Of these works, the famous story of Orpheus and Euridice has perhaps the most dramatically beautiful musical setting, and is more often heard than are the other operas; be it borne in mind, however, that even in this masterpiece there is much that sounds antique both in method and in form; this is of necessity the case, when one considers the date at which Gluck wrote and the comparatively backward state of the art of music in the mid-eighteenth century. Gluck’s type of melody may be discerned from the following quotation:— The commencement of the famous Aria, “Che faro,” from Gluck’s “Orfeo.” [Music] Che faro senza Euridice! dove andro senza il mio ben? Che faro dove andro, Che faro senza il mio ben. [Sidenote: =Mozart, 1756-91=] Gluck, even in his later works, never reached the height of musical technique that was attained to by a young and glorious composer who was his contemporary for thirty years—almost the whole of his short life. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had other models to guide him, for the works of Grétry, Piccini, Sacchini, Benda, Cimarosa, and others were known to him, and in his scores we find a summing up of, and an improvement upon, all operatic music previously penned. Mozart handles the orchestra in a more modern and a vastly more masterly way than any of his predecessors; his operas, too, deal with such a variety of subject that they show infinitely more resource and diversity of treatment than those of Gluck, which were all written on the “grand” model. We feel that we have to do with men and women, creatures of flesh and blood, and not with far-away, shadowy classic shapes, whose appeals to our sympathies must naturally be less vivid. His melodies, too, of round, full outline, possess a richness of expression and a warmth that is not always discernible in the older master; and in addition we have vivacity, charm, and piquancy in the lighter scenes which had no place in the products of the more severe school. Two examples of Mozart will serve to illustrate his style. The first shows him in a lyrical mood, A fragment of a Mozart “Canzone,” “Voi Che Sapete” (The Marriage of Figaro). [Music] Voi, che sapete che cosa è amor, Donne, vedete s’io l’ho nel cor. while the second gives us the composer in more dramatic guise. The famous passage from Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” when the Commandant appears. [Music] Don Giovanni, by thee invited, Here behold me, as thou’st directed. Mozart’s most successful operas are:— _Idomeneo_ (produced at Munich, 1781). _Die Entführung aus dem Serail_ (produced at Vienna, 1782). _Le Nozze di Figaro_ (produced at Vienna, 1786). _Don Juan_ (produced at Prague, 1787). _Die Zauberflöte_ (produced at Vienna, 1791).