to be a representation in chronological order of the chief
incidents described in the Old and New Testaments. He would be willing
to include in his scheme Biblical operas already existing, if they were
not all, with the exception of Mehul's "Joseph," made unfit by their
treatment of sacred matters, especially by their inclusion of love
episodes which brought them into the domain of secular opera.

For years, while on his concert tours in various countries, Rubinstein
labored to put his plan into operation. Wherever he found a public
accustomed to oratorio performances he inquired into the possibility of
establishing his sacred theatre there. He laid the project before the
Grand Duke of Weimar, who told him that it was feasible only in large
cities. The advice sent him to Berlin, where he opened his mind to the
Minister of Education, von Muhler. The official had his doubts; sacred
operas might do for Old Testament stories, but not for New; moreover,
such a theatre should be a private, not a governmental, undertaking. He
sought the opinion of Stanley, Dean of Westminster Abbey, who said that
he could only conceive a realization of the idea in the oldtime popular
manner, upon a rude stage at a country fair.

For a space it looked as if the leaders of the Jewish congregations in
Paris would provide funds for the enterprise so far as it concerned
itself with subjects taken from the Old Dispensation; but at the last
they backed out, fearing to take the initiative in a matter likely to
cause popular clamor. "I even thought of America," says Rubinstein, "of
the daring transatlantic impresarios, with their lust of enterprise,
who might be inclined to speculate on a gigantic scale with my idea. I
had indeed almost succeeded, but the lack of artists brought it to pass
that the plans, already in a considerable degree of forwardness, had to
be abandoned. I considered the possibility of forming an association of
composers and performing artists to work together to carry on the
enterprise materially, intellectually, and administratively; but the
great difficulty of enlisting any considerable number of artists for
the furtherance of a new idea in art frightened me back from this
purpose also." In these schemes there are evidences of Rubinstein's
willingness to follow examples set by Handel as well as Wagner. The
former composed "Judas Maccabaeus" and "Alexander Balus" to please the
Jews who had come to his help when he made financial