The vast quantity of French-language music journalism and reportage in the nineteenth century can tempt us into citing one or another review that reflects our own view of the topic or work. We sometimes state or imply that a review stands for the attitudes and opinions of most musicians and music lovers of the day.

The idiosyncratic career of Félicien David was reported with great interest and vivacity by dozens of critics. Selected reviews reveal patterns that apply not just to David's works, but to nineteenth-century music generally. These patterns include: 1) the greater reliability of reviews by critics who were musically trained (e.g., Berlioz, Reyer, Gounod and Saint-Saëns), despite the possibility of bias; 2) critics sometimes conferring with each other before they wrote their review, or echoing each other's written opinions; 3) a willingness on the part of some critics to carry out a near-vendetta against a composer or work, whether for personal reasons (e.g., conflict of interest) or because of a deep-seated intolerance for any aesthetic and musical approaches that were at variance with the critic's own; 4) the sense of a positive mission, in writings by critics who were themselves prominent creative artists (see point 1); and 5) the power of a review to help determine the success or failure of a work, composer, or performer.

A recently published letter by Berlioz (translated here for the first time) reveals how conscious this remarkable composer-critic was of his own biases and aesthetic commitments, and how willingly he allowed them to shape his reaction to a new work by a younger, lesser-known composer. The responses of Berlioz and others to two works of David, Le Désert and Herculanum, provide the primary material for discussion. These responses include an insightful and previously undiscussed review (of Herculanum) by Ernest Reyer.

19 世纪大量的法语音乐新闻和报告文学可以诱使我们引用反映我们自己对主题或工作的看法的一篇或另一篇评论。我们有时会声明或暗示评论代表了当时大多数音乐家和音乐爱好者的态度和意见。

数十名评论家以极大的兴趣和活泼的态度报道了 Félicien David 的特殊职业生涯。精选评论揭示的模式不仅适用于大卫的作品，而且普遍适用于 19 世纪的音乐。这些模式包括：1）尽管可能存在偏见，但受过音乐训练的评论家（例如柏辽兹、雷耶、古诺和圣桑）的评论可靠性更高；2) 评论家有时会在写评论之前互相商议，或互相附和对方的书面意见；3）一些评论家愿意对作曲家或作品进行近乎仇杀，无论是出于个人原因（例如，利益冲突）还是因为对任何美学和音乐方法的根深蒂固的不容忍与评论家的意见不一致；4) 感觉积极的使命，在那些本身就是杰出的创意艺术家的评论家的著作中（见第 1 点）；5) 审查有助于确定作品、作曲家或表演者成败的力量。

柏辽兹最近发表的一封信（首次在此翻译）揭示了这位杰出的作曲评论家对自己的偏见和审美承诺有多么清醒，以及他多么愿意让他们影响他对年轻、较小的新作品的反应——知名作曲家。柏辽兹和其他人对大卫的两部作品Le Désert和Herculanum的反应，提供了讨论的主要材料。这些回应包括Ernest Reyer对Herculanum进行的富有洞察力且之前未讨论过的评论。