use of which forms, as it were, the
base upon which the entire structure of his later works rests. In those
early days he employed it with timidity, it is true, and with but a
half-hearted appreciation of the poetical effect which it commands; but
from that day forth each of his works shows a more complete command of
its resources, and a subtler instinct as to its employment. The
intrinsic musical interest of 'Der Fliegende Hollaender' is unequal.
Wagner had made great strides since the days of 'Rienzi,' but he had
still a vast amount to unlearn. Side by side with passages of vital
force and persuasive beauty there are dreary wastes of commonplace and
the most arid conventionality. The strange mixture of styles which
prevails in 'Der Fliegende Hollaender' makes it in some ways even less
satisfactory as a work of art than 'Rienzi,' which at any rate has the
merit of homogeneity. Wagner is most happily inspired by the sea. The
overture, as fresh and picturesque a piece of tone-painting as anything
he ever wrote, is familiar to all concert-goers, and the opening of the
first act is no less original. But perhaps the most striking part of the
opera, certainly the most characteristic, is the opening of the third
act, with its chain of choruses between the girls and the sailors. A
great deal of 'Der Fliegende Hollaender' might have been written by any
operatic composer of the time, but this scene bears upon it the
hall-mark of genius.

If 'Der Fliegende Hollaender' proved that the descriptive side of
Wagner's genius had developed more rapidly than the psychological, the
balance was promptly re-established in 'Tannhaeuser,' his next work. Much
of the music is picturesque and effective, even in the lowest sense, but
its strength lies in the extraordinary power which the composer displays
of individualising his characters--a power of which in 'Der Fliegende
Hollaender' there was scarcely a suggestion.

So far as mere form is concerned, 'Tannhaeuser' (1845) is far freer from
the conventionalities of the Italian school than 'Der Fliegende
Hollaender,' but this would not have availed much if Wagner's
constructive powers had not matured in so remarkable a way. It would
have been useless to sweep away the old conventions if he had had
nothing to set in their place. Apart from the strictly musical side of
the question, Wagner had in 'Tannhaeuser' a story of far deeper human
interest than the weird legend of the Dutchman, the tale whi