There can be no question as to his success. The first impression is one of the purest melody, filling the musical listener with perfect satisfaction. A nearer examination shows as much to admire in the simplicity of the artistic structure (the symmetry of which in reading the score is displayed as it were on a ground plan) and in the delicate use of sound effects, as in the tenderness and grace of the conception. Let us consider the situation. Ilia comes to thank Idomeneo for the kindness which she, as a captive, has received in Crete. She is embarrassed by the remembrance that she has lost her father and her fatherland, that Idomeneo is her ruler, and the father of Idamante, and, more than all, by the consciousness of her love for Idamante; and yet this very love sheds for her a rosy light on all around. She begins, then, with a composed, almost reverential address, and as her feelings grow more intense, the remembrance of her sorrows returns; but all gives way to the one feeling: "or gioja e contento," in which she altogether loses herself. Such a combination of different elements into a harmonious whole constitutes a true work of art, and it must needs be found beautiful as long as the principles of music remain what they are. The situation of the last air (19) is less striking; it is the longing sigh of a deserted lover; but the main features of Ilia's character have already been so clearly defined that her singular charm is as indelibly impressed here as elsewhere. It is only necessary to compare the air (14), in which Electra expresses her tenderest feelings, to perceive how the essential distinctions between the two women are characterised by the music. The duet for the two lovers (20 b) is interesting and pleasing, but not very striking; in form and change of tempo, {ENSEMBLES.} (153) as well as in conception and treatment, it adheres to the old-established custom of making a love duet light and graceful. It proceeds in unbroken movement and precise form throughout, and there is no true bravura. The terzet (17) is more striking, noble, and simple, and of fine musical effect, but the dramatic situation is not brought to expression in the full energy of which it is capable. It is certainly placed with design between a succession of pleasing situations and of more agitated ones; its calm and earnest mood fitly concludes what has gone before and prepares the mind for what is to follow, without unduly diminishing the effect of surprise. In the situation, as here presented, the three characters are all in a depressed and anxious mood, which restrains any lively outburst of emotion, and justifies the moderation of the musical rendering.