characterisation is shown in the second part, where both characters occur together:--[See Page Image] Here the expression has become still more general, and we have only the musical development of a given subject, not the progress of a dramatic situation; more than this it is out of the province of the musician to give. The suggestions for the music of the third _entr'acte_ are more promising. The music is connected in the first place with the last scene: 44 The third act closes with the treacherous dialogue between Mirza and Pheron,,, expressed by means of an agitated, strongly accented Allegro, which, however, soon breaks off, and dies away. Thereupon the music turns to the fourth act, which begins with the vow of the deluded Sais. Here the influence of the melodrama upon Mozart becomes apparent, for he follows with his music every turn in the monologue of Sais, indicating each by a superscription. We may, indeed, doubt whether he had not some idea of a melodramatic delivery of the music, although there are no pauses left for spoken sentences, and the flow of the music, notwithstanding frequent changes of time is uninterrupted. This movement would be most open to the adverse criticism of Lessing, for it anticipates the whole of the following scene. In itself it is the most expressive and the most successful; in spite of its division into separate points it preserves connection and {ENTR'ACTES TO KÖNIG THAMOS.} (109) unity, and a tone of tender grace such as becomes a bashful maiden. The fourth _entr'acte_ is again an animated movement (Allegro vivace assai) which is to depict "the universal confusion" with which the fourth act concludes. We can recognise in the wild, restless subject, in opposition to which is placed another full of dignity and reserve, the intended contrast between the conspirators and Thamos with his followers; but we need, of course, to be told what it is that the music means to represent. Since the spectators were in a position to transfer the factitious presumption from the stage to the music, a general characterisation would suffice for them. The music therefore fulfils its primary aim, but it has undertaken a task which lies beyond its province, and a previous knowledge of the subject treated is indispensable to the due appreciation of it; in this way the music is as dependent as though it were a setting to words without the advantage of the direct intelligibleness given to it by words. The closing movement describes "Pheron's despair, blasphemy, and death." As this situation coincides with a fearful thunderstorm, the musical characterisation is confined to a representation of it without any dramatic detail; it is a wildly forcible movement, and the effect accords well with the suggested idea.[22]