Madame Flora is terrified when she perceives a supernatural presence during one of her fraudulent séances. Menotti's first international success, "The Medium" is a tragedy in two acts for five singers, a dance-mime role, and a chamber opera for thirteen instruments and fourteen players: flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, percussion, piano (4 hands), and string quintet. The music is dissonant, eerie, and morbid and includes melodies such as 'O, black swan.'