many passages of which are very graceful. At Ferrara a comedy of his, "Il Timone" (Lucian's Timon), was acted, and is said to have been the first comedy in modern Italian. Boiardo's reputation for scholarship was high. He translated Herodotus and Xenophon, and wrote some historical works himself, which are praised by Muratori; but his best title to fame is the "Inamorato." The feats of Charlemagne's peers and paladins had already been the subject of romance. The prowess of Orlando—his adventurous life and his death at Roncesvalles, were recorded in the chronicle of Turpin, the great authority to which on all occasions the Italian poets of chivalry refer; but on the subject of his love for Angelica, and the adventures which spring from this source, the archbishop is discreetly silent. The proprieties of ecclesiastical decorum might have rendered such topics unfit for him to dwell upon, as the human infirmity of the universal passion was not to be alluded to in the case of so great a hero as Orlando; it was a secret to be whispered in the confessional, not confided to the public; and even if the archbishop knew or suspected it, the thing was not to be revealed. The poet has no such difficulties arising from professional delicacy to contend with, and Boiardo, even without any authority from the old chronicler, looks into the hero's heart, and gives us the legendary story of Angelica's witchcraft and its effects. The result is a poem of very considerable interest, and unluckily too of very considerable length. It occupied its author for many years, and was left unfinished at his death. A very dull writer, Agostini, added a weary supplement to it, and another, to whom we cannot give higher praise, Domenichi, printed the "Inamorato" with patchwork alterations. How it survived all this would be a matter of surprise; but life and original power it must have had, for it inspired Ariosto, whose Furioso is a continuation of the story commenced in the "Inamorato." (See Ariosto and Berni.) Boiardo is said to have taken the names of his heroes from the vassals on his estates, and of the imaginary localities of his romance from those of the district round Reggio. If there be any foundation in fact for this statement, it must be just the reverse, and something in the character of an individual may have easily led to his being called by one of the names in the romance, as we believe has often happened in the cases of Scott's novels. Of Berni's Rifacimento we have spoken in our article on Berni. It has so superseded the original, that though the necessity of rendering Ariosto's story intelligible would have naturally led to the reprint of the earlier poem, Berni's is always substituted for it. We owe to this, and to Mr. Panizzi's desire to supply the want, his very beautiful and valuable edition of the "Inamorato."—J. A., D.
BOIELDIEU, François Adrian, a musician, was born at Rouen, December 15, 1775, and died at Jarcy, near Grosbois, October 8, 1834. His father was a secretary to the archbishop of his native city. He was placed as a boy in the choir of the cathedral and showing more talent than his companions, he received more particular attention from Broche, the organist, whose lessons on the pianoforte and in harmony were the only regular instruction Boieldieu ever had. His master treated him with such tyrannical severity, that he once ran away to Paris to escape the effects of his anger. He was soon brought back by his friends, and after the resumption of his studies, Broche assumed a more successful manner towards him. Until sixteen years of age he remained under the care of this teacher. He had at this time a devoted fondness for music, but it was not the austerity of the church style which fascinated him; on the contrary, he delighted in the performances of the theatre, and would sometimes secrete himself in the building during the day, when he had not money to pay for admission at night, in order to enjoy them. The pleasure he felt in hearing the operas of Gretry, Daleyrac, and Maliul, stimulated in him a desire to produce one of his own, and this desire soon led to its own fulfilment. The good reception of his opera at the Rouen theatre further stimulated him to wish for distinction in Paris, and his want of means to carry him thither was not a sufficient obstacle to hinder his visiting the capital. He accordingly set out on foot, with thirty francs in his pocket; and, strengthened by the ardour of his expectations, he accomplished the entire distance in two days. Arrived in the metropolis before the completion of his nineteenth year, Boieldieu was sorely disappointed to find that success among his friends in a provincial town was insufficient recommendation to secure the acceptance of his opera by the Societé des Acteurs, then directing the Opera Comique. He would have consoled himself