ON the occasion of Bizet's centenary,(1) it may be of some interest to draw attention to the extraordinary diversity of critical opinion with regard to his work. His critics may be roughly divided into two sections: those who consider him a charming, but quite definitely minor composer, and those who are convinced that he is one of the two or three greatest French musicians of all time. During his lifetime Bizet met with singularly little appreciation. His work was consistently ignored and belittled. His last months were embittered by an almost incredible lack of understanding. He was not only occasionally but repeatedly denounced as a too scholarly musician completely lacking in spontaneity and incapable of writing a simple melody. For a man of Bizet's fairly easy-going temperament this atmosphere of persistent and frequently malevolent denigration was little short of deadly; it explains, to some extent, the comparative slenderness of his output. The first to recognize his talent was Hector Berlioz, who devoted the last musicalfeuilleton he ever wrote to Bizet's ' The Pearl Fishers ', produced in I863. Berlioz lays particular stress on Bizet's fire and originality; with uncanny insight he calls attention to the little dance at the opening of the first act and praises its exceptional verve and exuberance. Some critics have considered Berlioz's praise excessive; they have even ventured to affirm that it was not altogether disinterested, but an attempt to curry favour with the management of the Theatre Lyrique, which was about to produce his 'Les Troyens' after interminable delays and inexcusable mutilations. But Berlioz was, on the whole, no time-server; he had an undeniable admiration for his youthful contemporary, and his article has an unmistakable ring of sincerity. Besides, he does not hesitate to express his censure and he justifiably-and fairly ruthlessly-condemns the finale of the first act. " It is of a vulgarity that is no longer permissible nowadays ", he remarks trenchantly. He was quick to notice that Bizet did not always make the best use of his splendid gifts, but then the composer of' Carmen ' (who had