The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-08-13

has hurried "Helion" into an adjoining
chamber, "Hares"a reproaches her BIT
terly' that she has ceased to love him
after teaching him to love her, and
threatens to tell "Helion' that the wom-
an whom he C'Helion'D rescued, and
whom he now loves, is no other than the
Infamous empress. Wearied by "Ha-
res protestations and enraged by his
threats, ''Messaline" orders him seized
beneath the window. 1t is done, and
'Messaline," after watching ''Hares' -
body float past recalls ''HeHon" and re-
news her love scene with him.
A short second scene in this act shows
the rescue of "Hares' by some boatmen
and his avowa1 of his intention of killing
her. It is in this act that Olympus
appears. Just who he is Is a little diff
ficult to determine, but from his entirely
subordinate and unimportant position it
is fair to infer that he is "Messaline's''
husband.
The last act takes place in the empress
box overlooking the amphitheater. He
lion" forces his way in and demands
"Hares' "Messaline" denies all knowl-
edge of him, and is, in fact, ignorant
that "Helion'' and ''Hares' are brothers.
''Helion," on the other hand, does not
know that the empress is none other
than the woman whom he had rescued at
the festival of Bacchus, and only dis
covers the identity of the two when, upon
his threat to kill her, she suddenly turns,
and, showing her face to him for the
first time since his entrance, bids him
carry out his threat. Bewildered by the
revelation of who she is, he hesitates.
She then tells him that, waiting con-
cealed behind a door, is a man who, she
has been warned will attempt to as
sassinate her. The man, as she well
| knows, is 'Hares." She opens the door
and he rushes in, but before he can stab
her he is himself cut down by "Helion, >"
| who discovers, too late, that he has muir
dered his brother. Horror-stricken, He
lion curses ''Messaline" and leaps to the
lions in the arena below. 'Messaline"
turning to save him, finds herself unable
to move Her draperies are clutched in
the hand of the dead FLARES" at her
feet and the curtain falls, not on an
empress, but shuddering woman VINO
cries in horror, Il fear"
AS one might expect, the music of such
an opera is not so much musical as dra-
matte De Lara has his lett motifs and
does not hesitate to use them with an
insistence which often deScendS to mon
otony. He has not the slightest hesitancy
in saying the same thing sixty times over.
He rubs in an idea until there is moth
ing left for you to do but to understand 1t.
The immediate result is that you feel i'm
patient, the ultimate result is that you not
only understand the opera, but under
stand it from his point of view, and that
is what very few composers manage to
accomplish. And every now and then in
the midst of all this lett nothing comes
some bit of melody reprehensibly de-
licious, that insinuates itself into your
ear and your brain, and would bid fair
to play the deuce with the morals of your
| musical sense but for one saving clause,
which is that there is never any very
great length of these melodies. They
| come in what dry goods people call short
lengths, and you barely get into them
before you are out again with-to change
| the figure-a taste of sugar on the palate
and of pepper on the tongue, and a gen.
eral consciousness Of having swallowed
the equivalent of a Manhattan cocktail
that insidious mixture which is so good
for the appetite and so bad for the di-
gestion. Into this category come the
songs Of 'Myrrhon," the courtier, ''Viens
Amer and La Vie est un Jardin'' Also,
the persistent, insistent chorus Leila"
which is also used as an accompaniment
to a song for "Tyndaris," and which.
as sung by Leclerc, in a little French
soprano voice Of absolute purity, came
perilously near to carrying off the honors
of the first performance. Indeed, a curious
trait of the opera is that most pleasing
numbers are sung by the minor char
acters of the cast. The principals are so
busy being dramatic that they have no
time for mere melody but are confined
strictly to more harmonic and less easily
understood forms of musical expression.
OF Alvarez's and Heglon's superb inter-
pretations it is not necessary to speak,
because they are going to the United