The second act opens with a double chorus of huntsmen and shepherds ("Qual silvestre metro intorne"), which is followed by a scena preluding a charming romanza ("Selva opaco”) sung by Mathilde.  Its mild, quiet beauty is in strange contrast with the remainder of this great act.  It is followed by a passionate duet with Arnold, a second and still more passionate duet between Tell and Walter, which leads to the magnificent trio of the oath ("La gloria inflammi"), and this in turn is followed by the splendid scene of the gathering of the cantons.  For melodic and harmonic beauty combined, the spirited treatment of masses, and charm and variety of color, this great scene stands almost alone.

The last act opens with a duet between Mathilde and Arnold, which is followed in the next scene by a march and chorus as the multitude gathers in the square of Altorf, closing with a lovely Tyrolean chorus sung by the sopranos and accompanied with the dance.  The dramatic scene of the archery follows, and then Arnold has a very passionate aria ("O muto asil").  Some very vivid storm-music preluding the last scene, and the final hymn of freedom ("I boschi, i monti”) close an opera which is unquestionably Rossini’s masterpiece, and in which his musical ability reached its highest expression.  “Manly, earnest, and mighty,” Hanslick calls it; and the same authority claims that the first and second acts belong to the most beautiful achievements of the modern opera.

RUBINSTEIN.

Anton Gregor Rubinstein was born Nov. 30, 1829, at Weghwotynez in Russia.  His mother gave him lessons at the age of four, with the result that by the time he was six she was unable to teach him anything more.  He then studied the piano with Alexander Villoing, a pupil of John Field.  In 1840 he entered the Paris Conservatory, where he attracted the attention of Liszt, Chopin, and Thalberg.  He remained in that city eighteen months, and then made some professional tours, in which he met with extraordinary success.  In 1844 his parents removed to Berlin, and he was placed under Dehn, the famous contrapuntist, to study composition.  From 1846 to 1848 he taught music in Pressburg and Vienna, and then went back to Russia.  For eight years he studied and wrote in St. Petersburg, and at the end of that time had accumulated a mass of manuscripts destined to make his name famous all over Europe, while his reputation as a skilful pianist was already world-wide.  He visited England again in 1857, and the next year returned home and settled in St. Petersburg, about which time he was made Imperial Concert Director, with a life-pension.  At this period in his career he devoted himself to the cause of music in Russia.  His first great work was the foundation of the Conservatory in the above city in 1862, of which he remained principal until 1867.  He also founded the Russian Musical Society in 1861, and in 1869 was decorated by the Czar.  In 1870