Chapter CLXVIII: Act IV: Mateo is desperate. Conchita comes to his home and says

she certainly expected him to kill himself for love of her. Enraged, he seizes her. She tries to stab him. He beats her without mercy. At last--and it seems about time--_Conchita_ now sees how desperately he must love her. She declares that she has loved him all the time. He takes her, radiant, into his arms.

CRISTOFORO COLOMBO

Opera in three acts and an epilogue, by Alberto Franchetti,
text by Luigi Illica. Produced, Genoa, 1892; in revised
version, same year, at La Scala, Milan. Metropolitan Opera
House, Philadelphia, November 20, 1913, with Titta Ruffo.

CHARACTERS

CRISTOFORO COLOMBO _Baritone_
QUEEN ISABELLA OF SPAIN _Soprano_
DON FERNANDO GUEVARA, Captain of the
Royal Guards _Tenor_
DON ROLDANO XIMENES, Spanish Knight _Bass_
MATHEOS, Foreman of the Crew _Tenor_
ANACOANA, Indian Queen _Mezzo-Soprano_
IGUAMOTA, her daughter _Soprano_
BOBADILLA, False Messenger of the
King of Spain _Bass_

_Time_--Before, during, and soon after Columbus's voyage of
discovery.

_Place_--Spain and America.

In act first, on the square in Salamanca, _Colombo_ learns that the council has rejected his plans. In the convent of San Stefano _Queen Isabella_ is praying. _Colombo_ tells her of the council's acts. She promises him the ships. In act second, on the _Santa Maria_, the sailors mutiny. At the critical moment _Colombo_ points to a distant shore. In act three, _Roldano_, an enemy to _Colombo_, has slain an Indian king. The Indian queen, _Anacoana_, pretends to love her husband's slayer, hoping for opportunity to avenge his death. But an Indian uprising is quelled and _Bobadilla_, a false messenger arriving from Spain, announces that _Colombo_ has been deposed from authority, and _Roldano_ been made viceroy in his stead.

The epilogue shows the royal tombs of Spain. _Colombo_--the librettist here stretching historical license--learning that _Queen Isabella_ has died and is buried here, expires upon her tomb.

CRISPINO E LA COMARE

(THE COBBLER AND THE FAIRY)

Opera "Bouffe" in three acts by Luigi and Federico Ricci;
text by Francesco Maria Piave. Produced, Venice, 1850.

CHARACTERS

CRISPINO, a cobbler _Baritone_
ANNETTA, his wife, a ballad singer _Soprano_
COUNT DEL FIORE _Tenor_
FABRIZIO, a physician _Bass_
MIRABOLANO, an apothecary _Tenor_
DON ASDRUBALE, a miser _Bass_
LA COMARE, a fairy _Mezzo-Soprano_
BORTOLO, a mason _Bass_
LISETTA, ward of DON ASDRUBALE _Soprano_

Doctors, Scholars, Citizens.

_Place_--Venice.

_Time_--Seventeenth Century.

Act I. _Crispino_, the cobbler, and _Annetta_, his wife, the ballad singer, are in sore straits. _Don Asdrubale_, their landlord, who is a miser, is about to put them out for non-payment of rent, but hints that if _Annetta_ will respond to his suit he may reconsider. _Crispino_, in desperation, runs away, and is followed by _Annetta_. He is about to drown himself in a well when a fairy appears to him. She predicts that he will be a famous doctor. _Crispino_ and _Annetta_ rejoice.

Act II. _Crispino_ nails up a physician's sign. The neighbours rail, but soon a mason is brought in severely hurt, and, though the doctors fail to bring him around, _Crispino_ cures him.