at the opening of the act by Isabella, and the second the world-famous aria “Roberto, o tu che adoro,” better known by the French words ("Robert! toi que j’aime").  The closing act is specially remarkable for the great terzetto in its finale, which is one of the most effective numbers Meyerbeer has written.  The judgment of Hanslick, the great Viennese critic, upon this work is interesting in this connection.  He compares it with “William Tell” and “Masaniello,” and finds that in musical richness and blended effects it is superior to either, but that a single act of either of the works mentioned contains more artistic truth and ideal form than “Robert le Diable,”—­a judgment which is largely based upon the libretto itself, which he condemns without stint.

DINORAH

“Dinorah,” an opera in three acts, founded upon a Breton idyl, words by Barbiere and Carre, was first produced at the Opera Comique, Paris, April 4, 1859, under the title of “Le Pardon de Ploermel.”  It contains but three principal characters, and these were cast as follows:  Dinorah, Mme. Cabel; Corentin, M. Sainte-Foy; and Hoeel, M. Faure.  On the 26th of July, 1859, Meyerbeer conducted the work himself at Covent Garden, London, with Mme. Miolan-Carvalho as Dinorah, and it was also produced in the same year in English by the Pyne-Harrison troupe.  The first representative of Dinorah in this country was Mlle. Cordier.

The scene of the opera is laid in Brittany, and when the first act opens, the following events are supposed to have transpired.  On one of the days set apart by the villagers of Ploermel for a pilgrimage to the shrine of the Virgin, Hoeel, the goatherd, and Dinorah, his affianced, set out to receive a nuptial benediction.  The festivity is interrupted by a thunder-storm, during which Les Herbiers, the dwelling-place of Dinorah, is destroyed by lightning.  Dinorah is in despair.  Hoeel determines to make good the loss, and upon the advice of Tonick, an old wizard, resolves to go in quest of a treasure which is under the care of the Korigans, a supernatural folk belonging to Brittany.  In order to wrest it from them, however, it is necessary for Hoeel to quit the country and spend a year in solitude in a desolate region.  He bravely starts off, and Dinorah, thinking he has abandoned her, loses her wits, and constantly wanders about the woods with her goat, seeking him.  Meanwhile the year expires and Hoeel returns, convinced that he has the secret for securing the treasure.

The overture to the work is unique among operatic overtures, as it has a chorus behind the curtain interwoven with it.  It is a picture of the opera itself, and contains a will-o’-the-wisp passage, a rustic song with accompaniment of goat-bells, a storm, and in the midst of the storm a chant to the Virgin, sung by the unseen chorus, and then a Pilgrimage march, the whole being in the nature of a retrospect.