"The Archduke and his wife are well and very happy," writes L. Mozart, "which must be a great satisfaction to Her Majesty the Empress, because it was feared that he would not think much of his wife, she not being beautiful; but she is uncommonly amiable, pleasant and virtuous, consequently beloved by every one, and she has quite captivated the Archduke, for she has the best heart and the most engaging manners in the world." The original score, in two volumes of 480 pages, is preserved: it contains twenty-two numbers. At the close of the first act we have the bass part of the ballet in nine numbers, written by a copyist, and affixed, doubtless as a guide to the conductor. L. Mozart writes expressly that the ballet which connects the two acts was to be composed by Wolfgang (September 7, 1771); there must have been a special score for the manager of the ballet which has not been preserved. We cannot help wondering that Hasse should have founded his prophecy of Mozart's future greatness on this opera, for it seems to us less original than its predecessors. It certainly displays talent and assurance, but there is not an original idea in any of the fourteen songs to be compared with those of the former operas. The accompanied recitatives do not arrest attention, the most animated among them being the recitative (13) in which the lovers, seeing each other for the first time, express their agitation in asides. Contrary to custom, the wind instruments are employed in the recitative; but otherwise the treatment of the orchestra calls for no remark. One song of Silvia's (11) is accompanied by four horns (two in G, two in D) without any singular effects; the last song of Ascanio (18) has, besides horns, bassoons and flutes, two serpentini (in F), instruments which, Schindler suggests, resembled the English horn. The most prominent among the singers was Manzuoli, for whose part Mozart now applied the instruction he had {MOZART'S EARLY OPERAS.} (188) formerly received from him in London (p. 41). It is written for a mezzo-soprano, keeps always to the middle notes, and has no passages at all; only here and there easy embellishments. The simple lingering melody is not without feeling, which, however, never rises to passion. The first song (2) begins with a long-sustained note, whilst the last resembles those in "Lucio Silla" in its tender playful grace. There is more variety in the part composed for Maria Ant. Girelli-Aguilar, who sang in Gluck's "Aristeo" and "Orfeo" in Parma (1769). The first cavatina (7) is simple, graceful, and complete in design and treatment; two others (8, 11) are bravura songs, with brilliant passages, the melody having an air of dignity, which is also apparent in the last song (16), both in the adagio and the allegro.