h in God, who
allows His people to rush off gleefully to wander in the Desert! What
lungs but would be refreshed by the aspirations of a whole nation freed
from slavery.

"Oh, beloved and living melodies! Glory to the great genius who has
known how to give utterance to such feelings! There is something
essentially warlike in that march, proclaiming that the God of armies
is on the side of these people. How full of feeling are these strains
of thanksgiving! The imagery of the Bible rises up in our mind; this
glorious musical _scena_ enables us to realize one of the grandest
dramas of that ancient and solemn world. The religious form given to
some of the voice parts, and the way in which they come in, one by
one, to group with the others, express all we have ever imagined of the
sacred marvels of that early age of humanity.

"And yet this fine concerted piece is no more than a development of
the theme of the march into all its musical outcome. That theme is the
inspiring element alike for the orchestra and the voices, for the air,
and for the brilliant instrumentation that supports it.

"Elcia now comes to join the crowd; and to give shade to the rejoicing
spirit of this number, Rossini has made her utter her regrets. Listen
to her _duettino_ with Amenofi. Did blighted love ever express itself
in lovelier song? It is full of the grace of a _notturno_, of the secret
grief of hopeless love. How sad! how sad! The Desert will indeed be a
desert to her!

"After this comes the fierce conflict of the Egyptians and the Hebrews.
All their joy is spoiled, their march stopped by the arrival of the
Egyptians. Pharaoh's edict is proclaimed in a musical phrase, hollow and
dread, which is the leading _motif_ of the _finale_; we could fancy that
we hear the tramp of the great Egyptian army, surrounding the sacred
phalanx of the true God, curling round it, like a long African serpent
enveloping its prey. But how beautiful is the lament of the duped and
disappointed Hebrews! Though, in truth, it is more Italian than Hebrew.
What a superb passage introduces Pharaoh's arrival, when his presence
brings the two leaders face to face, and all the moving passions of the
drama. The conflict of sentiments in that sublime _ottetto_, where the
wrath of Moses meets that of the two Pharaohs, is admirable. What a
medley of voices and of unchained furies!

"No grander subject was ever wrought out by a composer. The famous
_finale_ of _Don Giovanni_