Schubert’s ‘Adieu’ in George Eliot’s <i>Daniel Deronda</i>

love of music is well known, and the role of music in her novels has been much discussed. 1 Music is especially significant in her last novel, Daniel Deronda (1876), since it is song that marks out key stages in the relationship between the eponymous protagonist and Mirah Lapidoth and signals the nature and values of these and other characters. 2 On their very first encounter, when Daniel rescues Mirah from the river Thames, the two are brought together by a shared song: Dantean lines from the final act of Rossini's Otello. 3 Daniel is subsequently charmed by Mirah's consummate vocal skills: She sang Beethoven's 'Per piet a non dirmi addio', with a subdued but searching pathos which had that essential of perfect singing, the making one oblivious of art or manner, and only possessing one with the song.It was the sort of voice that gives the impression of being meant like a bird's wooing for an audience near and beloved.Deronda began by looking at her, but felt himself presently covering his eyes with his hand, wanting to seclude the melody in darkness; then he refrained from what might seem oddity, and was ready to meet the look of mute appeal which she turned towards him at the end.'I think I never enjoyed a song more than that,' he said, gratefully.'You like my singing?I am so glad,' she said, with a smile of delight.