The Emir’s slaves begin to dance, and after a second blast on the horn, Oberon and Titania appear. The Tunisians flee, the lovers are transported to Charlemagne’s court, and Huon is pardoned. Music and noted arias Comparing the unconventional plot and structure of Oberon with that of The Magic Flute, Gustav Kobbé contends that 'Oberon is musically strong enough to stand on its own merits'. Grove notes that despite the "unmitigated awfulness" of the libretto, Weber was able to provide musical characterisation for the main characters, at the same time colourfully evoking the mood of the different scenes; the careful recurring use of the horn call motif helps to give the impression of tying the work together. The fairy strands of the opera are given in delicate, beautifully orchestrated music that often anticipates the fairy music of Mendelssohn. Indeed, Mendelssohn quoted the descending scale theme from the finale of act 2 ("Hark, the mermaids") in his own overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream. It is not clear whether Mendelssohn planned his entire overture as a tribute to Weber. The most famous numbers are the overture (passages of which are quoted by Berlioz in his Treatise on Instrumentation) which is played regularly in the concert hall - it is based on themes from within the opera including the magic horn call; and the soprano Reiza's aria "Ocean, thou mighty monster: ("Ozean, du Ungeheuer"). Fatima's aria "A lonely Arab maid" ("Arabiens einsam Kind"). Fatima's aria "O Araby!" ("Arabien, mein Heimathland!) Huon's aria "Ah! 'tis a glorious sight to see" (excluded from the German score) Huon's aria "From boyhood trained" ("Von Jugend auf in der Kampf") Huon's aria "I revel in hope and joy" ("Ich jub'le in Glück") Huon's Prayer "Ruler of this awful hour" ("Vater! Hör' mich flehn zu Dir!") Oberon's aria "Fatal vow!" ("Schreckens Schwur!") Reiza's aria "Mourn thou, poor heart" ("Traure mein Herz") Reiza's aria "Ocean, thou mighty monster" ("Ozean, du Ungeheuer") Recordings The first commercial recording was in German, and was conducted by Rafael Kubelík, whose cast featured Birgit Nilsson as Reiza and Plácido Domingo as Sir Huon of Bordeaux (Deutsche Grammophon, Cat.# J306, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Herkulessaal, Munich, 1970, studio recording.) There have been several other recordings, such as those by James Conlon (Mahler's version) on EMI, Marek Janowski (a note-complete recording) for RCA, and Sir John Eliot Gardiner (the original English version on period instruments) for