Alfio enters with boisterous jollity, singing of his jovial carefree life as a teamster and his love of home and a faithful wife.

It is a paltry measure, endurable only for its offering of contrast, and we will not tarry with it, though the villagers echo it merrily.

Alfio, too, has seen Turiddu, and Lucia is about to express her surprise when Santuzza checks her.
The hour of devotion is come, and the choir in the church intones the "Regina coeli," while the people without fall on their knees and sing the Resurrection Hymn.

After the first outburst, to which the organ appends a brief postlude, Santuzza leads in the canticle, "Innegiamo il Signor non dmorte": Let us sing of our Lord ris'n victorious! Let us sing of our Lord ever glorious:-- [figure: a musical score excerpt] [figure: a musical score excerpt] The instrumental basses supply a foundation of Bachian granite, the chorus within the church interpolates shouts of "Alleluia!" and the song swells until the gates of sound fly wide open and we forget the theatre in a fervor of religious devotion.

Only the critic in his study ought here to think of the parallel scene which Leoncavallo sought to create in his opera.
Thus far the little dramatic matter that has been introduced is wholly expository; yet we are already near the middle of the score.