"Tristan and Isolde" was produced in 1856, and his comic opera, "Die
Meistersinger von Nürnberg," three years later. In 1864 he received
the patronage of King Louis of Bavaria, which enabled him to complete
and perform his great work, "Der Ring der Nibelungen." He laid the
foundation of the new theatre at Baireuth in 1872, and in 1875 the
work was produced, and created a profound sensation all over the
musical world. "Parsifal," his last opera, was first performed in
1882. His works have aroused great opposition, especially among
conservative musicians, for the reason that he has set at defiance the
conventional operatic forms, and in carrying out his theory of making
the musical and dramatic elements of equal importance, and employing
the former as the language of the latter in natural ways, has made
musical declamation take the place of set melody, and swept away the
customary arias, duets, quartets, and concerted numbers of the Italian
school, to suit the dramatic exigencies of the situations. Besides his
musical compositions, he enjoys almost equal fame as a litterateur,
having written not only his own librettos, but four important
works,--"Art and the Revolution," "The Art Work of the Future," "Opera
and Drama," and "Judaism in Music." His music has made steady progress
through the efforts of such advocates as Liszt, Von Bülow, and Richter
in Germany, Pasdeloup in France, Hueffer in England, and Theodore
Thomas in the United States. In 1870 he married Frau Cosima von Bülow,
the daughter of Liszt,--an event which provoked almost as much comment
in social circles as his operas have in musical. He died during a
visit to Venice, Feb. 13, 1883.


RIENZI.

"Rienzi der letzte der Tribunen," a tragic opera in five acts, words