was only six years old.  He afterward wrote of this time in his “Essais sur la Musique”:  “The hour for the lesson afforded the teacher an opportunity to exercise his cruelty.  He made us sing each in turn, and woe to him who made the least mistake; he was beaten unmercifully, the youngest as well as the oldest.  He seemed to take pleasure in inventing torture.  At times he would place us on a short round stick, from which we fell head over heels if we made the least movement.  But that which made us tremble with fear was to see him knock down a pupil and beat him; for then we were sure he would treat some others in the same manner, one victim being insufficient to gratify his ferocity.  To maltreat his pupils was a sort of mania with him; and he seemed to feel that his duty was performed in proportion to the cries and sobs which he drew forth.”

In 1759 Gretry went to Rome, where he studied counterpoint for five years.  Some of his works were received favorably by the Roman public, and he was made a member of the Philharmonic Society of Bologna.  Pressed by pecuniary necessity, Gretry determined to go to Paris; but he stopped at Geneva on the route to earn money by singing-lessons.  Here he met Voltaire at Ferney.  “You are a musician and have genius,” said the great man; “it is a very rare thing, and I take much interest in you.”  In spite of this, however, Voltaire would not write him the text for an opera.  The philosopher of Ferney feared to trust his reputation with an unknown musician.  When Gretry arrived in Paris he still found the same difficulty, as no distinguished poet was disposed to give him a libretto till he had made his powers recognized.  After two years of starving and waiting, Marmontel gave him the text of “The Huron,” which was brought out in 1769 and well received.  Other successful works followed in rapid succession.

At this time Parisian frivolity thought it good taste to admire the rustic and naive.  The idyls of Gessner and the pastorals of Florian were the favorite reading, and Watteau the popular painter.  Gentlefolks, steeped in artifice, vice, and intrigue, masked their empty lives under the as sumption of Arcadian simplicity, and minced and ambled in the costumes of shepherds and shepherdesses.  Marie Antoinette transformed her chalet of Petit Trianon into a farm, where she and her courtiers played at pastoral life—­the farce preceding the tragedy of the Revolution.  It was the effort of dazed society seeking change.  Gretry followed the fashionable bent by composing pastoral comedies, and mounted on the wave of success.

In 1774 “Fausse Magie” was produced with the greatest applause.  Rousseau was present, and the composer waited on him in his box, meeting a most cordial reception.  On their way home after the opera, Gretry offered his new friend his arm to help him over an obstruction.  Rousseau with a burst of rage said, “Let me make use of my own powers,” and thenceforward the sentimental misanthrope refused to recognize the composer.  About this time Gretry met the English humorist Hales, who afterward furnished him with many of his comic texts.  The two combined to produce the “Jugement de Midas,” a satire on the old style of music, which met with remarkable popular favor, though it was not so well received by the court.