The Marchese Ludovico had joined cordially and boisterously, and the
Marchese Lamberto more moderately, in the applause which had saluted
the entrance of the Diva; and after that the latter had placed
himself in the corner of the box, with his back to the audience, and
his face towards the stage, and with an opera-glass at his eyes, he
sat perfectly still, feeding his passion with every glance, every
change of feature, and every movement of the woman who had
enthralled him.
Then came the famous song of Amina, the happy village-bride about to
be married on the morrow to her lover--the tenor of course. The Diva
sang it admirably, and acted it equally well. The purest girlish
innocence was expressed in every trait of her features and
manifested itself in every gesture and every movement. The perfect,
trusting, happy love of a fresh and innocent heart could have had no
better representative.
The recitative, "Care compagne," etc, addressed to the assembled
villagers, fell from her lips with a purity of enunciation that made
each syllable seem like a note from a silver bell. And then the air,
"Come per me sereno," held the house entranced till the final note
of it. And then burst forth such a frantic shout of applause and
delight as can be heard only in an Italian theatre.
Ludovico leant far out of the stage-box in which he sat, and joined
vociferously in the plaudits with both hand and voice.
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