a touch of tender color to this gloomy opening.

"Then comes the wonderful air in C major, supported by the chorus in C
minor, so expressive of the subject. '_Je suis Robert_!' he immediately
breaks out. The wrath of the prince, insulted by his vassal, is already
more than natural anger; but it will die away, for memories of his
childhood come to him, with Alice, in the bright and graceful _allegro_
in A major.

"Can you not hear the cries of the innocent dragged into this infernal
drama,--a persecuted creature? '_Non, non_,'" sang Gambara, who made the
consumptive piano sing. "His native land and tender emotions have come
back to him; his childhood and its memories have blossomed anew in
Robert's heart. And now his mother's shade rises up, bringing with it
soothing religious thoughts. It is religion that lives in that beautiful
song in E major, with its wonderful harmonic and melodic progression in
the words:

"Car dans les cieux, comme sur la terre,
Sa mere va prier pour lui.

"Here the struggle begins between the unseen powers and the only human
being who has the fire of hell in his veins to enable him to resist
them; and to make this quite clear, as Bertram comes on, the great
musician has given the orchestra a passage introducing a reminiscence of
Raimbaut's ballad. What a stroke of art! What cohesion of all the parts!
What solidity of structure!

"The devil is there, in hiding, but restless. The conflict of the
antagonistic powers opens with Alice's terror; she recognizes the devil
of the image of Saint Michael in her village. The musical subject
is worked out through an endless variety of phases. The antithesis
indispensable in opera is emphatically presented in a noble
_recitative_, such as a Gluck might have composed, between Bertram and
Robert:

"Tu se sauras jamais a quel exces je t'aime.

"In that diabolical C minor, Bertram, with his terrible bass, begins his
work of undermining which will overthrow every effort of the vehement,
passionate man.

"Here, everything is appalling. Will the crime get possession of the
criminal? Will the executioner seize his victim? Will sorrow consume
the artist's genius? Will the disease kill the patient? or, will the
guardian angel save the Christian?

"Then comes the _finale_, the gambling scene in which Bertram tortures
his son by rousing him to tremendous emotions. Robert, beggared,
frenzied, searching everything, eager for blood, fire, and sword, is his