to them, had by degrees glowed
with fire and assumed an impassioned force that infected Marianna and
the cook. Marianna, too, deeply affected by certain passages in which
she recognized a picture of her own position, could not conceal the
expression of her eyes from Andrea.

Gambara wiped his brow, and shot a glance at the ceiling of such fierce
energy that he seemed to pierce it and soar to the very skies.

"You have seen the vestibule," said he; "we will now enter the palace.
The opera begins:--

"Act I. Mahomet, alone on the stage, begins with an air (F natural,
common time), interrupted by a chorus of camel-drivers gathered
round a well at the back of the stage (they sing in contrary
time--twelve-eight). What majestic woe! It will appeal to the most
frivolous women, piercing to their inmost nerves if they have no heart.
Is not this the very expression of crushed genius?"

To Andrea's great astonishment,--for Marianna was accustomed to
it,--Gambara contracted his larynx to such a pitch that the only sound
was a stifled cry not unlike the bark of a watch-dog that has lost
its voice. A slight foam came to the composer's lips and made Andrea
shudder.

"His wife appears (A minor). Such a magnificent duet! In this number I
have shown that Mahomet has the will and his wife the brains. Kadijah
announces that she is about to devote herself to an enterprise that will
rob her of her young husband's love. Mahomet means to conquer the world;
this his wife has guessed, and she supports him by persuading the people
of Mecca that her husband's attacks of epilepsy are the effect of his
intercourse with the angels (chorus of the first followers of Mahomet,
who come to promise him their aid, C sharp minor, _sotto voce_). Mahomet
goes off to seek the Angel Gabriel (_recitative_ in F major). His wife
encourages the disciples (_aria_, interrupted by the chorus, gusts of
chanting support Kadijah's broad and majestic air, A major).

"Abdallah, the father of Ayesha,--the only maiden Mahomet has found
really innocent, wherefore he changed the name of Abdallah to Abubekir
(the father of the virgin),--comes forward with Ayesha and sings against
the chorus, in strains which rise above the other voices and supplement
the air sung by Kadijah in contrapuntal treatment. Omar, the father
of another maiden who is to be Mahomet's concubine, follows Abubekir's
example; he and his daughter join in to form a quintette. The girl
Ayesha is first sop