has appeared in print from this opera: "Who does
not rejoice in our pleasure plunge the knife into his breast!"

There were, it will be observed, two radically different
possibilities of development. The "sacred fervor of his sensitive
soul," which he had nourished with the German instrumental music, had
encountered the tendency to sensualism, and, as we find so often in
Wagner's works, these two elements of our nature were powerfully
portrayed, with the victory ever remaining to the judicious and
serious conception of life. Struggles and sorrows of various kinds
were to bring this "sacred earnestness" again into the foreground, to
remain there forever afterward.

In the autumn of 1834, during which this text had been written, Wagner
accepted the position of Kapellmeister at the Magdeburg theatre and
thus entered the field of practical activity. The position suited him
and he soon proved himself an able director, especially for the stage.
His skill in music, composed for the passing moment, soon gained for
him the desired success and induced him to compose the music to the
"Liebesverbot." "It often gave me a childish pleasure to rehearse
these light, fashionable operas, and to stand at the director's desk
and let the thing loose to the right and left," he tells us. He did
not seek in the least to avoid the French style but on the contrary
felt confident, that an actress like Schroeder-Devrient could even
in such frivolous music invest his _Isabella_ with dignity and
value. With such expectations in art and life before him, he took
unhesitatingly the serious step of engaging himself to Mina Planer, a
beautiful actress at the Magdeburg theatre, who unfortunately however
was never destined to appreciate his nobler aspirations.

In the spring of 1836, before the dissolution of the Magdeburg troupe,
an overhasty presentation of his opera was given, the only one that
ever took place. It was said of it by one: "There is much in it, and
it is very pleasing. There is that music and melody, which we so
rarely find in our distinctive German operas." He had himself for some
time completely neglected "The Fairies." The score of both operas is
in the possession of King Louis of Bavaria. They were to be followed
by one destined to survive--"Rienzi."

He had sought in vain to secure a performance of the "Liebesverbot,"
first in Leipzig, then in Berlin. In the latter city he saw one of
Spontini's operas performed and for the first t