| 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: and has surmounted it in the loveliest number of the whole opera. How
charming is the melody of the /cavatina 'Grace pour toi!'/ All the
women present understood it well; each saw herself seized and snatched
away on the stage. That part alone would suffice to make the fortune
of the opera. Every woman felt herself engaged in a struggle with some
violent lover. Never was music so passionate and so dramatic.
"The whole world now rises in arms against the reprobate. This
/finale/ may be criticised for its resemblance to that of /Don
Giovanni/; but there is this immense difference: in Isabella we have
the expression of the noblest faith, a true love that will save
Robert, for he scornfully rejects the infernal powers bestowed on him,
 Gambara |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Madame Firmiani by Honore de Balzac: her beauty is enhanced by the looks she gathers in,--a mute homage
which she transfers with subtle glances to the man she loves. At
moments like these a woman is invested with supernatural power and
becomes a magician, a charmer, without herself knowing that she is
one; involuntarily she inspires the love that fills her own bosom; her
smiles and glances fascinate. If this condition, which comes from the
soul, can give attraction even to a plain woman, with what radiance
does it not invest a woman of natural elegance, distinguished bearing,
fair, fresh, with sparkling eyes, and dressed in a taste that wrings
approval from artists and her bitterest rivals.
Have you ever, for your happiness, met a woman whose harmonious voice
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