that you would adhere to,
exclusively?'

"_Ludwig_. 'I certainly think the Romantic Opera the only perfect kind,
because it is only in the realm of the Romantic that music is at home.
Of course you will understand that I profoundly despise that miserable
class of productions in which silly, _un_spiritual spirits appear, and
where wonders are heaped upon wonders, without rhyme or reason, merely
for the delectation of the _eyes_ of the musical groundlings. It is
only a poet of true genius who can write the book of a proper Romantic
Opera; for none other can bring the wonders of the Spirits-World into
this life of ours. On his wings we soar across the gulf which divides
us from it. We grow to feel at home in that strange land; we give
belief to the marvels which, as necessary results of the influence of
higher natures on our personality, we see taking place; and we
comprehend all the powerful incidents and situations which fill us with
awe and horror, and also with the highest rapture. It is, in one word,
the magical power of Poetical Truth which the poet who would represent
those marvels must have at his command; for it is that alone which can
carry us away: and a mere collection of meaningless fairies, who (as is
the case in so many productions of the kind) are introduced only to
dance about the _pagliasso_ in flesh-coloured skin-tights,--foolish
absurdities as they are,--will always leave us indifferent and
uninterested. In an opera the effect produced upon us by the influence
of higher beings should take place _visibly_, so as to display before
our eyes a romantic life, or condition of existence, in which the
_language_, too, is more highly potentiated; or rather, is derived from
that distant realm: in other words, is _sung music_: ay! where the
scenes and incidents, too, hovering and soaring about in grand and
beautiful tones, and masses of tones, seize us and carry us away with
irresistible might. It is in this way that, as I said before, the music
ought to take its rise and origin straight out of the poem, as a
necessary sequence, or consequence.'

"_Ferdinand_. 'Now I quite understand you; and I think, at once, of
Tasso and Ariosto. Still, it seems to me, it would be no easy matter to
write a musical drama as you would postulate it.'

"_Ludwig_. 'It is work for a real romantic poet, of true genius. Think
of the splendid Gozzi! in his dramatic legends he has completely
fulfilled the conditions which I have laid