I  should  have  preferred,  I  confess,  another
title    and    another   subject.      I    remember   that


"I    MASNADIERI.'  Ill


twelve  or  thirteen  years  since  Mercadante  also
worked  on  this  text,  which  did  not  bring  him
luck.  He  wrote  his  score  oi  I  Briganti  for  the
Theatre  Italien  of  Paris,  as  Verdi  has  written
his  for  that  of  London.^  I  shall  never  forget
the  prodigious  outbreak  of  hilarity  which  greeted
Lablache  when  he  came  out  of  a  dark  tower  in
which  he  was  supposed  to  have  languished  for
long  years,  the  victim  of  thirst !  ...  Merca-
dante's  music  has  left  no  other  impression.^

''  As  to  that  of  Verdi,  I  will  tell  you  frankly
that  I  am  of  the  opinion  of  the  critics,  who  are
far  from  regarding  it  as  his  chef-d'oeuvre,  and  I
have  no  need  to  tell  you  what  I  think  in  general
of  the  chefs-doetLvre  of  Verdi.  Paris  and  London
are  unanimous  in  that  respect  :  the  7naestro  has
succeeded  no  better  in  one  city  than  in  the  other.
It  may  be  prejudice,  bad  taste,  injustice,  as
certain  people  pretend  ;  it  may  be  so.  I  have
no  wish  to  contradict  them.  It  is  open  to  them
to  appeal  to  the  future  ;  I  occupy  myself  only
with  the  present  time.^


'  The  opera  of  Mercadante  was  represented  at  Paris  the
22nd  of  March,  1836.
^  It  is  well  known  that  Lablache,  formed  like  Hercules,  was
of  colossal  stature,  and  stout  in  proportion.  By  a  singular
coincidence,  he  undertook  the  same  character  va  I Masnadiej'i
which  he  had  already  played  in  I Briga7iti.
