He is not a musician in the sense that he has studied music, but he has the soul of a musician, which is worth much more." Madame Adam followed my advice and found it good.
At this period, under the guise of Wagnerism, the wildest theories and the most extravagant assertions were current in musical criticism.
Gallet was naturally well poised and independent and he did not do as the rest did.

Instead he opposed them, but from unwillingness to give needless offense he displayed marked tact and discretion in his criticisms.

This did him no good, however, for it aroused no sentiment of gratitude, and without giving him credit for a literary style that was rare among librettists, his contemporaries received each of his works with a hostility entirely devoid of either justice or mercy.
Gallet felt this hostility keenly.

He felt that he did not deserve it, since he took so much care in his work and put so much courtesy into his criticism.

The blank verse he used in _Thais_ with admirable regard for color and harmony, counting on the music to take the place of the rhyme, was not appreciated.