| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Gambara by Honore de Balzac: fierce and gloomy tone of this /finale/ is relieved by the phrases
given to the three women who foretell Mahomet's triumph, and these
motives are further developed in the third act in the scene where
Mahomet is enjoying his splendor."
The tears rose to Gambara's eyes, and it was only upon controlling his
emotion that he went on.
"Act II. The religion is now established. The Arabs are guarding the
Prophet's tent while he speaks with God (chorus in A minor). Mahomet
appears (a prayer in F). What a majestic and noble strain is this that
forms the bass of the voices, in which I have perhaps enlarged the
borders of melody. It was needful to express the wonderful energy of
Gambara |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin: ornament, such differences have been mainly caused by sexual selection;
that is, individual males have had, in successive generations, some slight
advantage over other males, in their weapons, means of defence, or charms;
and have transmitted these advantages to their male offspring. Yet, I
would not wish to attribute all such sexual differences to this agency:
for we see peculiarities arising and becoming attached to the male sex in
our domestic animals (as the wattle in male carriers, horn-like
protuberances in the cocks of certain fowls, &c.), which we cannot believe
to be either useful to the males in battle, or attractive to the females.
We see analogous cases under nature, for instance, the tuft of hair on the
breast of the turkey-cock, which can hardly be either useful or ornamental
On the Origin of Species |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Poems by Oscar Wilde: Is the low murmur of the shepherd's reed,
Where the loud clarion's blast should shake the sky,
And flame across the heavens! and to try
Such lofty themes were folly: yet I know
That never felt my heart a nobler glow
Than when I woke the silence of thy street
With clamorous trampling of my horse's feet,
And saw the city which now I try to sing,
After long days of weary travelling.
VII.
Adieu, Ravenna! but a year ago,
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