AUBE, a department of France, bounded on the N. by the department of Marne, N.W. by Seine-et-Marne, W....

AUBENAS, a town of France, department of Ardèche, near the river of that name, 14 miles S.W. of Privas. It is beautifully situated on the slope of a hill, but its streets generally are crooked and narrow. It is surrounded by a ruinous wall flanked with towers, and has an old Gothic castle, now occupied by the municipal authorities. As the centre of the silk trade of the surrounding district, it is a place of considerable traffic, and there is besides a large local manufacture of silk and woollen goods. Population, 7694.

AUBER, Daniel FrançoisEsprit, musical composer, the chief representative of the French school, was the son of a Paris printseller. He was born at Caen, in Normandy, on the 29th January 1782, while his mother was on a visit to that town. Destined by his father to the pursuits of trade, he was allowed, nevertheless, to indulge his fondness for music, and learnt to play at an early age on several instruments, his first teacher being the Tyrolean composer, Ladurner. Sent at the age of twenty to London to complete his business training, he returned after the rupture of the peace of Amiens. He had already attempted musical composition, and at this period produced several concertos pour basse, in the manner of the violoncellist, Lamare, in whose name they were published. The praise given to his concerto for the violin, which was played at the Conservatoire by Mazas, encouraged him to undertake the resetting of the old comic opera, Julie. Conscious by this time of the need of regular study of his chosen art, he placed himself under the severe training of Cherubini, by which the special qualities of the young composer were admirably developed. In 1813 he made his début in an opera in one act, the Séjour Militaire, the unfavourable reception of which put an end for some years to his attempts as composer. But the failure in business and death of his father, in 1819, compelled him once more to turn to music, and to make that which had been his pastime the serious employment of his life. He produced another opera, the Testament et les Billets-doux, which was no better received than the former. But he persevered, and the next year was rewarded by the complete success of his Bergère Châtelaine, an opera in three acts. This was the first in a long series of brilliant successes, ...