own son; in this mood he is exactly like his father. What hideous glee
we hear in Bertram's words: '_Je ris de tes coups_!' And how perfectly
the Venetian _barcarole_ comes in here. Through what wonderful
transitions the diabolical parent is brought on to the stage once more
to make Robert throw the dice.

"This first act is overwhelming to any one capable of working out the
subjects in his very heart, and lending them the breadth of development
which the composer intended them to call forth.

"Nothing but love could now be contrasted with this noble symphony of
song, in which you will detect no monotony, no repetitions of means and
effects. It is one, but many; the characteristic of all that is truly
great and natural.

"I breathe more freely; I find myself in the elegant circle of a gallant
court; I hear Isabella's charming phrases, fresh, but almost melancholy,
and the female chorus in two divisions, and in _imitation_, with a
suggestion of the Moorish coloring of Spain. Here the terrifying music
is softened to gentler hues, like a storm dying away, and ends in the
florid prettiness of a duet wholly unlike anything that has come before
it. After the turmoil of a camp full of errant heroes, we have a picture
of love. Poet! I thank thee! My heart could not have borne much more. If
I could not here and there pluck the daisies of a French light opera, if
I could not hear the gentle wit of a woman able to love and to charm,
I could not endure the terrible deep note on which Bertram comes in,
saying to his son: '_Si je la permets_!' when Robert had promised the
princess he adores that he will conquer with the arms she has bestowed
on him.

"The hopes of the gambler cured by love, the love of a most beautiful
woman,--did you observe that magnificent Sicilian, with her hawk's eye
secure of her prey? (What interpreters that composer has found!) the
hopes of the man are mocked at by the hopes of hell in the tremendous
cry: '_A toi, Robert de Normandie_!'

"And are not you struck by the gloom and horror of those long-held
notes, to which the words are set: '_Dans la foret prochaine_'? We find
here all the sinister spells of _Jerusalem Delivered_, just as we find
all chivalry in the chorus with the Spanish lilt, and in the march tune.
How original is the _alegro_ with the modulations of the four cymbals
(tuned to C, D, C, G)! How elegant is the call to the lists! The whole
movement of the heroic life of the period is there