was so long, however, that the first representation lasted
from six o'clock to midnight. But when Wagner would fain have
made excisions, the artists themselves strenuously opposed him,
and preferred to give the opera in two successive evenings. At
the third representation Wagner himself conducted with such
success that 'he was the hero of the day.' This great triumph
was reviewed with envy by the admirers of the Italian school of
music, and some critics went so far in their partisanship as to
denounce the score as 'blatant, and at times almost vulgar.'
Notwithstanding these adverse criticisms, the opera continued
to be played with much success at Dresden, and was produced at
Berlin some years later, and at Vienna in 1871.

As Wagner's subsequent efforts have greatly surpassed this first
work, 'Rienzi' is not often played, and has seldom been produced
in America, I believe owing principally to its great length.
The scene of 'Rienzi' is laid entirely in the streets and Capitol
of Rome, in the middle of the fourteenth century, when the city
was rendered unsafe by the constant dissensions and brawls among
the noble families. Foremost among these conflicting elements
were the rival houses of Colonna and Orsini, and, as in those
days each nobleman kept an armed retinue within a fortified
enclosure in town, he soon became a despot. Fearing no one,
consulting only his own pleasure and convenience, he daily
sallied forth to plunder, kidnap, and murder at his will.
Such being the state of affairs, the streets daily flowed
with blood; the merchants no longer dared open their shops and
expose their wares lest they should be summarily carried away,
and young and pretty women scarcely dared venture out of their
houses even at noonday, lest they should be seen and carried