rits ("Demoni fatali"). An aria for Alice ("Nel lasciar in
Normandia"), a duet between Bertram and Alice ("Trionfo bramato"), and
an intensely dramatic trio between Bertram, Alice, and Robert ("Lo
sguardo immobile"), prepare the way for the great scena of the nuns,
known as "La Temptation," in which Meyerbeer illustrates the fantastic
and oftentimes ludicrous scene with music which is the very essence of
diabolism, and in its way as unique as the incantation music in "Der
Freischutz." The third act contains two great arias. The first
("Invano il fato"), sung at the opening of the act by Isabella, and
the second the world-famous aria "Roberto, o tu che adoro," better
known by the French words ("Robert! toi que j'aime"). The closing act
is specially remarkable for the great terzetto in its finale, which is
one of the most effective numbers Meyerbeer has written. The judgment
of Hanslick, the great Viennese critic, upon this work is interesting
in this connection. He compares it with "William Tell" and
"Masaniello," and finds that in musical richness and blended effects
it is superior to either, but that a single act of either of the works
mentioned contains more artistic truth and ideal form than "Robert le
Diable,"--a judgment which is largely based upon the libretto itself,
which he condemns without stint.

DINORAH

"Dinorah," an opera in three acts, founded upon a Breton idyl, words
by Barbiere and Carre, was first produced at the Opera Comique, Paris,
April 4, 1859, under the title of "Le Pardon de Ploermel." It contains
but three principal characters, and these were cast as follows:
Dinorah, Mme. Cabel; Corentin, M. Sainte-Foy; and Hoeel, M. Faure. On
the 26th of July, 1859, Meyerbeer conducted the work himself at Covent
Garden, London, with Mme. Miolan-Carvalho as Dinorah, and it was also
produced in the same year in English by the Pyne-Harrison troupe. The
first representative of Dinorah in this country was Mlle. Cordier.

The scene of the opera is laid in Brittany, and when the first act
opens, the following events are supposed to have transpired. On one of
the days set apart by the villagers of Ploermel for a pilgrimage to
the shrine of the Virgin, Hoeel, the goatherd, and Dinorah, his
affianced, set out to receive a nuptial benediction. The festivity is
interrupted by a thunder-storm, during which Les Herbiers, the
dwelling-place of Dinorah, is destroyed by lightning. Dinorah is in
despair. Hoeel determines