in his musical studies. This was
Theodore Weinlig, who had been cantor at the Thomasschule in Leipzig,
since 1823 and was therefore, so to speak, bred in the spirit and
genius of the great Sebastian Bach. He possessed that attribute of a
good teacher which leads the scholar imperceptibly into the very heart
of his study. In less than a year the young scholar had mastered the
most difficult problems of counterpoint, and was dismissed by his
teacher as perfectly competent in his art. How highly Wagner esteemed
him is shown by the fact that his "Liebesmahl der Apostel," his only
work in the nature of an oratorio, is dedicated to "Frau Charlotte
Weinlig, the widow of my never-to-be-forgotten teacher." During this
time he also composed a sonata and a polonaise, both of which were
free from bombast and simple and natural in their musical form. More
important than all, Wagner now began to understand Mozart and learned
to admire him. He was at last on the path which subsequently was to
lead him, even nearer than Beethoven came, to that mighty cantor of
Leipzig, who by his art has disclosed for all time the depths of our
inner life and sanctified them.

For the present it was Beethoven, whose art unfolded itself before
him, and now that his own knowledge was firmly grounded, aided him to
become a composer. "I doubt whether there has ever been a young
musician more familiar with Beethoven's works than was Wagner, then
eighteen years of age," says Dorn of this period. Wagner himself says
in his "Deutscher Musiker in Paris:" "I knew no greater pleasure than
that of throwing myself so completely into the depths of this genius
that I imagined I had become a part of him." He copied the master's
overtures and the Ninth symphony, the latter causing him to sob
violently, but at the same time rousing his highest enthusiasm. He
now also fully comprehended Mozart, especially his Jupiter symphony.
"In the genius of our fatherland, pure in feeling and chaste in
inspiration, he saw the sacred heritage wherewith the German, under
any skies and whatever language he might speak, would be certain to
preserve the innate grandeur of his race," is his opinion of Mozart
expressed in Paris a few years afterward. "I strove for clearness and
power," he says of this period of his youth, and an overture and a
symphony soon demonstrated that he had really grasped the models.
After twenty years of personal activity in this high school of art, he
succeeded