on and something like regular study.

When he first wished to marry, he could not for lack of money to
provide a home for his wife. In time this difficulty was overcome, and
later he started to London with his wife and his dog, which was named
Robber. The terrors of that voyage impressed him so much that he was
inspired with the idea for "The Flying Dutchman," one of his great
operas. He was told the legend of "The Flying Dutchman" by the
sailors; but long before he was able to write that splendid opera he
was compelled to write music for the variety stage in order to feed
his wife and himself. He wrote articles for musical periodicals, and
did a great deal of what is known as "hack" work before his great
genius found opportunity. One manager liked the dramatic idea of "The
Flying Dutchman" so well that he was willing to buy it if Wagner would
let him get _some one who knew how to write music_, to set it.

After the production of "Rienzi" in Dresden, his difficulties were
never again so serious, and soon he became _Hofkapellmeister_ (musical
director at court), which gave him an income, leaving him free to
write operas as he chose.

When "Rienzi" was produced, a great musician said: "This is a man of
genius; but he has already _done more than he can_! Listen to me, and
give up dramatic composition!" But he continued to "do more than he
could."

When he wrote "Tannhaeuser" he was reduced almost to despair, for
nobody liked it. Schumann said of it: "It is the empty and unpleasing
music of an amateur." But Spohr wrote: "The opera contains certain new
and fine things, which at first I did not like, but to which I became
accustomed on repeated hearings."

At last, this composer, whose inspirations had come entirely from
historical subjects, found his mythological beginnings in the
Scandinavian Eddas; and in a poem of the "Nibelung" he found the germ
of "Siegfried."

As _Kapellmeister_ of the court, Wagner did too many indiscreet
things: allied himself with revolutionists and the like; and, before
he knew it, he found himself an exile. Liszt was his friend, and when,
on a visit to Weimar, politics made his presence hazardous, Liszt got
him a passport which took him out of the country. He did not return
for twelve years.

During his exile, which was passed mostly in Zurich, he had Karl
Ritter and Hans von Buelow for pupils, and it was there that he did all
of his most wonderful work. There he composed the "Nibelung Ri