Then, when long-haired _virtuosi_, playing by main strength, produced peals of thunder, they really "_toucha du piano_." * * * * * To return to _Orphee_ and end as we began, I have to make a painful confession.

If the works of Gluck in general and _Orphee_ in particular have had a happy influence on our musical taste, a passage from this last work has been a noxious influence,--the famous chorus of the demons "_Quel est l'audacieux--qui dans ces sombres lieux--ose porter ses pas ?_" In the old days French opera was based on declamation and it was scrupulously respected even in the arias.

There is a fine example of this excellent system in Lully's famous aria from _Medusa_ to prove what strength results from a close relation between the accent of the verse and the music.

Gluck was one of the most fervent disciples of this system, but _Orphee_, as we know, was derived from _Orfeo_.

The question was whether he could even think of suppressing this spectacular chorus with its amazing strength which was one of the principal reasons for the work's success.