iscovered the fraud practised upon him. The music is a delightful
example of Rossini in his gayest and merriest mood. It sparkles with wit
and fancy, and is happily free from those concessions to the vanity or
idiosyncrasy of individual singers which do so much to render his music
tedious to modern ears. Of Rossini's lighter works, 'Il Barbiere' is
certainly the most popular, though, musically speaking, it is perhaps
not superior to 'La Gazza Ladra,' which, however, is saddled with an
idiotic libretto. None of his tragic operas except 'Guillaume Tell,'
which belongs to a later period, have retained their hold upon the
affections of the public. Nevertheless there is so much excellent music
in the best of them, that it would not be strange if the course of time
should bring them once more into favour, provided always that singers
were forthcoming capable of singing the elaborate _fioriture_ with which
they abound. Perhaps the finest of the serious operas of Rossini's
Italian period is 'Semiramide' a work which is especially interesting as
a proof of the strong influence which Mozart exercised upon him. The
plot is a Babylonian version of the story of Agamemnon, telling of the
vengeance taken by Arsaces, the son of Ninus and Semiramis, upon his
guilty mother, who, with the help of her paramour Assur, had slain her
husband. Much of the music is exceedingly powerful, notably that which
accompanies the apparition of the ghost of Ninus (although this is
evidently inspired by 'Don Giovanni'), and the passionate scene in which
the conscience-stricken Assur pours forth his soul in tempest. More
thoroughly Italian in type is 'Mose in Egitto,' a curious though
effective version of the Biblical story, which is still occasionally
performed as an oratorio in this country, a proceeding which naturally
gives little idea of its real merits. In 1833 it was actually given
under the proper conditions, as a sacred opera, strengthened by a
generous infusion of Handel's 'Israel in Egypt,' under the direction of
Mr. Rophino Lacy. It would be an idle task to give even the names of
Rossini's many operas. Suffice it to say that between 1810 and 1828 he
produced upwards of forty distinct works. In 1829 came his last and
greatest work, 'Guillaume Tell,' which was written for the Grand Opera
in Paris. The libretto was the work of many hands, and Rossini's own
share in it was not a small one. It follows Schiller with tolerable
closeness. In the first ac