SIR,—Is not David Cairns, arch-kicker over the traces and noted
upsetter of orthodox apple carts, in some danger of conforming. of finding himself in step with the rest of the platoon? It is no longer exactly original to beat the drum for Berlioz or to congratulate Covent Garden on providing the English musical public with 'an undreamed-of masterpiece of epic drama and a staggering profu- sion of exquisite music' which academic critics have conspired to suppress, whatever may have been true, or untrue, three years ago.
To bring us down to earth I would like to ask him one question : The Trojans is of course largely concerned with the dream of founding Rome. Can he deny that the theme song which Berlioz provided for the greatest of cities (the Trojans' march) is a jingle so suburban that neither Wagner nor Verdi would have spat on it?—Yours faithfully,
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