RICHARD WAGNER 341 not entirely on the music, but also on the poem and on the acting and staging as well. It will be seen that Wagner's theory is not new. All or most of it is contained in the theories of Gluck and others, who at various periods in the de- velopment of opera consciously strove after an ideal music drama. But the times were not ripe, and therefore such music could not exert its proper influ- ence. The twin arts of music and poetry, dissociated by the rapid advance of literature and the slow development of music, pursued their several paths alone. The attempt to reunite them in the end of the sixteenth century was futile, and only led to opera which never needed, and therefore did not employ, great poetry. In Germany music was developed along instrumental lines until the school arrived at its culmination in Beethoven ; and when an opera composer stopped to think on the eternal verities, the result must always have been such a prophecy of Wagner's work as we find in Mozart's letters : " October, 1781. — Verse indeed is indispensable for music, but rhyme is bad in its very nature. ... It would be by far the best if a good composer, under- standing the theatre and knowing how to produce a piece, and a clever poet, could be united in one. . . ." Other but comparatively unimportant features in the Wagner music drama are, e.g., the use of the Leitmotiv, or leading motive — found occasionally in Gluck, Mozart, Weber, etc., but here first adopted with a definite purpose, and the con- tention for mythological rather than historical subjects — now largely admitted. But all Wagner's principles would have been useless without the energy and per- severance which directed his work, the loving study which stored his memory with all the great works of his predecessors, and, above all, the genius which com- mands the admiration of the musical world. Wagner's works show a remarkable and progressive development. " Rienzi " is quite in the grand opera style of Meyerbeer, Spontini, etc. The " Flying Dutchman " is a deliberate departure from that style, and in romantic opera strikes out for itself a new line, which, followed still further in "Tannhauser,' reaches its stage of perfection in " Lohengrin." From this time dates the music drama, of which "Tristan" is the most uncompromising type, and by virtue of wonderful orchestration, and the intense pathos of the beautifully written poem, the most fascinating of all. The "Trilogy" (" Walkure," " Siegfried," " Gotter- dammerung," with the " Rheingold " as introduction) is a very unequal work. It is full of Wagner's most inspired writing and most marvellous orchestration ; but it is too long and too diffuse. The plot also is strangely confused and unin- teresting, and fails alike as a story and as a vehicle of theories, morals, or religion. " Parsifal," with its sacred allegory, its lofty nobility of tone, and its pure mys- ticism, stands on a platform by itself, and is almost above criticism, or praise, or blame. The libretto alone might have won Wagner immortality, so original is it and perfect in intention ; and the music seems to be no longer a mere ac- cessory to the effect, but the very essence and fragrance of the great conception.
