Orestes is brought on by the priestesses, and while
urging Iphigenia to deal the blow, blesses her for the pity which stays
her hand. Just as the knife is about to descend, the dying words of
Orestes, 'Was it thus thou didst perish in Aulis, Iphigenia my sister?'
bring about the inevitable recognition, and the brother and sister rush
into each other's arms. But Thoas has yet to be reckoned with. He is
furious at the interruption of the sacrifice, and is about to execute
summary vengeance upon both Iphigenia and Orestes, when Pylades returns
with an army of Greek youths--whence he obtained them is not
explained--and despatches the tyrant in the nick of time. The opera
ends with the appearance of Pallas Athene, the patroness of Argos, who
bids Orestes and his sister return to Greece, carrying with them the
image of Diana, too long disgraced by the barbarous rites of the
Scythians.
'Echo et Narcisse,' an opera cast in a somewhat lighter mould, which was
produced in 1779, seems to have failed to please, and 'Iphigenie en
Tauride' may be safely taken as the climax of Gluck's career. It is the
happiest example of his peculiar power, and shows more convincingly than
any of its predecessors where the secret of his greatness really lay. He
was the first composer who treated an opera as an integral whole. He was
inferior to many of his predecessors, notably to Handel, in musical
science, and even in power of characterisation.
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