r indeed would have
been possible to them separately. In his autobiography, speaking of
his early experiences as conductor, he says:

"The peculiar, gnawing feeling that oppressed me in conducting our
ordinary opera, was often interrupted by an indescribable enthusiastic
feeling of happiness, when here and there, in the performance of
nobler works, I became thoroughly conscious, in the midst of the
representation, of the incomparable influence of dramatic-musical
combinations--an influence of such depth, fervor and life, as no other
art is capable of producing.

"That such impressions, which, with the rapidity of lightning, made
clear to me undreamed-of possibilities, could constantly renew
themselves for me--this was the thing which bound me to the theater,
much as the typical spirit of our operatic performances filled me with
disgust. Among especially strong impressions of this character, I
remember the hearing of an opera, by Spontini, in Berlin, under that
master's own direction; and I felt myself, too, thoroughly elevated
and ennobled for a time, when I was teaching a small opera company
Mehul's noble 'Joseph.' And when, twenty years ago, I spent some time
in Paris, the performances at the Grand Opera could not fail by the
perfection of their musical and dramatic _mise en scene_ to exercise a
most dazzling and exciting influence upon me. But greatest of all was
the effect produced upon me in early youth by the artistic efforts
of a dramatic singer of (in my eyes) entirely unsurpassed
merit--Schroeder-Devrient. The incomparable dramatic talent of this
woman, the inimitable harmony and strong individuality of her
representations, which I studied with eyes and ears, filled me with a
fascination that had a decisive influence on my whole artistic career.
The possibilities of such a performance were revealed to me, and with
her in view, there grew up in my mind a legitimate demand, not for
musical-dramatic representation alone, but for the _poetic-musical
conception_ of a work of art, to which I could hardly continue to give
the name of 'opera.'"

[Illustration: Fig. 79.

MME. SCHROeDER-DEVRIENT (1804-1860).]

Soon after his removal to Zurich, he commenced to compose the libretto
of the "Nibelung's Ring." This work was founded on the famous old
German poem, "_Die Nibelungen Lied_," but with very important
modifications of Wagner's own. It is divided into four works. In the
first, "_Das Rheingold_," the gold of the