ment.
Suddenly the harmony is clouded by the apparition of Zamiel, but as he
disappears, Max begins another charming melody ("Jetzt ist wohl ihr
Fenster offen"), which is even more beautiful than the first. As
Zamiel reappears the harmony is again darkened; but when despairing
Max utters the cry, "Lives there no God!" the wood-demon disappears,
and the great song comes to an end. In this mood Caspar meets him, and
seeks to cheer him with an hilarious drinking-song ("Hier im ird'schen
Jammerthal"), furious in its energy, and intended to express
unhallowed mirth. The act closes with Caspar's bass aria of infernal
triumph ("Triumph! die Rache, die Rache gelingt"), accompanied by
music which is wonderfully weird and shadowy in its suggestions.

The second act opens with a duet ("Schelm! halt fest") in which
Agatha's fear and anxiety are charmingly contrasted with the lightsome
and cheery nature of Annchen, her attendant, and this in turn is
followed by a naive and coquettish arietta ("Kommt ein schlanker
Bursch gegangen") sung by the latter. Annchen departs, and Agatha,
opening her window and letting the moonlight flood the room, sings the
famous scena and prayer, "Leise, leise, fromme Weise," beginning,
after a few bars of recitative, with a melody full of prayer and hope
and tender longings, shaded with vague presentiment. It is an adagio
of exquisite beauty, closing with an ecstatic outburst of rapture
("Alle meine Pulse schlagen") as she beholds her lover coming. The
melody has already been heard in the overture, but its full joy and
splendid sweep are attained only in this scene. In the next scene we
have a trio ("Wie? was? Entsetzen?") between Max, Annchen, and Agatha,
in which the musical discrimination of character is carried to a fine
point; and the act concludes with the incantation music in the Wolf's
Glen, which has never been surpassed in weirdness, mystery, and
diablerie, and at times in actual sublimity. Its real power lies in
the instrumentation; not alone in its vivid and picturesque
presentation of the melodramatic scene with its hideous surroundings,
but in its expressiveness and appositeness to the action and sentiment
by the skilful use of motives.

The last act has an instrumental prelude foreshadowing the Hunters'
Chorus. It opens with a graceful but somewhat melancholy aria of a
religious character ("Und ob die Wolke sie verhuelle"), sung by Agatha,
in which she is still wavering between doubt and