its movement and is set to a
most delightful accompaniment. It is followed by Odysseus' lament ("Flow,
ye Tears, since Days are hateful"), at first tender in its character,
then changing to passionate utterances as the remembrance of Penelope
comes to him, and closing with a hopeful strain after the promise of help
from Zeus. In the second or Hades scene the music changes from its bright
color to a gloomier minor tone. It opens with a male chorus ("The Bounds
we have reached of the deep flowing Ocean"), pianissimo, gradually
increasing in intensity and accompanied by remarkable effects in
tone-color as the orchestra describes "the thundering of the flood
Cocytus" and "the surging aloft of the shadows of the departed." It is
followed by semi-choruses of the shades, and closes with a very spirited
and dramatic male chorus ("Dread on Dread! Lo, surging aloft, the
numberless Hosts of Departed"). The third scene opens with a fresh and
characteristic male chorus ("Our Sails to the Breezes"), followed by the
graceful and alluring chorus of the sirens ("Come, great Odysseus, Hero
of Might"). The last scene is almost entirely choral and very dramatic in
its effect, especially the opening number for the Oceanides and Tritons
("Hark! the Storm gathers from afar"), with its vigorous instrumental
description of the tempest, and the closing number for full chorus
("Yonder beckons the wood-crested Harbor"), which in its tenderness and
joyousness forms a striking contrast to the earlier part of the scene.

The second part is introduced with a dignified and sombre recitative
("Thou far-darting Sun"), followed by an aria of the same character ("Oh!
Atritone") in which Penelope bewails the absence of Odysseus. In the next
scene the music changes to a bright and tripping strain, the chorus of
Nausicaa's maidens ("On the flowery Mead, girt by the dimpling Tide"),
which closely resembles that of Calypso's nymphs in the first scene.
After Odysseus' fervent appeal ("Hark to me! Queen, or heaven-dwelling
Goddess") the banquet scene occurs. It begins with an animated chorus of
the Pheacians ("Be welcome, Stranger, to Pheacia's Land"), followed by an
exquisite unison chorus of the Rhapsodes ("Ten Years now are past since
Troy in the Dust was laid"), set to an accompaniment of harps. A simple
and tender melody ("Let me then depart in Peace"), sung by Odysseus, in
which the chorus singers gradually join, closes the scene. The eighth
scene contains t