The second act opens with the celebration of the Passover in Eleazar’s house, and introduces a very solemn and impressive prayer ("Allmaecht’ger blicke gnaedig").  In the next scene there is a passionate ensemble and duet for Eudoxia and Leopold ("Ich will ihn seh’n"), which is followed by a second spirited duet between Rachel and Leopold ("Als mein Herz"); an intensely dramatic aria ("Ach!  Vater!  Halt ein!"), in which she claims her share of Leopold’s guilt; and the final grand trio of anathema pronounced by Eleazar.

The third act is principally devoted to the festivities of the royal pageants, and closes with the anathema of the Cardinal ("Ihr, die ihr Gottes Zorn"), which is a concerted number of magnificent power and spirited dramatic effect.  The fourth act contains a grand duet between Eleazar and the Cardinal ("Hoert ich recht?"), and closes with one of the most powerful scenas ever written for tenor ("Das Todesurtheil sprich"), in which Eleazar welcomes death and hurls defiance at the Christians.  The last act is occupied with the tragic denouement, which affords splendid opportunities for action, and is accompanied by very dramatic music to the close, often rising to real sublimity.  In the pageantry of the stage, in the expression of high and passionate sentiment, in elaborateness of treatment, and in broad and powerful dramatic effect, “The Jewess” is one of the strongest operas in the modern repertory.

HUMPERDINCK.

Engelbert Humperdinck, the latest star in the German musical firmament, was born, Sept. 1, 1854, at Siegburg on the Rhine, and received his earliest musical training at the Cologne Conservatory.  He made such rapid progress in his studies, showing special proficiency in composition, that he carried off in succession the three prizes of the Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Meyerbeer stipends.  These enabled him to continue his lessons at Munich, and afterwards in Italy.  While in Naples, in 1880, he attracted the attention of Richard Wagner as a rising genius, and two years later had the honor of an invitation to go to Venice as his guest, upon the occasion of the performance of Wagner’s only symphony.  In 1885 he went to Barcelona, Spain, where he taught composition, and was the director of a quartette at the Royal Conservatory for two years.  In 1887 he returned to Cologne, and since 1890 has been identified with a Conservatory at Frankfort-on-the-Main.  In addition to the opera “Hansel and Gretel,” which has given him a world-wide fame, he produced, a few years ago, a chorus ballad, “Das Glueck von Edenhall,” and a cantata, “Die Wallfahrt nach Kevelaar,” based upon Heine’s poem, and scored for soloists, chorus, and orchestra.  He has also written several songs and piano pieces, and, it is now reported, is engaged upon a dramatic composition called “The Royal Children.”  He is regarded in Germany as the one composer who gives promise of continuing and developing the scheme of the music-drama as it was propounded by Wagner.