n't that music?

GERARDO. Possibly.

DUeHRING (striking two chords). Isn't that something more than the
_Trumpeter of Saekkingen_?

GERARDO, Your confidence compels me to be candid. I cannot imagine how
I could use my influence with any benefit to you.

DUeHRING. In other words you mean to tell me that it is antiquated
music.

GERARDO. I would much rather call it modern music.

DUeHRING. Or modern music. Pardon my slip of the tongue, Mr. Gerardo.
It's what will happen when one gets old. You see, one manager will
write me: We cannot use your opera, it is antiquated music--and another
writes: We cannot use it because it is modern music. In plain language
both mean the same: We don't want any opera of yours, because as a
composer _you don't count_.

GERARDO. I am a Wagner singer, Sir, I am no critic. If you want to see
your opera performed, you had better apply to those who are paid for
knowing what is good and what is bad. My judgment in such matters,
don't doubt that for a moment, Sir, counts the less, the more I am
recognized and esteemed as a singer.

DUeHRING. My dear Mr. Gerardo, you may rest assured, I don't believe in
your judgment either. What do I care for your judgment! I think I know
what to expect of a tenor. I am playing this opera to you to make you
say: I'll sing your Hermann! I'll sing your Hermann!

GERARDO. It won't avail you anything. I must do what I am asked to do;
I am bound by my contracts. You can afford to stand down in the street
for a week. A day more or less makes no difference to you. But if _I_
do not leave here by the next train, my prospects in this world are
ruined. May be, in another world they will engage singers who break
their contracts! My chains are drawn more tightly than the harness of a
carriage horse. If anybody, even an absolute stranger, asks me
for material assistance lie will find I have an open hand, although the
sacrifice of happiness my calling exacts of me is not paid for with
five hundred thousand francs a year. But if you ask of me the slightest
assertion of personal liberty, you are expecting too much of a slave
such as I am. I _can not_ sing your Hermann as long as you don't count
as a composer.

DUeHRING. Please, Sir, let me continue. It will give you a desire for
the part.

GERARDO. If you but knew, Sir, how often I have a desire for things
which I must deny myself and how often I must assume burdens for which
I have not the least desire! I have absol