ongue
never stops." Schumann had no dramatic instinct, and no comprehension
for opera; in _Genoveva_--as, in fact, in his so-called dramatic
cantatas--he failed utterly: he went straight through the words,
setting them to music _pur et simple_, taking no thought for dramatic
propriety. The score of _Tannhaeuser_ simply puzzled him; he saw in it
only the music _pur et simple_, considered as which it was, of course,
very bad. It was not bad in all the ways he thought, however. His
remark about the clumsy orchestration long ago returned to roost. For
the rest, when he saw the opera performed he changed part of his mind,
and wrote admitting that much which he did not like on paper seemed in
place when the work was sung, and some of it "moved me much." Some
time afterwards he played some of his music to Wagner, who found it
muddled, as if the sustaining pedal was held down all the time--and I
have no doubt it was. Another gentleman who saw the score was
Hanslick, then a young man looking around for some one to attach
himself to--a peripatetic barnacle. Later, he found Brahms, as all the
world soon found out, and revised his early notions of the greater
musician. But at first he was all enthusiasm and gush, and wrote
articles "explaining" _Tannhaeuser_. However, his views are of no
importance to-day. Liszt, generous soul, had the opera played at
Weimar at the earliest possible moment.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER IX

'LOHENGRIN'

I

_Lohengrin_ was first drafted in 1845--for Wagner during this period
allowed no grass to grow under his feet. He was a member of a coterie
that met at Angell's restaurant, and there on November 17 he read the
complete libretto to his friends and acquaintances. Schumann was
amongst them, and he bluntly asserted that such a libretto could not
be set. Others were more favourable, but many were doubtful. However,
that made little difference to Richard. He knew his own strength and
trusted his instinct; and however much he was urged to alter the
_denouement_, he stuck to his guns and his libretto.

In point of structure the libretto of _Lohengrin_ closely resembles
that of its predecessor. There are even fewer set pieces, there are
more fragmentary speeches. The drama is so contrived as to let in the
set pieces naturally: of the old forced operatic business of sending
out or bringing in characters as seems advisable there is not a sign.
The story is on the whole simpler than that of _Tannh