With no prima donna at his disposal, but with a dancer of Noblet's ability at hand, the ingenious Scribe, for whom no diffi­culty had yet been insurmountable, determined to offer a libretto in which pantomime should count for more than song, and in 1828, some time after performances had been resumed, the Opera celebrated its real return to favor with the Muette de Portici. With­out exaggeration it may be said that the absence of a prima donna and the presence of a dancer like Noblet were the essential elements in the creation of the new work. The weekly meeting of a group of music lovers who regularly rehearsed church music with us prevented my hearing the premiere, but a few members of our company who had been unable to resist the temptation to attend joined us after the opera. I still remem­ber distinctly that there was no one who did not hesitate to express his opinion and that the unusual features of the performance, the dancer's appearance in the title role and the official recognition of romanticism, caused endless astonishment. << less