The last act has an instrumental prelude foreshadowing the Hunters’ Chorus.  It opens with a graceful but somewhat melancholy aria of a religious character ("Und ob die Wolke sie verhuelle"), sung by Agatha, in which she is still wavering between doubt and hope, and succeeded by another of Annchen’s arias, beginning with the gloomy romance, “Einst traumte meiner sel’gen Base,” and closing with a lively allegro ("Truebe Augen, Liebchen"), which is intended to encourage her sad mistress.  Then the bridesmaids sing their lively chorus, “Wir winden dir den Jungfern-Kranz,” so well known by its English title, “A rosy Crown we twine for Thee.”  The pretty little number is followed by the Hunters’ Chorus, “Was gleicht wohl auf Erden dem Jaegervergnuegen,” which is a universal favorite.  It leads up to a strong dramatic finale, crowded with striking musical ideas, and containing Agatha’s beautiful melody in the closing chorus.

Few operas have had such world-wide popularity as “Der Freischuetz,” and yet it is an essentially German product.  The composer’s son has aptly characterized it, in his Biography of his father:  “Weber did not compose ‘Der Freischuetz;’ he allowed it to grow out of the rich soil of his brave German heart, and to expand leaf by leaf, blossom by blossom, fostered by the hand of his talent; and thus no German looks upon the opera as a work of art which appeals to him from without.  He feels as if every line of the work came from his own heart, as if he himself had dreamed it so, and it could no more sound otherwise than the rustling of an honest German beech-wood.”

OBERON.

“Oberon, or the Elf King’s Oath,” a romantic and fairy opera in three acts, words by J.R.  Planche, was first produced at Covent Garden, London, April 12, 1826, in English.  Its first Italian performance was given in the same city, July 3, 1860, the recitatives being supplied by Benedict, who also added several numbers from “Euryanthe.”  The original cast was as follows:—­

REIZA        Miss PATON. 
FATIMA       Mme. VESTRIS. 
PUCK         Miss CAWSE. 
HUON         Mr. BRAHAM. 
OBERON       Mr. BLAND. 
SHERASMIN    Mr. FAWCETT. 
MERMAID      Miss GOWNELL.

The librettist, Planche, in a tribute to Weber, gives the origin of the story of “Oberon.”  It appeared originally in a famous collection of French romances, “La Bibliotheque Bleue,” under the title of “Huon of Bordeaux.”  The German poet Wieland adopted the principal incidents of the story as the basis of his poem, “Oberon,” and Sotheby’s translation of it was used in the preparation of the text.  The original sketch of the action, as furnished by Planche, is as follows:—­