The public was led to believe that I played nothing but fugues.

So current was this belief that a young woman about to be married begged me to play no fugues at her wedding! Another young woman asked me to play funeral marches.

She wanted to cry at her wedding, and as she had no natural inclination to do so, she counted on the organ to bring tears to her eyes.
But this case was unique.

Ordinarily, they were afraid of my severity--although this severity was tempered.
One day one of the parish vicars undertook to instruct me on this point.
He told me that the Madeleine audiences were composed in the main of wealthy people who attended the Opera-Comique frequently, and formed musical tastes which ought to be respected.
"Monsieur l'abbe," I replied, "when I hear from the pulpit the language of opera-comique, I will play music appropriate to it, and not before!".