| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Gambara by Honore de Balzac: effect of his intercourse with the angels (chorus of the first
followers of Mahomet, who come to promise him their aid, C sharp
minor, /sotto voce/). Mahomet goes off to seek the Angel Gabriel
(/recitative/ in F major). His wife encourages the disciples (/aria/,
interrupted by the chorus, gusts of chanting support Kadijah's broad
and majestic air, A major).
"Abdallah, the father of Ayesha,--the only maiden Mahomet has found
really innocent, wherefore he changed the name of Abdallah to Abubekir
(the father of the virgin),--comes forward with Ayesha and sings
against the chorus, in strains which rise above the other voices and
supplement the air sung by Kadijah in contrapuntal treatment. Omar,
 Gambara |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Pair of Blue Eyes by Thomas Hardy: uncontrolled. Stephen--it was only he who was the rival--only
Stephen! There was an anti-climax of absurdity which Knight,
wretched and conscience-stricken as he was, could not help
recognizing. Stephen was but a boy to him. Where the great grief
lay was in perceiving that the very innocence of Elfride in
reading her little fault as one so grave was what had fatally
misled him. Had Elfride, with any degree of coolness, asserted
that she had done no harm, the poisonous breath of the dead Mrs.
Jethway would have been inoperative. Why did he not make his
little docile girl tell more? If on that subject he had only
exercised the imperativeness customary with him on others, all
 A Pair of Blue Eyes |