to rescue the mind of man from its deep degradation. In the merely
superficial culture, which the Semitic-Gallic spirit had impressed
upon the period, and with which it held all Europe as in a net of
iron, he saw only utter frivolity. The great revolution had brought
about many political and social reforms but the liberation of the
soul, like that accomplished by the Reformation, it had not effected.
There was a material condition and mental tendency which he afterward,
not without reason, compared with the times of the Roman emperors.
Heine and his associates formed the literary centre, but even more
effective in its influence was Meyerbeer's grand opera. The imperious
sway of fashion had usurped the place of real culture and the problem
was therefore again to elevate culture with his art to its proper
sphere. He became more and more conscious of a mission which went far
beyond the realm of mere art-work. Even in this foreign land, which
had treated him so coldly and with such hostile egoism, he was to find
the ways and means to carry out his mission and to create for us
actual human beings instead of phantoms. In his "Parisian Fatalities,"
Wagner said of the Germans in Paris that they learned anew to
appreciate their mother tongue and to strengthen their patriotic
feeling. "Rienzi" was an illustration of this patriotic sentiment. He
now resolved to produce this composition for Dresden and the thought
gave him fresh zeal for work. Elsewhere, he says of the Germans: "As
much as they generally dread the return to their native land, they yet
pine away from it with homesickness." Longing for home! Had he not
once before beheld a being wasting away in the constant longing for
the eternal home and yet destined never to find rest? The "Flying
Dutchman" recurred to his imagination and to the outward form of the
ever-wandering seaman was added the human heart, constantly longing
for love and faithfulness. After having come to an understanding with
Heine, he rapidly arranged the material of this Wandering Jew of the
sea. A fortunate circumstance, the return of Meyerbeer to Paris, even
gave promise that the work might secure a hearing at the grand opera.

That he might be at rest while engaged on this work he earned his
daily bread by arranging popular operas for cornet-a-piston. He
submitted to this deep humiliation for he was conscious of the prize
to be obtained by "serving." A partial compensation in thus working
for hire he