ia by Huon follows
("Yes! even Love to Fame must yield"), and a chorus by the whole court
closes the opera.

EURYANTHE.

The opera of "Euryanthe" was written for the Kaernthnerthor Theatre,
Vienna, where it was first produced Oct. 25, 1823, though not with the
success which afterwards greeted it in Berlin, owing to the Rossini
craze with which the Austrian capital was afflicted at that time. The
libretto is by Helmine von Chezy, an eccentric old woman who proved a
sad torment to the composer. The plot, which is a curious mixture of
"Cymbeline" and "Lohengrin," was adapted from an old French romance,
entitled "L'Histoire de Gerard de Nevers et de la belle et vertueuse
Euryanthe, sa mie," and is substantially as follows:--

In the palace of King Louis of France, where a brilliant assemblage is
gathered, Count Adolar sings a tribute to the beauty and virtue of
Euryanthe, his betrothed. Count Lysiart replies with a sneer, and
boasts that he can gain her favor; but Adolar challenges him to bring
a proof. The scene then changes to the castle of Nevers, and discloses
Euryanthe longing for Adolar. Eglantine, who is also in love with
Adolar, and who is conspiring against Euryanthe, soon joins her, and
in their interview the latter rashly discloses the secret of a
neighboring tomb known only to herself and Adolar. In this tomb rests
the body of Emma, Adolar's sister, who had killed herself, and whose
ghost had appeared to Euryanthe and her lover with the declaration
that she can never be at peace until tears of innocence have been shed
upon the ring which was the agency employed in her death. Lysiart
arrives from court with a commission to take Euryanthe to the King,
while Eglantine is left behind in possession of the secret.

In the second act Lysiart deplores his failure to obtain the favor of
Euryanthe; but his hopes are renewed when he meets Eglantine emerging
from the tomb with the ring, and learns from her that it can be made
to convict Euryanthe of indiscretion, or at least of breaking her
promise not to reveal the tomb secret. He obtains the ring, confronts
Euryanthe with it at the palace, and forces her to admit the broken
promise. Adolar, believing that she is guilty, drags her away to a
wilderness where it is his intention to kill her; but on the way they
are attacked by a serpent. Adolar slays the monster, and then, seized
with sudden pity, he abandons his intention of killing her, but leaves
her to her fate. S