21 years, to find the house empty and the applause lukewarm. But the
true connoisseur of music ought not to be influenced by public opinion,
for though the action does not warm the hearer, the music is at once
divinely sweet and harmonious; no wild excitement, no ecstatic
feelings, but music pure and simple, filling the soul with sweet
content.

The scene takes place in Cydonia, on the isle of Crete soon after the
end of the Trojan war.--

In the first act Ilia, daughter of Priam, bewails her unhappy fate, but
won by the magnanimity of Idamantes, son of Idomeneus, King of Crete,
who relieves the captive Trojans from their fetters, she begins to love
him, much against her own will. Electra, daughter of Agamemnon, who
also loves Idamantes perceives with fury his predilection for the
captive princess and endeavours to regain his heart.

Arbaces, the High-Priest enters, to announce that Idomeneus has
perished at sea in a tempest. All bewail this misfortune and hasten to
the strand to pray to the gods for safety.

{143}

But Idomeneus is not dead. Poseidon, whose help he invoked in his
direst need, has saved him, Idomeneus vowing to sacrifice to the God
the first mortal whom he should encounter on landing.--Unfortunately it
is his own son, who comes to the strand to mourn for his beloved
father.--Idomeneus, having been absent during the siege of Troy for ten
years, at first fails to recognize his son. But when the truth dawns
on both, the son's joy is as great as the father's misery. Terrified
the latter turns from the aggrieved and bewildered Idamantes.
Meanwhile the King's escort has also safely landed and all thank
Poseidon for their delivery.

In the second act Idomeneus takes counsel with Arbaces, and resolves to
send his son away, in order to save him from the impending evil. The
King speaks to Ilia, whose love for Idamantes he soon divines. This
only adds to his poignant distress.--Electra, hearing that she is to
accompany Idamantes to Argos is radiant, hoping that her former lover
may then forget Ilia. They take a tender farewell from Idomeneus, but
just when they are about to embark, a dreadful tempest arises, and a
monster emerges from the waves, filling all present with awe and terror.

In the third act Idamantes seeks Ilia to bid her farewell. Not
anticipating the reason of his father's grief, which he takes for hate,
he is resolved to die for his country, by either vanquishing the
dreadful mo