thin the church interpolates shouts of "Alleluia!" and the
song swells until the gates of sound fly wide open and we forget the
theatre in a fervor of religious devotion. Only the critic in his study
ought here to think of the parallel scene which Leoncavallo sought to
create in his opera.

Thus far the little dramatic matter that has been introduced is wholly
expository; yet we are already near the middle of the score. All the
stage folk enter the church save Santuzza and Lucia, and to the mother
of her betrayer the maiden tells the story of her wrongs. The romance
which she sings is marked by the copious use of one of the
distinguishing devices of the veritist composers--the melodic triplet,
an efficient help for the pushing, pulsating declamation with which the
dramatic dialogue of Mascagni, Leoncavallo, and their fellows is
carried on. Lucia can do no more for the unfortunate than commend her
to the care of the Virgin. She enters the church and Turiddu comes. He
lies as to where he has been. Santuzza is quick with accusation and
reproach, but at the first sign of his anger and a hint of the
vengeance which Alfio will take she abases herself. Let him beat and
insult her, she will love and pardon though her heart break. She is in
the extremity of agony and anguish when Lola is heard trolling a
careless song:--

[figure: musical example setting the word "Fior di giaggiolo . . gli
angeli belli stanno a mille in cielo . . ."]

She is about to begin a second stanza when she enters and sees the
pair. She stops with an exclamation. She says she is seeking Alfio.
Is Turiddu not going to mass? Santuzza, significantly: "It is Easter
and the Lord sees all things! None but the blameless should go to
mass." But Lola will go, and so will Turiddu. Scorning Santuzza's
pleadings and at last hurling her to the ground, he rushes into the
church. She shouts after him a threat of Easter vengeance and fate
sends the agent to her in the very moment. Alfio comes and Santuzza
tells him that Turiddu has cuckolded him and Lola has robbed her of her
lover:--

Turiddu mi tolse, mi tolse l'onore,
E vostra moglie lui rapiva a me!

[figure: musical example setting the above words]

The oncoming waves of the drama's pathos have risen to a supreme
height, their crests have broken, and the wind-blown spume drenches the
soul of the listeners; but the composer has not departed from the first
principle of the master of whom, for a ti