in reach and he heartily entered into the brilliant art life of
the city, the more so as hitherto he had not enjoyed it though
possessing the desire and knowledge to do so. Although "Rienzi"
retained a certain degree of popularity, the "Flying Dutchman" however
had not really been understood, and the more it was heard, the less
was it appreciated. How could it be otherwise amid such a public as
then existed in Germany? In the upper and middle classes French novels
were the favorite literature, while the stage was controlled by French
and Italian operas. With all their superficiality they combined
perfection in the art of singing, but failed to awaken any sense
of the intrinsic worth of our own nature. There were but few of
sufficiently delicate feeling to perceive in this composition the
continuation of the noble aims of Mozart, Beethoven, and Weber. Wagner
himself while in Dresden was destined to continue the struggle against
all that was foreign as these three masters had done before him.
"Professional musicians admitted my poetic talent, poets conceded that
I possessed musical capacity," is the way he characterizes the
prevailing misunderstanding of his endeavors and his works, which
required a generation to overcome.

He constantly sought to direct public attention to the grander and
nobler compositions, such as Gluck's "Armide" and "Iphigenia in
Aulis," Weber's "Euryanthe" and "Freischuetz," Marschner's "Hans
Heiling," Spohr's "Jessonda," and other grand works for concerts, like
Beethoven's "Ninth Symphony" and Bach's "Singet dem Herrn ein neues
Lied," all of which were performed in a masterly manner, while such
compositions as Spontini's "Vestalin" he at least helped to display in
the best light. He was also very active in having Weber's remains
brought from London. He not only composed a funeral march, for the
obsequies, upon motives from "Euryanthe," which was very powerful in
effect, but he also has reminded posterity of what it possesses in
this the youngest German master of the musical stage. "No musician,
more thoroughly German than thou, has ever lived," he said at the
grave. "See, now the Briton does thee justice, the Frenchman admires
thee, but the German alone can love thee. Thou art his, a beautiful
day in his life, a warm drop of his blood, a part of his heart." Thus
at times he succeeded in arousing the public. But on the whole, his
ideas were not accepted, and it retained its accustomed views and
co