Page:The Spirit of French Music.djvu/102

 dates might lead one to suppose that the resentment he cherished did not enter into the matter. And what might confirm this opinion is that the unpublished writing in which Rameau is praised dates from the year 1750. But a little phychology will perhaps dissipate these illusions,illusions. [sic] A feeling of rancour may ferment and accumulate for a long time internally before it manifests itself outwardly; internally too, the mind in which this feeling has been sown may bide its time, before letting it grow and frankly giving way to it, until means are available for its satisfaction; the spring of passion, till then restrained and softened by impotency, is suddenly released, and for the flabby inclination for vengeance is substituted a firm resolve. This moral interpretation as applied to Jean-Jacques will grieve those for whom he is a saint, and I do not offer it as self-evident. But at least it is impossible to deny its agreement with facts. In 1744 Jean-Jacques is an obscure individual, and Rameau the prince of French music. In 1752 Rousseau is a celebrated writer, upheld by friends and by a party, while on the other hand, an artistic event has occurred which seems to have withdrawn from the great musician the favour of an important section of the public. That is the moment chosen by Jean-Jacques for attacking him. That event was the famous Opéra-bouffe War."

The performances given by the Italian opéra-bouffe company at the Opera in the winter of 1752 were enormously successful. Among the dozen works produced, of which the majority are to day either