Entirely new was the amalgamation of the whole orchestra into one mighty organism by means of doubling and redoubling each part, similar to the practice of adding the four- and two-foot stops in organ playing. Each of the three choirs is harmonically complete by itself; being absorbed into the general Melos, it is, of course, impossible for the ear to analyze the combined tone-color. Such massive tonal edifices are the embodiment of unity and sonority, but there is danger of monotony, and, as Gevaërt remarks, this method of orchestration was subsequently abused by Rossini. Spontini's style embodies much that is German, and his mastery of brilliant effects is unrivalled. And although he frequently lowered the standard of his works by a craving for ostentation, the details are carefully worked out and the orchestration is rich and manly. With the advent of ROSSINI (1792-1868), the triumph of Italian _aria_ was resumed. His operas are the embodiment of Italian emotionalism. But although much of his music must be condemned as entirely irrelevant to the demands of the dramatic situation or of the sentiment to be expressed, his orchestration was certainly an advance upon antecedent Italian methods. On the other hand, there are but few new features in his instrumentation; this consisted of certain restricted and oft-repeated formulas, of which, however, Rossini had perfect command. His crowning achievement was, of course, "Guillaume Tell." Here the orchestration plainly betrays a happy fusion of Italian and French styles. The string writing is full of life; due regard is shown to the wind instruments, and effective solos are assigned more particularly to the English horn and the French horns. The improvements that Rossini made in horn writing were probably due to the fact that his father was a horn player. Parenthetically, the same statement might be made in reference to Richard Strauss. It is also interesting to note in passing that Rossini used two batons in conducting,--a short one for _arias_ and a long one for _ensemble_. VI.