handsome
hero to form the object and centre of a work of art and to convey to
us in its fullness and beauty the purely human idea as Wagner
conceived it. How he found and interpreted this Siegfried, he has told
us in the pamphlet, "The Wibelungen, History from Legend" which
appeared in 1850.

The delight produced by the discovery of this "actor of reality,
this man in the fullness of highest and boundless power and most
indisputable loveliness" revealed to him by his Elsa, only intensified
for the present at least the feeling that in his best efforts and his
knowledge he stood sadly alone. His longing was intense, the more so
that in this actual life he could accomplish his purpose as Faust
says:

"The God, who in my breast resides,
He can not change external forces."

This longing grew until it seemed as if self-annihilation alone could
bring relief, and then appeared to him the image of Him whose death
brought salvation to mankind. He conceived the idea of picturing a
human "Jesus of Nazareth," to represent the universal rejection,
in all its malignity and rancor, to which Jesus fell a victim.
The reflection, however, that he certainly could not secure a
representation of his work under existing circumstances, and the
additional fact that after the Revolution, which seemed bound to
destroy every favorable condition, such a declaration of internal
struggle would have counted for nothing, induced him to leave the plan
unexecuted. Besides, in this year (1848), he had already finished
"Siegfried's Death," in its poetic form, and had even sketched some of
the musical thoughts connecting with that new world, to which he had
looked forward with such buoyant hope. At last came also the complete
rupture with the world that surrounded him, even while he was devoting
the best endeavors of his life to it. Wagner himself informs us of the
clear insight he had gained into the nature of the political movement.
Either the old state of things must remain intact or the new must
sweep it entirely away. He recognized the approach of the catastrophe
which was certain to engulf every one who was in earnest and unselfish
enough to desire a change of the deplorable conditions so generally
felt. The ancient spirit of a decayed past had outlived itself and
openly and insolently offered defiance to the existing and ruling
conditions. Knowing well the unavoidable decision which he would have
to form, he ceased all productive activ