particular need. Wagner had sent the score of _Lohengrin_ to Liszt, and
it was produced at Weimar in 1850. It presently went from opera-house to
opera-house, and everywhere triumphed, so that a few years later Wagner
could complain that he was probably the only German who had not heard
it. In 1853 he published the words of _The Nibelung's Ring_, which
aroused the premature ire of those who did not know how he intended to
treat it musically.

I may here say that my ear is not sufficiently attuned nor my mind
accustomed to the subtleties of German for me to offer any judgment on
the prosody of Wagner's librettos. So far as I can understand them, they
are uncouth enough. On the other hand, dramatically they are admirably
constructed; and when we compare the words with the completed musical
setting we can see how the drama was, so to speak, always latent; the
words are as an invisible writing, on which the music is poured like a
liquid, and out starts the drama, unmistakable and irresistible.

In 1855 Wagner went to London to conduct a season of the Philharmonic
Society. That body invited him on the recommendation of Sainton, the
violinist, and the season was one of its most successful. The feuds that
arose, and the newspaper and other squabblings, have small interest for
us now; but it is certain that the finer spirits appreciated, or partly
appreciated, him, and Royalty flattered him. Into this period comes the
Paris performance of _Tannhäuser_, which was a disgraceful failure--I
mean disgraceful to the Parisians, and especially to their Jockey Club,
which resolutely went to work to prevent the music being heard by
cat-calls and shoutings. The event was not of any great artistic
importance--indeed, it is hardly worth calling an event; it was only
one more sin on the soul of a musically benighted people.