are founded far more directly
upon the methods and system of Wagner. Yet it would be unjust to dismiss
him as a mere plagiarist. In his first work, 'Die Koenigin von Saba'
(1875), there is a great deal which is entirely independent of Wagner's
or any one else's influence. The plot of the work has really nothing
Biblical about it, and if the names of the characters were changed, the
work might be produced to-morrow at Covent Garden without offending the
most puritanical susceptibilities. Sulamith, the daughter of the high
priest, is to wed Assad, a Jewish warrior, upon his return from a
military expedition, but Assad has fallen in with the Queen of Sheba on
her way to Jerusalem, and her charms have proved fatal to his constancy.
Sulamith is prepared to forgive him, but his love for the queen is
irresistible, and even at the altar he leaves Sulamith for her embraces.
Finally Assad is banished to the desert, where he is overwhelmed by a
sandstorm. 'Die Koenigin von Saba' is a strong and effective opera. The
local colour is managed very skilfully, and the orchestration is novel
and brilliant. Yet there is very little of that indefinable quality,
which we call sincerity, about the score. It was happily described at
its production as a clever imitation of good music. The influence of
Wagner is strongest in the love music, which owes much to 'Tristan und
Isolde,' 'Merlin' (1886), Goldmark's second opera, has not been as
successful in Germany as 'Die Koenigin von Saba,' The libretto, which is
founded upon the Arthurian legend of Merlin and Vivien, shows many
points of resemblance to Wagner's later works, and the music follows his
system of guiding themes far more closely than in the earlier work.
'Merlin' may stand as an instance of the unfortunate influence which a
man of Wagner's power and originality exercises upon his contemporaries.
There is little in it which cannot be traced more or less directly to a
prototype in the works of Wagner, and it need scarcely be said that
Goldmark does not improve upon his model In 'Das Heimchen am Herd'
(1896), the libretto of which is founded upon Dickens's famous story
'The Cricket on the Hearth,' Goldmark seems to have tried to emulate the
success of Humperdinck's 'Haensel und Gretel,' There are suggestions in
it, too, of the influence of Smetana who dawned upon the Viennese
horizon in 1890. In this work, which has been performed with great
success in Germany, and was produced in English