The first act opens in Oberon’s bower with a melodious chorus of fairies and genii ("Light as fairy Feet can fall"), followed by a solo for Oberon ("Fatal Oath"), portraying his melancholy mood, and “The Vision,” a quaint, simple melody by Reiza ("Oh! why art thou sleeping?"), which leads up to a splendid ensemble ("Honor and Joy to the True and the Brave"), containing a solo for Oberon, during which the scene suddenly changes from the fairy bower to the city of Bagdad.  Huon has a grand scena ("Oh! ’t is a Glorious Sight"), a composition in several movements beginning with a dramatic bravura illustrative of the scenes of the battlefield, and closing with a joyous, brisk allegretto ("Joy to the high-born Dames of France").  The finale begins with an aria by Reiza ("Yes, my Lord"), in the Italian style, passing into a duet for Reiza and Fatima, and closing with the chorus ("Now the Evening Watch is set.”)

The second act opens with a characteristic chorus ("Glory to the Caliph"), the music of which has been claimed by some critics as genuinely Moorish, though it is probable that Weber only imitated that style in conformity to the demands of the situation.  A little march and three melodramatic passages lead up to an arietta for Fatima ("A lovely Arab Maid"), beginning with a very pleasing minor and closing in a lively major.  This leads directly to the lovely quartet, “Over the Dark Blue Waters,”—­one of the most attractive numbers in the opera.  It is a concerted piece for two sopranos, tenor, and bass, opening with two responsive solos in duet, first for the bass and tenor, and then for the two sopranos, the voices finally uniting in a joyous and animated movement of great power.  The music now passes to the supernatural, and we have Puck’s invocation to the spirits, whom he summons to raise a storm and sink the vessel in which the lovers have embarked.  Puck’s recitative is very powerful, and the chorus of the spirits in response, a very rapid presto movement, is in its way as effective as the incantation music in “Der Freischuetz.”  The storm rises, the orchestra being the medium of the description, which is very graphic and effective.  Huon has a short prayer ("Ruler of this Awful Hour"), which is impressively solemn, and then follows Reiza’s magnificent apostrophe to the sea ("Ocean, thou mighty Monster that liest curled like a green Serpent round about the World").  The scene is heroic in its construction, and its effective performance calls for the highest artistic power.  It represents the gradual calm of the angry waters, the breaking of the sun through the gloom, and the arrival of a boat to the succor of the distressed Reiza.  The immense effect of the scene is greatly enhanced by the descriptive instrumentation, especially in the allegro describing the rolling of the billows and the recitative and succeeding andante picturing the outburst of the sun.  The mermaid’s song ("Oh! ’t is pleasant"), with its wavy, flowing melody, forms a fitting pendant to this great picture of elementary strife; and a delicate and graceful chorus closes the act.