Act II. In a valley by a lake _Arnold_ and _Matilda_ meet and again pledge their love. _Arnold_ learns from _Tell_ and _Walter_ that his father has been slain by _Gessler's_ order. His thoughts turn to vengeance. The three men bind themselves by oath to free Switzerland. The cantons gather and swear to throw off the Austrian yoke.
Act III. The market-place in Altdorf. It is the hundredth anniversary of Austrian rule in Switzerland. Fittingly to celebrate the day _Gessler_ has ordered his hat to be placed on top of a pole. The Swiss are commanded to make obeisance to the hat. _Tell_ comes along holding his son _Jemmy_ by the hand. He refuses to pay homage to the hat. As in him is also recognized the man who saved _Leuthold_, he must be punished. _Gessler_ cynically orders him to shoot an apple from _Jemmy's_ head. The shot succeeds. Fearless, as before, _Tell_ informs _Gessler_ that the second arrow was intended for him, had the first missed its mark. _Tell's_ arrest is ordered, but the armed Swiss, who have risen against Austria, approach. _Gessler_ falls by _Tell's_ shot; the fight ends with the complete victory for the Swiss. _Matilda_ who still loves _Arnold_ finds refuge in his arms.
"Guillaume Tell" is the only opera by an Italian of which it can be said that the overture has gained world-wide fame, and justly so, while the opera itself is so rarely heard that it may almost be said to have passed out of the repertoire. Occasionally it is revived for the benefit of a high tenor like Tamagno. In point of fact, however, it is too good a work to be made the vehicle of a single operatic star. It is a question if, with a fine ensemble, "Guillaume Tell" could not be restored to the list of operas regularly given. Or, is it one of those works more famous than effective; and is that why, at this point I am reminded of a passage in Whistler's "Ten O'clock"? The painter is writing of art and of how little its spirit is affected by the personality of the artist, or even by the character of a whole people.
"A whimsical goddess," he writes, "and a capricious, her strong sense of joy tolerates no dullness, and, live we never so spotlessly, still may she turn her back upon us.