Ich bin so bos als gut, Ich lohne die Verdienste Mit reichlichem Gewinnste; Doch reizt man meine Wuth, So hah' ich auch wohl Waffen Das Laster zu bestrafen, Und diese fordern Blut. And Zaide:-- Tiger! wetze deine Klauen, Freu' dich der erschlichnen Beut'! Straf ein thörichtes Vertrauen Auf verstellte Zartlichkeit! Komm nur schneli und tödt' uns beide, Saug' der Unschuld warmes Blut, Reiss' das Herz vom Eingeweide Und ersättge deine Wuth The music totters under the weight of such words as these. The songs, which follow one after the other, are indeed well conceived and carefully executed, and even for the most part characteristic; but their characterisation is all external, and when suggested by different touches in the text it is rarely happy. There is a want of harmony and balance, as well as of impulse and warmth, so that the really beautiful separate ideas have no proportionate effect. It is remarkable that these songs are all too long, and their cadenzas are especially tedious, as if quantity was to make up for quality. Further adherence to the antiquated aria form is particularly noticeable; as if, when the musical construction no longer proceeded directly from the impulse {ZAIDE--QUARTET.} (119) of the dramatic situation, the old forms involuntarily asserted their sway. The quartet (16) in which the musical and dramatic interest is, as it were, concentrated, contrasts very favourably with the solo songs. The _dramatis personæ_ are all happily characterised; the Sultan, implacable in his anger, Gomaz seeking to console Zaide, who, in her turn, strives to purchase his life by the sacrifice of her own, and Aiazim, overcome with grief at being unable to see a way out of the complications that he himself has brought about. Here too we have a conflict of opposing emotions faithfully and accurately delineated, and all directed to one central point; it is, in fact, a situation which fulfils all the essential conditions of musical representation. Here then Mozart is in his element. The different characters are drawn with a steady hand, every emotion is definitely and accurately expressed, and the elements thus gained are employed as materials for a construction which is as faithful to the laws of musical organisation as to the requirements of the dramatic situation. The quartet thus fulfils the two essential conditions of dramatic music, and reveals itself as a consistent and harmonious piece of work, the separate motifs of which are beautiful and expressive, while the interest is kept alive by alternation and climax, and a vivid dramatic picture is produced by the artistic treatment of musical forms. The grouping of the voices in manifold variety of combination displays, as if on a ground plan, a symmetrical, well-disposed musical edifice. As they proceed they develop out of the simplest situations the most varied shades of sentiment, so