 When his Prix de Rome grant expired , Bizet found he could not make a living from writing music . He accepted piano pupils and some composition students , two of whom , Edmond Galabert and Paul Lacombe , became his close friends . He also worked as an accompanist at rehearsals and auditions for various staged works , including Berlioz 's oratorio L 'enfance du Christ and Gounod 's opera Mireille . However , his main work in this period was as an arranger of others ' works . He made piano transcriptions for hundreds of operas and other pieces , and prepared vocal scores and orchestral arrangements for all kinds of music . He was also , briefly , a music critic for La Revue Nationale et Étrangère , under the assumed name of " Gaston de Betzi " . Bizet 's single contribution in this capacity appeared on 3 August 1867 , after which he quarrelled with the magazine 's new editor and resigned . 
