 Bizet 's first preserved compositions , two wordless songs for soprano , date from around 1850 . In 1853 he joined Fromental Halévy 's composition class , and began to produce works of increasing sophistication and quality . Two of his songs , " Petite Marguerite " and " La Rose et l <unk> " , were published in 1854 . In 1855 he wrote an ambitious overture for a large orchestra , and prepared four @-@ hand piano versions of two of Gounod 's works : the opera La <unk> sanglante and the Symphony in C. Bizet 's work on the Gounod symphony inspired him , shortly after his seventeenth birthday , to write his own symphony , which bore a close resemblance to Gounod 's — note for note in some passages . Bizet 's symphony was subsequently lost , rediscovered in 1933 and finally performed in 1935 . 
