umann, Liszt, Wagner, and Berlioz have treated the story
orchestrally with more or less success. Gounod's treatment of the poem
is by far the most intelligible, poetic, and dramatic ever attempted,
and there is no opera since the days of Gluck with so little weak music,
except Beethoven's "Fidelio."

In the introduction the restless gloom of the old philospher and the
contrasted joys of youth engaged in rustic revelry outside are expressed
with graphic force; and the Kirmes music in the next act is so quaint
and original, as well as melodious, as to give the sense of delightful
comedy. When _Marguerite_ enters on the scene, we have a waltz and
chorus of such beauty and piquancy as would have done honor to Mozart.
Indeed, in the dramatic use of dance music Gounod hardly yields in
skill and originality to Meyerbeer himself, though the latter composer
specially distinguished himself in this direction. The third and fourth
acts develop all the tenderness and passion of _Marguerite's_ character,
all the tragedy of her doom.

After _Faust's_ beautiful monologue in the garden come the song of the
"King of Thule" and _Marguerites_ delight at finding the jewels, which
conjoined express the artless vanity of the child in a manner alike full
of grace and pathos. The quartet that follows is one of great beauty,
the music of each character being thoroughly in keeping, while the
admirable science of the composer blends all into thorough artistic
unity. It is hardly too much to assert that the love scene which closes
this act has nothing to surpass it for fire, passion, and tenderness,
seizing the mind of the hearer with absorbing force by its suggestion
and imagery, while the almost cloying sweetness of the melody is such
as Rossini and Schubert only could equal. The full confession of the
enamored pair contained in the brief _adagio_ throbs with such rapture
as to find its most suggestive parallel in the ardent words commencing
"Gallop apace, ye fiery-looted steeds," placed by Shakespeare in the
mouth of the expectant _Juliet_.

Beauties succeed each other in swift and picturesque succession, fitting
the dramatic order with a nicety which forces the highest praise of
the critic. The march and chorus marking the return of _Valentine's_
regiment beat with a fire and enthusiasm to which the tramp of
victorious squadrons might well keep step. The wicked music of
_Mephistopheles_ in the sarcastic serenade, the powerful duel trio, and