incorporates elements of the newer romance school. Of the lighter works, _Fra Diavolo_ is one of the most successful. Auber will be remembered not only for the vivacity and brightness of his music, but also for his fascinating and clever employment of the orchestra, for which he wrote with consummate ease and invariable excellence. [Sidenote: =Gounod, 1818-93=] In Gounod we meet the composer of _Faust_, probably the most popular opera that the world has ever known. The reasons for its popularity are not hard to seek—an easily understood and well-known story, a succession of bright, melodious, and yet good musical numbers, and an amount of opportunity for the stage management beyond the average—all these things have tended to keep _Faust_ constantly before the opera-goer. _Faust_ was produced in 1859, and although its orchestration may sound thin, and its melodies appear ultra-square to those who are accustomed to feast on the sonorous melody of Wagner, it yet pleases and is likely to please. It is the best of the Gounod operas, and quite outpaces other efforts by the same composer. Of these, _Romeo and Juliet_ is the most often heard, but there are others, such as _The Mock Doctor_, _Philémon and Baucis_, and _Mireille_, which latter Gounod always said was his best opera. [Illustration: OFFENBACH.] [Sidenote: =Bizet, 1838-75=]