Herculanum in David's output

Félicien David’s ode-symphonie, Le Désert, premièred at the Théâtre- Italien in December 1844, took Paris by storm, making him almost overnight into one of the most popular composers of his time. The revival of the work in the capital in 1845 proved such a phenomenal success that by a decade later it had been staged all over France. However, in a country in which a composer’s merit was still largely dependent on his operatic output (election as a member of the Institut de France, for instance, was out of the question unless the candidate had operas under his belt), David’s recognition remained incomplete.