Right merrily she lives with him and his companions in the greenwood until the band captures the renegade lover on his wedding journey.

Tilda rushes upon the bride with drawn dagger, but melts with compassion when she sees her victim in the attitude of prayer.

She sinks to her knees beside her, only to receive the death-blow from her seducer.

There are piquant contrasts in this picture and Ave Marias and tarantellas in the music.
Take the story of Giordano's "Mala Vita." Here the hero is a young dyer whose dissolute habits have brought on tuberculosis of the lungs.

The principal object of his amours is the wife of a friend.