The third act opens with a lovely song for Fatima ("Oh!  Araby, dear Araby"), consisting of two movements,—­an andante plaintively recalling past memories, and an allegro of exquisite taste.  The song, even detached from the opera, has always been greatly admired in concert-rooms, and, it is said, was a special favorite also with the composer.  It is followed by a duet for Sherasmin and Fatima ("On the Banks of sweet Garonne"), which is of a vivacious and comic nature in Sherasmin’s part, and then passes into a tender minor as Fatima sings.  The next number is a trio for soprano, alto, and tenor ("And must I then dissemble?"), written very much in the style of the trio in “Der Freischuetz,” and yet purely original in its effect.  Reiza follows with a smooth, flowing, and pathetic cavatina ("Mourn thou, poor Heart"), which is succeeded in marked contrast by a joyous rondo ("I revel in Hope”) sung by Sir Huon.  The next scene is that of Sir Huon’s temptation, a voluptuous passage for ballet and chorus, interrupted at intervals by the energetic exclamations of the paladin as he successfully resists the sirens.  The gay scene leads up to the finale.  Sir Huon and Reiza are bound to the stake, surrounded by slaves singing a weird chorus.  A blast from the magic horn sets them dancing, and a quartet for the four principal characters based upon the subject of the slaves’ Chorus ensues.  Oberon appears and takes his leave after transporting the whole company to the royal halls of Charlemagne.  A stirring march opens the scene, a beautiful aria by Huon follows ("Yes! even Love to Fame must yield"), and a chorus by the whole court closes the opera.

EURYANTHE.

The opera of “Euryanthe” was written for the Kaernthnerthor Theatre, Vienna, where it was first produced Oct. 25, 1823, though not with the success which afterwards greeted it in Berlin, owing to the Rossini craze with which the Austrian capital was afflicted at that time.  The libretto is by Helmine von Chezy, an eccentric old woman who proved a sad torment to the composer.  The plot, which is a curious mixture of “Cymbeline” and “Lohengrin,” was adapted from an old French romance, entitled “L’Histoire de Gerard de Nevers et de la belle et vertueuse Euryanthe, sa mie,” and is substantially as follows:—­

In the palace of King Louis of France, where a brilliant assemblage is gathered, Count Adolar sings a tribute to the beauty and virtue of Euryanthe, his betrothed.  Count Lysiart replies with a sneer, and boasts that he can gain her favor; but Adolar challenges him to bring a proof.  The scene then changes to the castle of Nevers, and discloses Euryanthe longing for Adolar.  Eglantine, who is also in love with Adolar, and who is conspiring against Euryanthe, soon joins her, and in their interview the latter rashly discloses the secret of a neighboring tomb known only to herself and Adolar.  In this tomb rests the body of Emma, Adolar’s sister, who had killed herself, and whose ghost had appeared to Euryanthe and her lover with the declaration that she can never be at peace until tears of innocence have been shed upon the ring which was the agency employed in her death.  Lysiart arrives from court with a commission to take Euryanthe to the King, while Eglantine is left behind in possession of the secret.