Halfway to Hazard - Countrified

In 1860 he completed the symphony. an ode to the Vasco da Gama choirs (based on the epic poem The Louisids by L. Camoes). In 1860, B., creatively enriched, returned to Paris, hoping for quick success. But in the conditions of the Second Empire (1852-70) muses. France's life was in decline. Paris flooded with light, entertain. music, in the opera house dominated by magnificent performances in the spirit of J. Meyerbeer. To support his family, B. gave private lessons, wrote light music,shifted and corrected the works of other authors. In these years, he had plans for many others. operas (“Cup of the Fulsky King”, “Clarisse Garlow”, “Griselda”, etc.). In 1863, the opera B. - “Seekers of Pearls” (“Lyric Theater”) was first staged in Paris. This opera is a tribute to then oriental plots fashionable in France (the action takes place on the island of Ceylon, among idealized characters). Patterned dramatist. situations are not constrained by creative. the composer's fantasy. G. Berlioz in his review of the premiere noted the great merits of the score. But the opera was not successful. The opera Perth Beauty (based on the novel of the same name by W. Scott, 1867) was accepted with restraint.