for the disguise to work. Mucius sets off. Publicola rewards Horatius' loyalty by entrusting him with the defence of the Pons Sublicius, the bridge across the River Tiber, while Publicola leads the main Roman army against the enemy. An envoy arrives from Porsenna, accompanied by Roman captives, including Horatius' son, young Horatius, whom he had believed dead. The envoy offers to hand over the captives if the Romans will accept their kings back. Horatius, his son and the assembled Romans flatly refuse this offer. The Etruscans attack and Horatius defends the bridge single-handedly while the Romans chop through it behind him. The bridge collapses and Horatius and the Etruscans plunge into the Tiber, but Horatius survives. Mucius Scaevola returns and tells how he had managed to gain access to Porsenna's camp, but instead of killing Porsenna he had struck down a courtier who had insulted Rome. He told Porsenna that he was one of 300 Romans who had vowed to kill him. Mucius had thrust his hand into the fire to punish it for the failure of his mission. Porsenna had been so impressed by this action that he had abandoned his attempt to conquer Rome. The opera ends with the return of the victorious Publicola, bringing back Horatius' son among the other freed captives. Music According to Arnault, Méhul described the austere style of Horatius Coclès as "iron music." The work has no roles for female soloists, a feature which is relatively rare in the history of opera but not so unusual among propaganda works of the French Revolutionary era. Elizabeth Bartlet comments that Méhul "did not hesitate to find a musical equivalent for 'fraternité' [i.e. fraternity, one of the chief French Revolutionary virtues]. In Horatius Coclès the little music for soloists, apart from recitative to advance the plot, is for the most part in the form of duos and trios, not solos." The D major overture, which has been described as Beethovian, was a favourite of Thomas Beecham and praised by Castil-Blaze as one of Méhul's best. Recording Overture only: Méhul Overtures, the Orchestre de Bretagne, conducted by Stefan Sanderling, ASV CD DCA 1140 (2002). References Sources Adélaïde de Place Étienne Nicolas Méhul (Bleu Nuit Éditeur, 2005) Elizabeth Bartlet, entry on Méhul in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians Malcolm Boyd (ed.) Music and the French Revolution (Cambridge University Press, 2008), includes the chapter "The new