Daniel-Fran ois-Esprit Auber (1782-1871), the composer of La Muette de Portici (1828) and Fra Diavolo (1830), was once regarded as one of the great figures of music, a staple of the operatic repertoire in France, and indeed around the world. It is now almost impossible to understand the extent of his once universal fame, his influence on contemporary composers. His operas were in the theatre repertories of the world until the 1920s, and innumerable arrangements of them were published and sold everywhere. The ubiquity of his overtures Masaniello, Fra Diavolo, The Bronze Horse, The Black Domino, The Crown Diamonds once as popular as those of Rossini and Supp, and the influence of his melodies and dance rhythms on piano and instrumental music, and on Romantic comic opera, was overwhelming.