, natural in one, I
suppose, of a conquered tribe (the Saxons), to incorporate and
identify himself with his conquerors, and he glorified everything
Prussian as German, and everything German as perfect; but, even so
late as 1852, I cannot imagine that he quite understood what he meant
when he held forth on the subject of German art, its non-existence,
and--of all things--its supremacy. He certainly felt very keenly what
many members of every half-grown nation must feel--the necessity of
acquiring a national conscience, artistic or other; he wanted to
create an art-work which would appeal to the heart and understanding
of every German, and would make the Germans feel themselves one race,
an entity. Which, precisely, of the German races he would have
accepted in the new brotherhood of man I cannot say. But the point is
that Wagner longed to create, and in _Tannhaeuser_ thought he had
created, this universal work of art; and in declaring, as he did, that
he had achieved the feat, he was revealing the truth about himself. He
had thrown overboard Bellini, Donizetti, even Spontini and Marschner,
and by going back to his first idols, Beethoven and Weber (especially
Weber), he found his natural voice and mode of expression.
Paradoxically, _Tannhaeuser_, while one of his least original
compositions--owing as much to Weber as ever one composer had owed to
another--is one of his most original. He spoke the matter that was in
his own heart, but he freely, without self-consciousness, used the
Weber idiom.

Before examining the means by which the varying atmospheres of the
different scenes are got, I ask the reader to notice the way in which
the rather pointless, inexpressive melody of the _Dutchman_ appears
now again, but so transformed as to be scarce recognizable. Compare
the musical illustration (_o_) on page 119 with (_a_) at the end of
this chapter. The type of tune is the same, but the first is
commonplace and not quite worthy of the situation in which it occurs;
the second has a glorious, though dignified, swing, and thoroughly
expresses the words of welcome which Wolfram addresses to the errant
Tannhaeuser. Compare Daland's song in the _Dutchman_ with Wolfram's
description of how Elisabeth has pined, or Senta's last passages in
the final scene with Elisabeth's salute to the hall of song. We feel
at once how, by dropping Italian, French and mediocre German models,
and writing in the way that came natural to him, Wagner at on