Act II. Secret Cellar at Koenigsberg. _Worms_ and others plot to

overthrow Napoleon. _Loewe_ challenges _Worms_ to a duel. _Worms_, penitent, asks _Loewe_ to kill him. But the preparations are stayed by _Queen Louise_. She declares they should be fighting against Napoleon, not against each other.

Epilogue. Battlefield of Leipzig. Napoleon has been defeated. The great field is strewn with dead and dying. Among the latter, _Ricke_, still loving _Loewe_, finds him. He asks her to forgive _Worms_, who lies dead. She forgives the dead man, then lies down beside her dying husband. Distant view of the retreat of Napoleon's shattered legions.

Modern French Opera

The contemporaries and successors of Bizet wrote many charming operas that for years have given pleasure to large audiences. French opera has had generous representation in New York. Offenbach's "Tales of Hoffmann," Delibes's "Lakmé," Saint-Saëns's "Samson et Dalila," Massenet's "Manon" are among the most distinguished works of this school.

"Les Contes d'Hoffmann"; a fanciful opera in four acts; words by MM. Michel Carré and Jules Barbier; posthumous music by Jacques Offenbach, produced at the Opéra Comique on February 10, 1881. "Les Contes d'Hoffmann" had been played thirty years before, on March 31, 1851, at the Odéon, in the shape of a comedy. Such as it was designed to be, the work offers an excellent frame for the music, bringing on the stage in their fantastic form three of the prettiest tales of the German story-teller, connected with each other in an ingenious fashion, with the contrasts which present themselves. Lyrical adaptation therefore appeared quite natural and it was done with much taste. Offenbach had almost entirely finished its music when death came to surprise him. At the same time he had not put his score into orchestral form and it was Ernest Girard who was charged with finishing this and writing the instrumentation, which it was easy to perceive at hearing it, Girard being a musician taught differently from the author of the "Belle Hélène" and "Orphée aux Enfers." It is right to say that several passages of the Contes d'Hoffmann were welcome and testify to a real effort by the composer. If to that be added the interest that the libretto offers and the excellence of an interpretation entrusted to Mlle. Adèle Isaac (_Stella_, _Olympia_, _Antonia_), to MM. Talazac (_Hoffmann_), Taskin (_Lindorf_, _Coppélius_, _Dr. Miracle_), Belhomme (_Crespel_), Grivot (_Andrès_, _Cochenille_, _Frantz_), Gourdon (_Spalanzani_), Collin (_Wilhelm_), Mlles. Marguerite Ugalde (_Nicklausse_), Molé (_the nurse_), one will understand the success which greeted the work. The Contes d'Hoffmann was reproduced in 1893 at the Renaissance, during the transient directorship of M. Détroyat, who gave to this theatre the title of Théâtre Lyrique.

LAKMÉ

Opera in three acts by Delibes; libretto by Gille and Gondinet.

_Lakmé_ is the daughter of _Nilakantha_, a fanatical Brahmin priest. While he nurses his hatred of the British invader, his daughter strolls in her garden, singing duets with her slave _Mallika_. An English officer, one _Gerald_, breaks through the bambou fence that surrounds _Nilakantha's_ retreat, in a ruined temple in the depths of an Indian forest. He courts _Lakmé_ who immediately returns his love. _Nilakantha_ seeing the broken fence at once suspects an English invader. In act two the old man disguised as a beggar is armed with a dagger. _Lakmé_ is disguised as a street singer. Together they search for the profaner of the sacred spot at a market. It is here that she sings the famous Bell Song. _Gerald_ recognizes _Lakmé_ as _Nilakantha_ recognizes the disturber of his peace. A dagger thrust lays _Gerald_ low. _Lakmé_ and her slave carry him to a hut hidden in the forest. During his convalescence the time passes pleasantly. The lovers sing duets and exchange vows of undying love. But _Frederick_, a brother officer and a slave to duty, informs _Gerald_ that he must march with his regiment. _Lakmé_ makes the best of the situation by eating a poisonous flower which brings about her death.

The story is based by Gondinet and Gille upon "Le Mariage de Loti." _Ellen_, _Rose_, and _Mrs. Benson_, Englishwomen, hover in the background of the romance. But their parts are of negligible importance, and in fact when Miss Van Zandt and a French Company first gave the opera in London they were omitted altogether, some said wisely. The opera was first presented in Paris at the Opéra Comique with Miss Van Zandt. It was first sung in New York by the American Opera Company at the Academy of Music, March 1, 1886. The first _Lakmé_ to be heard in New York was Pauline L'Allemand, the second Adelina Patti, this time in 1890 and at the Metropolitan Opera House. Mme. Sembrich and Luisa Tetrazzini sang it later.

SAMSON ET DALILA

Opera in three acts and four scenes. Music by Saint-Saëns; text by Ferdinand Lemaire. Produced: Weimar, December 2, 1877.

CHARACTERS

DALILA _Mezzo-Soprano_ SAMSON _Tenor_ HIGH PRIEST OF DAGON _Baritone_ ABIMELECH, satrap of Gaza _Bass_ AN OLD HEBREW _Bass_ THE PHILISTINES' WAR MESSENGER _Tenor_

_Place_--Gaza.

_Time_--1136 B.C.