Note 117 — BOOK VIII[61]

Gaspardo Spontini (1778-1851), a native of the Papal States, made his first great success with the Vestal in 1807, at which time he was musical director to the Empress Joséphine. In 1810, he became manager of the Théâtre Italien in Paris and, in 1820, manager of the Berlin Opera. On the death of Frederic William, in 1842, he returned to Paris, where he had been elected a member of the Academy of Fine Arts in 1839.—T.