She asks and obtains the jailer’s permission to visit with him the cells in which political prisoners are kept—­all but one, in which is confined one who is either a great criminal or a man with powerful enemies ("much the same thing,” comments Rocco).  Of him even the jailer knows nothing, having resolutely declined to hear his story.  However, his sufferings cannot last much longer, for by Pizarro’s orders his rations are being reduced daily; he has been all but deprived of light, and even the straw which had served as a couch has been taken from him.  And how long has he been imprisoned?  Over two years.  “Two years!” Leonore almost loses control of her feelings.  Now she urges that she must help the jailer wait upon him.  “I have strength and courage.”  The old man is won over.  He will ask the governor for permission to take Fidelio with him to the secret cells, for he is growing old, and death will soon claim him.  The dramatic nerve has been touched with the first allusion to the mysterious prisoner who is being slowly tortured to death, and it is thrilling to note how Beethoven’s genius (so often said to be purely epical) responds.  In the trio which follows, the dialogue which has been outlined first intones a motif which speaks merely of complacency:—­

[Musical excerpt—­“Gut, Sohnchen, gut hab’ immer”]

No sooner does it reach the lips of Leonore, however, than it becomes the utterance of proud resolve:—­

[Musical excerpt—­“Ich habe Muth!”]

and out of it grows a hymn of heroic daring.  Marcellina’s utterances are all concerned with herself, with an admixture of solicitude for her father, whose lugubrious reflections on his own impending dissolution are gloomily echoed in the music:—­

[Musical excerpt—­“Ich bin ja bald des Grabes Beute”]

A march accompanies the entrance of Pizarro. {2} Pizarro receives his despatches from Rocco, and from one of the letters learns that the Minister of Justice, having been informed that several victims of arbitrary power are confined in the prisons of which he is governor, is about to set out upon a tour of inspection.  Such a visit might disclose the wrong done to Florestan, who is the Minister’s friend and believed by him to be dead, and Pizarro resolves to shield himself against the consequences of such a discovery by compassing his death.  He publishes his resolution in a furious air, “Ha! welch’ ein Augenblick!” in which he gloats over the culmination of his revenge upon his ancient enemy.  It is a terrible outpouring of bloodthirsty rage, and I have yet to hear the singer who can cope with its awful accents.  Here, surely, Beethoven asks more of the human voice than it is capable of giving.  Quick action is necessary.  The officer of the guard is ordered to post a trumpeter in the watch-tower, with instructions to give a signal the moment a carriage with outriders is seen approaching from Seville.  Rocco is summoned, and Pizarro, praising his courage and fidelity to duty, gives him a purse as earnest of riches which are to follow obedience.  The old man is ready enough until he learns that what is expected of him is