The opera Genoveva evokes a medieval legend, and is somewhat of a rarity, with the Overture often played alone. Heavily influenced by Wagner, the music sets the mood for the rather dark and gloomy story that follows. Berlioz's setting of six poems by Théophile Gautier consider love from different angles, principally the loss of love. Coming at a time when his marriage to the actress Harriet Smithson was all but over, the music seems to echo his sense of the loss of his youthful dreams.