que aria ("Toreador attento"), in which
Escamillo describes the bull-fight. A beautifully written quintet
("Abbiamo in vista"), and a strongly dramatic duet, beginning with
another fascinating dance tempo ("Voglio danzar pel tuo piacer"), and
including a beautiful pathetic melody for Don Jose ("Il fior che
avevi"), closes the music of the act.

The third act contains two very striking numbers, the terzetto of the
card-players in the smugglers' haunt ("Mischiam! alziam!"), and
Michaela's aria ("Io dico no, non son paurosa"), the most effective
and beautiful number in the whole work, and the one which shows most
clearly the effect of Wagner's influence upon the composer. In the
finale of the act the Toreador's song is again heard as he disappears
in the distance after the quarrel with Don Jose.

The last act is a hurly-burly of the bull-fight, the Toreador's taking
march, the stormy duet between Don Jose and Carmen, and the tragic
denouement in which the Carmen motive is repeated. The color of the
whole work is Spanish, and the dance tempo is freely used and
beautifully worked up with Bizet's ingenious and scholarly
instrumentation. Except in the third act, however, the vocal parts are
inferior to the orchestral treatment.

BOIELDIEU.

Francois Adrien Boieldieu was born Dec. 16, 1775, at Rouen, France.
Little is known of his earlier life, except that he studied for a time
with Broche, the cathedral organist. His first opera, "La Fille
Coupable," appeared in 1793, and was performed at Rouen with some
success. In 1795 a second opera, "Rosalie et Myrza," was performed in
the same city; after which he went to Paris, where he became
acquainted with many prominent musicians, among them Cherubini. His
first Paris opera was the "Famille Suisse" (1797), which had a
successful run. Several other operas followed, besides some excellent
pieces of chamber music which secured him the professorship of the
piano in the Conservatory. He also took lessons at this time of
Cherubini in counterpoint, and in 1803 brought out a very successful
work, "Ma Tante Aurore." We next hear of him in St. Petersburg, as
conductor of the Imperial Opera, where he composed many operas and
vaudevilles. He spent eight years in Russia, returning to Paris in
1811. The next year one of his best operas, "Jean de Paris," was
produced with extraordinary success. Though he subsequently wrote many
operas, fourteen years elapsed before his next great work, "