[Illustration: THE RHINE MAIDENS.]


THE NIBELUNG'S RING.--RHEINGOLD.


It was in 1848, after the completion of Tannhäuser, that Wagner
looked about for a subject for a new opera. Then 'for the last
time the conflicting claims of History and Legend presented
themselves.' He had studied the story of Barbarossa, intending
to make use of it, but discarded it in favour of the Nibelungen
Myths, which he decided to dramatise.[1] His first effort was
an alliterative poem entitled 'The Death of Siegfried,' which,
however, was soon set aside, a part of it only being incorporated
in 'The Twilight [or Dusk] of the Gods.'

Wagner was then dwelling in Dresden, and planning the
organisation of a national theatre; but the political troubles
of 1849, which resulted in his banishment, soon defeated all
these hopes. After a short sojourn in Paris, Wagner took up
his abode in Zurich, where he became a naturalised citizen, and
where he first turned all his attention to the principal work
of his life,--'The Nibelungen Ring.' In connection with this
work Wagner himself wrote: 'When I tried to dramatise the most
important moment of the mythos of the Nibelungen in Siegfried's
Tod, I found it necessary to indicate a vast number of antecedent
facts, so as to put the main incidents in the proper light. But
I could only _narrate_ these subordinate matters, whereas I felt
it imperative that they should be embodied in the action. Thus