a typical Italian peasant dance, taking its name from the word saltere ("to jump") and involving quick hopping steps. This first theme is introduced by the flutes. The second theme is also derived from thesaltarello . Halfway through the movement, a third theme makes its first appearance on the first violins, employing the fast even triplets of the Neapolitantarantella , a wildly exciting dance believed in ancient times to drive out the poison of a tarantula's bite. Finally, the return of the saltarello -- which persists until the work's conclusion -- provides a superbly orchestrated and frenzied climax, as well as a test of the instrumentalists' virtuosity and stamina. Upon playing portions of the symphony on the piano to friends, Mendelssohn remarked: "That is a fragment of Italy. Do you not see the moon shining and the pretty girls dancing?" LE CID: BALLET MUSIC (1885) Jules Massenet, 1842 - 1912 French composer Jules Massenet is known today mostly for his operas Manon, Werther and Thais, but his twenty-five operas were much in vogue in his day, thanks to his skill as a melodist. Massenet studied with Ambrose Thomas at the Paris Conservatoire and won the Prix de Rome in 1863; he spent the three subsequent years in Rome, where he made the acquaintance of Franz Liszt. Part of his musical legacy are the famous students he taught: Gustave Charpentier, Ernest Chausson, and Georges Enescu, among others. Massenet's 1885 opera Le Cid is set in 12th century Spain. The plot revolves around the famous knight known as "El Cid" who stopped the advance of the Moors. The ballet occurs in Act 2, on a lovely spring day when townspeople celebrate with a series of dances from the various regions of Spain. EXCERPTS FROM CARMEN SUITES No. 1 and No. 2 (1875) Georges Bizet, 1839 - 1875 Bizet's most popular opera, Carmen, was premiered at the Opera- Comique in Paris on March 3, 1875. The work was coldly received and Bizet, who died but three months later, was greatly saddened by the unfavorable reception. However, soon after Bizet's death, the opera came into its own with almost fifty performances in the following months. In fact, Tchaikovsky, who heard the work in 1880, declared that Carmen would be the most popular opera in the world within ten years, and his .