which Mephistopheles sings when the witches, after their incantation,
present him with a globe of glass which he likens to the earth.

The third act opens in a prison, where Marguerite is awaiting the
penalty for murdering her babe. The action is very similar to that of
the last act of Gounod's "Faust." Her opening aria ("L' altra notte a
fondo al maro") is full of sad longings for the child and insane
moanings for mercy. Faust appeals to her to fly with him, and they
join in a duet of extraordinary sensuous beauty blended with pathos
("lontano, lontano"). Mephistopheles urges Faust away as the day
dawns, and pronounces her doom as she falls and dies, while the
angelic chorus resounding in the orchestra announces her salvation.

In the fourth act a most abrupt change is made, both in a dramatic and
musical sense. The scene changes to the "Night of the Classical
Sabbath" on the banks of the Peneus, amid temples, statues, flowers,
and all the loveliness of nature in Greece. The music also changes
into the pure, sensuous Italian style. Faust, still with
Mephistopheles, pays court to Helen of Troy, who is accompanied by
Pantalis. The opening duet for the latter ("La luna immobile") is one
of exceeding grace and loveliness, and will always be the most popular
number in the work. With the exception of a powerfully dramatic scena,
in which Helen describes the horrors of the destruction of Troy, the
music is devoted to the love-making between Helen and Faust, and bears
no relation in form to the rest of the music of the work, being
essentially Italian in its smooth, flowing, melodious character. At
the close of the classical Sabbath another abrupt change is made, to
the death-scene of Faust, contained in an epilogue. It opens in his
laboratory, where he is reflecting upon the events of his
unsatisfactory life, and contemplating a happier existence in heaven.