Reproduced from a photograph made by special permission.
]
Auber once related to me that two days before the first performance of
“La Muette” (which he completed in three months!) the overture was not
yet ready. He composed it with all the fervor which comes of
improvisation. The evening before the first production the orchestra
rehearsed it for the first time, and the musicians accorded this
instrumental preface an enthusiastic reception. On the first night the
public were so enchanted with it that it received a double _encore_. I
have never seen this fact mentioned in any of the biographies of the
illustrious composer, but I learnt it from Auber himself.
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