“This is that happy morn
And day, long-wishèd day,
Of all my life so dark
(If cruel stars have not my ruin sworn
And fates my hope betray),
Which purely white deserves
An everlasting diamond should it mark.
This is the morn should bring unto the grove
My love, to hear, and recompense my love.”
A short choral passage with tenor solo (“Fair King, who all preserves”) leads to a full rich chorus (“Now, Flora, deck thyself in fairest Guise”). In the next number the chorus returns to the opening theme (“Phœbus, Arise”), and develops it with constantly increasing power to the close.