master and répétiteur, and included his music in the Lamoureux Orchestra's concerts. In 1881 Chabrier's piano cycle Pièces pittoresques was premiered. César Franck commented, "We have just heard something extraordinary: this music links our time with that of Couperin and Rameau". Chabrier travelled to London (1882) and Brussels (1883) to hear Wagner's Ring cycle, and in 1882 Chabrier and his wife visited Spain, which resulted in his most famous work, España (1883), a mixture of popular airs he had heard and his own original themes. It was premiered under its dedicatee, Lamoureux, in November 1883. It met with what Poulenc calls "immediate and rapturous success", made Chabrier's reputation, and by public demand received multiple performances over the next months. Admirers included de Falla, who stated that he did not think any Spanish composer had succeeded in achieving so genuine a version of the jota as in the piece, The Paris Opéra declined to present Gwendoline, which was premiered at La Monnaie in Brussels under Henry Verdhurdt in 1886. It was well received, but closed after two performances because the impresario went bankrupt. William Mann wrote of the music that "in full, rapturous cognizance of mature Wagner", Chabrier composed "great music ...such as the long solo and choral ensemble, 'Soyez unis', and all the love duet music, and there is more Frenchman than Wagner in them, above all in the final Liebestod". While striving for a staging of his opera Chabrier was also working on some of his mature songs – Sommation irrespectueuse, Tes yeux bleus, Chanson pour Jeanne, Lied, as well as a lyric scene for mezzo, women's chorus and orchestra La Sulamite and the piano version of the Joyeuse Marche. He then found a new lyric project to tackle – Le roi malgré lui (The King in Spite of Himself) – and completed the score in six months. It was premiered at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, and a favourable reception seemed to promise a successful run, but the theatre burned down after the third performance. Through Chabrier's friendship with the Belgian tenor Ernest van Dyck and subsequently the conductor Felix Mottl, directors of opera houses in Leipzig and Munich expressed interest in both works and Chabrier made several happy trips to Germany as a result; his works were given in seven German cities. In July 1888 he was appointed as a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur. Chabrier left a