f students, soldiers, old men, girls, and matrons are
quaintly contrasted, and are full of animation and characteristic
color. In the second, Valentin sings a tender song ("O santa
medaglia") to a medallion of his sister which he wears as a charm. It
is followed by a grim and weird drinking-song ("Dio dell' or"), sung
by Mephistopheles. The latter then strikes fire from the fountain into
his cup, and proposes the health of Marguerite. Valentin springs
forward to resent the insult, only to find his sword broken in his
hands. The students and soldiers recognize the spirit of evil, and
overcome him by presenting the hilts of their swords in the form of a
cross, the scene being accompanied by one of the most effective
choruses in the work ("Tu puvi la spada"). The tempter gone, the scene
resumes its gayety, and the act closes with one of the most animated
and delightful of waltz tempos ("Come la brezza").

The third act is the Garden scene, full of fascinating detail, and
breathes the very spirit of poetry and music combined in a picture of
love which has never been excelled in tenderness and beauty on the
operatic stage. Its principal numbers are a short and simple but very
beautiful ballad for Siebel ("La parlate d'amor"); a passionate aria
for tenor ("Salve dimora casta e pura"), in which Faust greets
Marguerite's dwelling; a double number, which is superb in its
contrasts,--the folk-song, "C'era un re di Thule," a plaintive little
ballad sung at the spinning-wheel by Marguerite, and the bravura
jewel-song, "Ah! e' strano poter," which is the very essence of
delicacy and almost-childish glee; the quartet commencing,
"V'appogiato al bracchio mio," which is of striking interest by the
independent manner in which the two pairs of voices are treated and
combined in the close; and the closing duet ("Sempre amar") between
Faust and Marguerite, which is replete with tenderness and passion,
and closes in strains of almost ecstatic rapture, the fatal end of
which is foreshadowed by the mocking laugh of Mephistopheles breaking
in upon its lingering cadences.

The fourth act is known as the Cathedral act, and established Gounod's
reputation as a writer of serious music. It opens with a scena for
Marguerite, who has been taunted by the girls at the fountain
("Nascose eran la le crudeli "), in which she laments her sad fate.
The scene abruptly changes to the square in front of the cathedral,
where the soldiers, Valentin among them,