Charles Gounod

Charles Gounod was a Parisian who spent his life torn between the opera house and the church. He won the Prix de Rome, France's top prize for young composers, and after a period of religious study he came close to becoming a priest before choosing music for good. Sacred works flowed from him all his life, including the famous Ave Maria he floated over a keyboard prelude by Bach.

The theater made his name. His opera Faust, drawn from Goethe's story of an old scholar who sells his soul for youth and love, was performed constantly across Europe and America in the nineteenth century and helped define French opera: elegant, tuneful, and warm rather than overwhelming.

Start with Faust, or at least its most famous arias, then try Roméo et Juliette to hear him at his most tender.