From a portrait in Clément’s “Les Musiciens Célèbres.”
]
Méhul made his parting bow to the public with the opera of “La Journée
aux Aventures,” which was produced in 1817 with considerable success.
The same year closed his earthly labors. He had been in ill health for
some time, and shortly after the production of his last opera he went,
upon the advice of friends, to the south of France, where he had a
residence, hoping thereby to regain his strength. His ailment,
consumption, however, had so weakened his constitution that the change
was fruitless. Moreover, he was homesick for Paris. In writing to a
friend he mournfully says: “I have broken up all my habits. I am
deprived of all my old friends, I am alone at the end of the world,
surrounded by people whose language I can scarcely understand—and all
this sacrifice to obtain a little more sun. The air which best agrees
with me is that which I breathe among you.” He returned to Paris, warmly
welcomed by his friends and the public. He made one, and only one more
visit to the opera. He was soon stricken down in his last illness and
died Oct. 18, 1817, in his fifty-fourth year, universally lamented both
in France and Germany, for, like his pupil Hérold, he was as much of a
favorite in the latter country as in the former. In fact neither of
these composers was appreciated to the full extent of his ability in
France, at least until after death, a neglect which was not confined to
them, however: Berlioz shared the same fate. More than one French
composer indeed has made his greatest success in Germany. Tributes of
respect and admiration were shown to his memory in both countries. His
funeral was attended by a great concourse of persons, and the pupils of
the Conservatory with which he had been identified so many years,
covered his grave with flowers. On the day of his interment memorial
services were held in many places in Germany and France at which public
addresses were made. Méhul married a daughter of Dr. Gastoldi, but
having no children adopted his nephew, M. Daussoigne, a young musician
of excellent promise. His posthumous opera, “Valentine de Milan,” was
finished by the nephew and was performed in 1822, upon which occasion
the composer’s bust was publicly crowned. The popular success, indeed,
which he achieved as a composer, was unquestionably expedited by his
high character as a man. His uprightness and natural tenderness had
commended him to all the pupils of the Conservatory, and his strong
affections did the same service for him with his friends. His generosity
and benevolence were proverbial. The utter absence of jealousy in his
disposition especially commended him to musicians. He had a particular
abhorrence of intrigue and of those small rivalries which were abundant
at that time, and which sometimes developed into great wars, as has
already been hinted at in the reference to the famous struggle between
the factions of Gluck and Piccini, which not only enrolled musicians,
composers and opera-goers in opposing ranks, but even brought courtiers,
the nobility and members of the royal family into fierce antagonism. In
the midst of all this small turbulence Méhul had carried himself with
even poise, working for the best interest of his art and always true to
its canons, though he made many tentative innovations when fortune
frowned upon him. At a time of more than ordinary dissipation and
immorality, he maintained the highest moral principles and a sterling
manhood. It was but natural, therefore, that such a man should have been
mourned sincerely, and it may have added to public admiration that he
had reached his high distinction by his own efforts, rising from rude
and obscure beginnings to the summit of European fame.
Méhul was the legitimate successor of Gluck. It was that composer’s
“Iphigénie,” as we have seen, that first caught his fancy, fired his
ambition and directed his attention to dramatic composition. It was
owing to Gluck himself, who at once recognized the ability of the young
musician, that his feet were set in the right path, and it was to his
advice and instruction—the instruction of a friend rather than of a
teacher—that he owed his discovery and appreciation of the dramatic
quality of music. Other composers, among them Cherubini, had a certain
influence upon him, but Gluck was the all in all of his system, the
source of his inspiration and the dominant element of his methods of
treatment. He clung to dramatic truth with as much tenacity as did the
great author of “Orpheus” and the “Iphigénias” and strove with the same
earnestness to make his music a close and perspicuous illustration of
the text, and to keep it elevated in style. Meanwhile his own nature was
assisting him. Style and character are closely related, and Méhul’s
music is a reflection of his own personal traits, namely, refinement of
sentiment, seriousness and earnestness of presence, strong religious
tendencies as shown in the opera—or shall we not call it oratorio—of
“Joseph,” and nobility of character as shown in all his dramatic work.
His style is always elevated, though at times he made the effort to
unite light and graceful melodies of the effervescent and short-lived
sort which find so much favor on the French stage. He was not successful
in these, however. He was more at home in passion and pathos, in strong,
broad motives, rich harmony and ingenious and elaborate accompaniments.
In a word, his standards, like those of Gluck, in whose steps he
followed so closely, were classical and of the highest romantic type. At
times he was daring and ingenious in his innovations, as in “Ariodant,”
where four horns and three ’cellos carry on an animated conversation; in
“Phrosine et Mélidore,” where four horns have a full part in the score;
and in “Uthal,” where the violas are substituted for the violins, as
already has been mentioned. These, however, were only experiments,
though they serve to show his originality of conception as well as his
curious scholarship—a scholarship all the more remarkable when the
poverty of his early training is considered. And yet he did more than
almost any other of his contemporaries to elevate the Opera Comique, and
has come down in musical history as one of the principal founders of the
modern French School.
[Illustration:
Fac-simile musical manuscript by Méhul, from Cherubini’s collection.
Méhul’s name, in upper left-hand corner, was written by Cherubini.
]
Méhul’s activity was almost incessant. He has left forty operas, of
which the following are the more important: “Alonzo et Cora” and
“Euphrosine et Coradin” (1790); “Stratonice” (1792); “Le jeune Sage et
le vieux Fou” (1793); “Horatius Cocles,” “Arminius,” “Phrosine et
Mélidore” and “Scipion” (1794); “La Caverne,” “Tancrède et Chlorinde”
and “Sesostris” (1795); “Le jeune Henri” and “Doria” (1797); “Adrien”
and “Ariodant” (1799); “Epicure” (with Cherubini) and “Bion” (1800);
“L’Irato” (1801); “Une Folie,” “Le Trésor Supposé,” “Joanne” and
“L’Heureux malgré lui” (1802); “Helena” and “Le Baiser et la Quittance,”
with Kreutzer, Boieldieu and Nicolo (1803); “Uthal,” “Les deux Aveugles
de Tolède” and “Gabrielle d’Estrées” (1806); “Joseph” (1807); “Les
Amazones” (1811); “Le Prince Troubadour” (1813); “L’Oriflamme” with
Berton, Kreutzer and Paer, (1814); “Le Journée aux Aventures” (1816);
and the posthumous opera, “Valentine de Milan,” finished by his nephew,
M. Daussoigne, and first performed in 1822. Besides these dramatic works
he has left four ballets, several symphonies, songs, operettas and
incidental dramatic music to which reference has been made in the body
of this article. Méhul’s literary ability, though never specially
cultivated, was of a surprising kind, considering his early
disadvantages. He has left two reports which have been greatly
admired,—one upon the future state of music in France and the other upon
the labors of the pupils in the Conservatory. Taken all in all, he was
one of the most earnest, high-minded, conscientious and thoroughly
artistic composers France has produced. He carried on the great work of
Gluck and is one of the important links in the evolution of music which
led up to Richard Wagner and his music-dramas.
[Illustration: Geo. P. Upton]
[Illustration: