the majority of the audience, acquired historical interest from close
association with "William Tell." It was something of an anomaly that,
though Rossini's opera had made its appearance during the many years of
Italian domination whenever a tenor came who could be counted on to make
a sensation with his high notes in the familiar trio of men, Auber's
opera, its inspiration as a type, had had so few representations that
it had passed out of memory except for its overture. But the history
of "La Muette" is full of anomalies. Its story is Neapolitan and there
is Neapolitan color in its music; but it is nothing if not French. It
inspired Rossini to write "William Tell" and Meyerbeer to write "Les
Huguenots" for the French stage, and is the masterpiece of its author;
but Auber is the only Frenchman among the great composers for the
Académie in the first half of the nineteenth century. Wagner defended it
against the taste of the Parisians, who preferred Rossini and Donizetti,
and was snubbed for his pains by the editor of the Gazette Musicale,
who was an officer of the French government. Von Weber condemned as
coarse the instrumentation which Wagner praised for its fire and
truthfulness. Its heroine is dumb; yet to her is assigned the loveliest
music in the score.

"Lohengrin" better than "Tannhäuser" gave the public an opportunity to
study the change in matter and spirit which had been introduced into
local opera by the coming of the Germans to the Metropolitan.

Mme. Materna's first appearance on January 5th was followed by a second
on January 7th as Valentine in "Les Huguenots," and a third on January
16th in Halévy's "La Juive." By this time Dr. Damrosch was ready with
the first of the large Wagnerian productions which were a part of the
dream which it was fated should be realized, not by him, but by his
successor, whose name was thereby made illustrious in the operatic