ea. The nymphs bear her dead body to Poseidon.
Zeus suddenly appears and drives Poseidon away, while Athene hovers
over Odysseus with shield and lance. He sails away in safety.

MANRU.

Opera in three acts by J. PADEREWSKI.

Text by ALFRED NOSSIG.

Dresden claims the honour of having first represented the celebrated
Polish pianist's opera.

The performance took place on May 29th 1901, and a closely packed house
showed its approbation in the most enthusiastic manner.

Those who will look out for reminiscences in every new piece of music
find of course that Paderewski is an imitator of Wagner, but though
Manru would probably not have been written without the composer's
intimate knowledge of the Ring of Nibelungen, the melodies and rythm
are entirely his own. The music is true gypsy music with very much
movement and highly phantastic colouring, reminding us sometimes of
Liszt and Bizet.

The best parts of the opera are the choruses of the village maidens in
the first act, the charming cradle song, the violin solo and the
love-duet in the second and the splendid gipsy music in the last act.

Nossig's libretto is very inferior to the music; its rhymes are often
absolutely trivial. The scene is laid in the Hungarian Tatra mountain
district.

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Manru a wandering gipsy has fallen in love with a peasant girl Ulana
and has married her against her mother's wishes.

In the first act mother Hedwig laments her daughter's loss. While the
village lasses are dancing and frolicking Ulana returns to her mother
to ask her forgiveness; she is encouraged by a hunchback Urok, who is
devoted to her, and who persuades the mother to forgive her child, on
condition that she shall leave her husband. As Ulana refuses, though
she is in dire need of bread, Hedwig sternly shuts her door upon her
daughter. Ulana turns to Urok, who does his best to persuade her to
leave her husband.

Urok is a philosopher; he warns the poor woman, that gipsy blood is
never faithful, and that the time will come, when Manru will leave wife
and child.

Ulana is frightened and finally obtains from Urok a love potion, by
which she hopes to secure her husband's constancy.

When she tries to turn back into the mountains she is surrounded by the
returning villagers, who tease and torment her and the hunchback, until
Manru comes to their rescue. But his arrival only awakes the
villagers' wrath, they fall upon him and are about to kill him,