s, until in the
last outburst it is blazing and crackling as though it had gone as
completely mad as Tannhaeuser himself. The whole thing, with the
reservation I have made, must be admitted to be consummately managed
from the composer's as well as from the dramatist's point of view.

What follows needs little discussion. Wagner knew quite well how to
represent a row on the stage without passing beyond the limits of what
is music. Here we have ample energy, but nothing demanding closer
notice until Elisabeth's interposition. Then at once we get stuff on a
high level. The culmination is reached in a series of melodies hardly
to be matched for pathetic beauty; the orchestra seems to throb with
emotion--a device which Wagner often employed extensively in the
_Ring_--the chorus join in, and a wondrous effect is obtained. The
ensemble is the last piece of this description Wagner was destined to
write. It is pure emotion, and not dramatic--that is, not
theatrical--and its warrant is that the drama at the moment is nothing
but a drama of emotions in conflict. The only musical-and-dramatic
effect now occurs where the voices of the young pilgrims are heard: it
is electrical.

Wagner gave a title to the prelude of Act III, "Tannhaeuser's
Pilgrimage," and it differs only in that from his other preludes and
overtures. To those who know what is to follow it tells a story more
or less distinctly, while those who hear it for the first time must
feel the atmosphere and emotion, and thus be prepared for the drama.
It is built up of the pilgrims' marching song and one of Elisabeth's
melodies and a most expressive theme which depicts Tannhaeuser
painfully getting over the weary miles, with a sad heart, to seek the
pope's pardon; then comes in the Dresden Amen--the significance of
which will appear presently--then a crash followed by a mournful
phrase (taken entire from Beethoven), and some recitative-like
passages leading direct to the rising of the curtain. As music it is a
splendid thing, and, as I have said, it tells its tale plainly, when
one knows the tale. Almost immediately we hear the pilgrims' hymn of
rejoicing, with which the overture begins--the hymn of those whose
sins have been taken away. The pilgrims pass; Tannhaeuser is not
amongst them, and Wagner there gives Elisabeth a phrase which makes
one think that he had Schroeder-Devrient in his mind when he wrote the
part. That gifted lady used--Berlioz said abused--the device o