I was quick to respond to this flattering invitation and I found a very different Rossini from the one of the evening. He was intensely interested in and open-minded to ideas, which, if they were not advanced, were at least broad and noble. He gave proof of this when Liszt"s famous _Messe_ was performed for the first time at St. Eustache. He went to its defense in the face of an almost unanimous opposition.