French composers played an important role during the music of the 19th and early 20th century, which is considered to be the Romantic music era. Romantic music emphasised a surrender to nature, a fascination with the past and the supernatural, the exploration of unusual, strange and surprising sounds, and a focus on national identity. This period was also a golden age for operas. French composers from the Romantic era included: Hector Berlioz (best known for his ''Symphonie fantastique''), Georges Bizet (best known for ''Carmen'', which has become one of the most popular and frequently performed operas), Gabriel Fauré (best known for his ''Pavane'', ''Requiem'', and ''nocturnes''), Charles Gounod (best known for his ''Ave Maria'' and his opera ''Faust''), Jacques Offenbach (best known for his 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera ''The Tales of Hoffmann''), Édouard Lalo (best known for his ''Symphonie espagnole'' for violin and orchestra and his Cello Concerto in D minor), Jules Massenet (best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty, the most frequently staged are ''Manon'' (1884) and ''Werther'' (1892)) and Camille Saint-Saëns (he has many frequently-performed works, including ''The Carnival of the Animals'', ''Danse macabre'', ''Samson and Delilah'' (Opera), ''Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso'' and his Symphony No. 3).