neither of them knowing that it will be fatal to him, dies in her arms, and the sorrowing Melusina returns to the flood. The prologue describes Melusina's fountain, and contains a leading motive which characterizes Raymond. The chorus part is very romantic in its style, and is set to a graceful, poetical accompaniment. The opening number introduces Melusina and her nymphs in a chorus extolling their watery abode ("For the Flood is life-giving"). In the second number she describes the passion she feels when thinking of Raymond. The song is interrupted by horn signals indicating the approach of her lover and his hunters, who join in a fresh, vigorous hunting-song and then disperse. In the fourth number Raymond gives expression to his love for Melusina, followed by a fervid duet between them, in which the lovers interchange vows of constancy. The sixth number, describing their engagement in presence of the nymphs, and concluding with a stirring chorus of nymphs and hunters, closes the first part. The second part begins with a theme from the love-duet, followed by a significant theme in the minor, ominous of approaching danger. In the eighth number the people clamor in furious chorus for the witch. In the ninth, a trio and chorus, Clotilda warns her son of the misery he has brought upon his house and people, and urges him to discover what his wife does on the seventh day. The next number introduces Melusina and her nymphs in the bath, the former singing a plaintive song ("Love is freighted with Sorrow and Care"). A noise is heard at the gate, and the nymphs join in a chorus in canon form ("Hark! hark! Who has come to watch"). As Raymond appears, the scene grows very dramatic. The king of the water-spirits is summoned; but before he rises from the water Melusina, in very melodious recitative, laments her lover's treason. The scene culminates in the sentence, "Let Death be his lot." He is spared by her intercession, but she is commanded to return to the flood. Raymond appeals for forgiveness, and a part of the love-duet is repeated. The final embrace is fatal to him, and he dies in her arms. The chorus repeats the melody of the opening number ("For the Flood is life-giving"), and she bids her dead lover a last farewell, and disappears with the nymphs and water-spirits, singing, "Forget with the Dwellers on Earth all earthly Woe." The epilogue is substantially the same as the prologue. LESLIE.