by teaching the pianoforte, and so at least obtaining the means of subsistence; but having no connection, he could get no pupils. Since he could not teach, he had no resource but to tune, and in this capacity he was engaged at Erard's factory, where he made the acquaintance, which quickly ripened into friendship, of the chief musicians of the day. He now wrote some romances, several of which became extremely popular; but, for the best of them he could not obtain more than twelve francs apiece from a publisher. Pleased with the talent of the young composer, Fiévée, the author of the Dot de Suzette, adapted this favourite tale into an opera for Boieldieu, and his interest was sufficient to insure the performance of the work. Thus, before the completion of his twentieth year, was Boieldieu brought before the Parisian public; and the success of his first attempt was such, that he obtained a ready hearing for a similar work in each of the two following years; and in 1798 fully established his reputation by the three-act opera of Zoraime et Zulnare, which surpassed in merit, as much as in importance, all his previous productions. On the opening of the conservatoire he was appointed professor of the pianoforte, though he had no distinction as an executant; his intelligent æsthetical remarks, however, fully made up to his pupils for his want of mechanical excellence. At this time he wrote some concertos and sonatas for the pianoforte and for the harp, which were admired in their day. He continued to produce an opera in every year; that of "La Prisòniere," given in 1799, was written in conjunction with Cherubini; and it was probably in consequence of this connection, and because of the greater purity of his subsequent compositions, that it has been falsely stated he took lessons of that master. In 1800 he brought out "Beniousky," which, though then unsuccessful, was revived in 1825 with better fortune. In 1800, also, he produced "Le Calife de Bagdad," the immediate popularity of which not only attracted all Paris, but carried the composer's reputation to every city in Europe. From this time forward Boieldieu acquired the habit of rigid self-criticism, which he exercised to such an extent, that he would sometimes set the same words no less than ten times before he could satisfy himself with a composition. This habit increased as he grew older, and was so strong in its influence as greatly to counteract his natural facility, protracting the time of writing one opera to what would before have sufficed for several; but it induced, also, the greater purity of style which distinguishes all his subsequent works from those written prior to this period. "Ma Sante Aurore," given in 1802, first exemplifies the scrupulous care, to which, doubtless, is due the survival of many of the composer's works over the operas of contemporary writers. In the March of this year Boieldieu married Mdlle. Clotilde Augustine Mafleuroy—popular by the first name as a dancer—an event most inauspicious for his future happiness. To escape from the ill effects of this connection he determined to quit Paris; and, accordingly, on April 3, went with his friends Rode and Lamare to Russia. He arrived in St. Petersburg at a fortunate moment. Sarti was just dead; and the office of imperial chapelmaster, thus rendered vacant, was at once given to Boieldieu. The condition of his appointment was the production of three new operas every year, in fulfilment of which he wrote many meritorious works; but, as he employed for these some librettos that had already been successfully set by Berton, Lesueur, and others, he could never reproduce them in Paris. "Calypso" (most esteemed by himself ) and "Aline" are the best operas he wrote in Russia; but a work that is extolled above these, as being perhaps the most earnest of all his productions, is the choruses in Racine's Athalie, and yet this has not been brought out upon the Parisian stage. The breaking out of the war with France in 1810 obliged Boieldieu to leave Russia, and he again arrived in Paris in January, 1811. Here he had to oppose Nicolo Isouard, a composer in great popularity. The contest was one of a hare and a tortoise; for though his rival, wanting his conscientiousness, produced three or four operas while he wrote one, the greater pains he bestowed upon his works insured for them a more permanent esteem. "Jean de Paris," given in 1812, introduced him anew to the French public, who warmly acknowledged the great advance in his style since the last work of his they had heard. This very favourite opera was followed by several written in conjunction with other composers, which are now forgotten; while "Le Nouveau Seigneur" and "La Féte du Village," of which the music was entirely by Boieldieu, continue in esteem. On the death of Méhul in 1817, the membership of the Institut thus
