promises to restore everything if he will visit the ruined Abbey of St. Rosalie, and carry away a mystic branch which has the power of conferring wealth, happiness, and immortality.  He consents; and in the next scene Bertram pronounces the incantation which calls up the buried nuns.  Dazed with their ghostly fascinations, Robert seizes the branch and flies.  His first use of it is to enter the apartments of Isabella, unseen by her or her attendants, all of whom become immovable in the presence of the mystic talisman.  He declares his intention of carrying her away; but moved by her entreaties he breaks the branch, which destroys the charm.  In the last act Bertram is at his side again, trying to induce him to sign the fatal compact.  The strains of sacred music which he hears, and the recollections of his mother, restrain him.  In desperation Bertram announces himself as his fiend-father.  He is about to yield, when Alice appears and reads to him his mother’s warning against the fiend’s temptation.  As he still hesitates, the clock strikes, and the spell is over.  Bertram disappears, and the scene changes to the cathedral, where Isabella in her wedding robes awaits the saved Robert.

From the musical point of view “Robert le Diable” is interesting, as it marks the beginning of a new school of grand opera.  With this work, Meyerbeer abandoned the school of Rossini and took an independent course.  He cut loose from the conventional classic forms and gave the world dramatic music, melodies of extraordinary dramatic force, brilliant orchestration, stately pageants, and theatrical effects.  “Robert le Diable” was the first of the subsequent great works from his pen which still further emphasized his new and independent departure.  It is only necessary to call attention to a few prominent numbers, for this opera has not as many instances of these characteristics as those which followed and which are elsewhere described.  The first act contains the opening bacchanalian chorus ("Versiamo a tazza plena"), which is very brilliant in character; the minstrel’s song in the same scene ("Regnava un tempo in Normandia"), with choral accompaniment; and a very tender aria for Alice ("Vanne, disse, al figlio mio"), in which she delivers his mother’s message to Robert.  The second act opens with a spirited duet between Bertram and Raimbaut, leading up to a powerful and characteristic chorus of the evil spirits ("Demoni fatali").  An aria for Alice ("Nel lasciar in Normandia"), a duet between Bertram and Alice ("Trionfo bramato"), and an intensely dramatic trio between Bertram, Alice, and Robert ("Lo sguardo immobile"), prepare the way for the great scena of the nuns, known as “La Temptation,” in which Meyerbeer illustrates the fantastic and oftentimes ludicrous scene with music which is the very essence of diabolism, and in its way as unique as the incantation music in “Der Freischutz.”  The third act contains two great arias.  The first ("Invano il fato"), sung