The fourth act is known as the Cathedral act, and established Gounod’s reputation as a writer of serious music.  It opens with a scena for Marguerite, who has been taunted by the girls at the fountain ("Nascose eran la le crudeli “), in which she laments her sad fate.  The scene abruptly changes to the square in front of the cathedral, where the soldiers, Valentin among them, are returning, to the jubilant though somewhat commonplace strains of the march, “Deponiam il branda.”  As the soldiers retire and Valentin goes in quest of Marguerite, Faust and Mephistopheles appear before the house, and the latter sings a grotesque and literally infernal serenade ("Tu, che fai l’ addormentata").  Valentin appears and a quarrel ensues, leading up to a spirited trio.  Valentin is slain, and with his dying breath pronounces a malediction ("Margherita! maledetta”) upon his sister.  The scene changes to the church, and in wonderful combination we hear the appeals of Marguerite for mercy, the taunting voice of the tempter, and the monkish chanting of the “Dies Irae” mingled with the solemn strains of the organ.

The last act is usually presented in a single scene, the Prison, but it contains five changes.  After a weird prelude, the Walpurgis revel begins, in which short, strange phrases are heard from unseen singers.  The night scene changes to a hall of pagan enchantment, and again to the Brocken, where the apparition of Marguerite is seen.  The orgy is resumed, when suddenly by another transformation we are taken to the prison where Marguerite is awaiting death.  It is unnecessary to give its details.  The scene takes the form of a terzetto, which is worked up with constantly increasing power to a climax of passionate energy, and at last dies away as Marguerite expires.  It stands almost alone among effects of this kind in opera.  The curtain falls upon a celestial chorus of apotheosis, the vision of the angels, and Mephistopheles cowering in terror before the heavenly messengers.

ROMEO AND JULIET.

“Romeo et Juliette,” a grand opera in five acts, words by Barbier and Carre, the subject taken from Shakspeare’s tragedy of the same name, was first produced at the Theatre Lyrique, Paris, April 27, 1867, with Mme. Miolan-Carvalho in the role of Juliet.  The story as told by the French dramatists in the main follows Shakspeare’s tragedy very closely in its construction as well as in its dialogue.  It is only necessary, therefore, to sketch its outlines.  The first act opens with the festival at the house of Capulet.  Juliet and Romeo meet there and fall in love, notwithstanding her betrothal to Paris.  The hot-blooded Tybalt seeks to provoke a quarrel with Romeo, but is restrained by Capulet himself, and the act comes to a close with a resumption of the merry festivities.  In the second act we have the balcony scene, quite literally taken from Shakspeare, with an episode, however, in the form of a temporary