“In this place,” said he, “Rossini ought to have expressed the deepest grief, and I find on the contrary an airy movement, a tone of ill-timed cheerfulness.”

“You are right,” said she.  “This mistake is the result of a tyrannous custom which composers are expected to obey.  He was thinking more of his prima donna than of Elcia when he wrote that stretto.  But this evening, even if la Tinti had been more brilliant than ever, I could throw myself so completely into the situation, that the passage, lively as it is, is to me full of sadness.”

The physician looked attentively from the Prince to the Duchess, but could not guess the reason that held them apart, and that made this duet seem to them so heartrending.

“Now comes a magnificent thing, the scheming of Pharaoh against the Hebrews.  The great aria ’A rispettarmi apprenda’ (Learn to respect me) is a triumph for Carthagenova, who will express superbly the offended pride and the duplicity of a sovereign.  The Throne will speak.  He will withdraw the concessions that have been made, he arms himself in wrath.  Pharaoh rises to his feet to clutch the prey that is escaping.

“Rossini never wrote anything grander in style, or stamped with more living and irresistible energy.  It is a consummate work, supported by an accompaniment of marvelous orchestration, as indeed is every portion of this opera.  The vigor of youth illumines the smallest details.”

The whole house applauded this noble movement, which was admirably rendered by the singer, and thoroughly appreciated by the Venetians.

“In the finale,” said the Duchess, “you hear a repetition of the march, expressive of the joy of deliverance and of faith in God, who allows His people to rush off gleefully to wander in the Desert!  What lungs but would be refreshed by the aspirations of a whole nation freed from slavery.

“Oh, beloved and living melodies!  Glory to the great genius who has known how to give utterance to such feelings!  There is something essentially warlike in that march, proclaiming that the God of armies is on the side of these people.  How full of feeling are these strains of thanksgiving!  The imagery of the Bible rises up in our mind; this glorious musical scena enables us to realize one of the grandest dramas of that ancient and solemn world.  The religious form given to some of the voice parts, and the way in which they come in, one by one, to group with the others, express all we have ever imagined of the sacred marvels of that early age of humanity.

“And yet this fine concerted piece is no more than a development of the theme of the march into all its musical outcome.  That theme is the inspiring element alike for the orchestra and the voices, for the air, and for the brilliant instrumentation that supports it.

“Elcia now comes to join the crowd; and to give shade to the rejoicing spirit of this number, Rossini has made her utter her regrets.  Listen to her duettino with Amenofi.  Did blighted love ever express itself in lovelier song?  It is full of the grace of a notturno, of the secret grief of hopeless love.  How sad! how sad!  The Desert will indeed be a desert to her!