I tried
my skill on the first act, and applied to it with an ardor which,
for the first time, made me feel the delightful sensation produced
by the creative power of composition. One evening, as I entered the
opera, feeling myself strongly incited and overpowered by my ideas,
I put my money again into my pocket, returned to my apartment,
locked the door, and, having close drawn all the curtains, that
every ray of light might be excluded, I went to bed, abandoning myself
entirely to this musical and poetical aestrum, and in seven or eight
hours rapidly composed the greatest part of an act. I can truly say my
love for the Princess of Ferrara (for I was Tasso for the moment)
and my noble and lofty sentiment with respect to her unjust brother,
procured me a night a hundred times more delicious than one passed
in the arms of the princess would have been. In the morning but a very
little of what I had done remained in my head, but this little, almost
effaced by sleep and lassitude, still sufficiently evinced the
energy of the pieces of which it was the scattered remains.
I this time did not proceed far with my undertaking, being
interrupted by other affairs. Whilst I attached myself to the family
of Dupin, Madam de Beuzenval and Madam de Broglie, whom I continued to
visit, had not forgotten me. The Count de Montaigu, captain in the
guards, had just been appointed ambassador to Venice. He was an
ambassador made by Barjac, to whom he assiduously paid his court.
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