even an
Austrian, but a Croatian, pure Slav, composer. Elsa's account of her
dream is not dramatic as Wagner, by the time he wrote his next work,
would have understood the term--in shape it is an Italian aria, and
everything is at a standstill until it is finished--yet it occurs
fittingly, and prepares us by ethereal music for the music of a
gentleman who is very unethereal. In form the whole scene is as near
as may be a regular Italian opera scene. King Henry the Fowler and his
nobles show mighty patience in sitting or standing it out to the end.
The business of a champion for Elsa being called for, the moments of
suspense, the prayers of Elsa and her attendant maidens, the fiery
impatience of Telramund and the premature triumph of Ortrud are all
done with Wagner's consummate skill in writing purely theatrical
music; and when the swan and the hero are sighted the excitement is
worked up with the same skill to a glorious triumph, and we hear the
Lohengrin, "as hero," theme in its full splendour. Then comes the
fighting music, which, like all fighting music, is mediocre stuff, and
the gorgeous set piece, the finale. This last is quite old-fashioned
opera, but it is not forced in: it happens inevitably. The themes are
mainly new, but the Lohengrin heroic theme is worked in triumphantly.
Technically there is no advance or change in _Lohengrin_: the
counterpoint and interweaving of themes of _Tristan_ and the
_Mastersingers_ were to come a few years later. Indeed, there is less
of Wagner the contrapuntal virtuoso in _Lohengrin_ than in
_Tannhaeuser_.

III

In the music, as in the drama, the second act presents a total
contrast to the first. The music of the first is throughout full of
sunlight. At times it may be strident, violent, rather tumultuous; but
sweetness is the prevailing note, and as soon as Elsa comes on we have
the sheer loveliness of first her answers to the king, and then of
her vision; then comes Lohengrin, bringing with him the breath of the
land of eternal dawn, and of the shining river down which he was drawn
by the swan; then after the (rather theatrical) prayer, a few moments
of noise while the fighting is being arranged and carried out; then,
so to speak, the glorious midday sunshine of the finale. The second
act opens with two sinister phrases heard in the darkness (_e_ and
_f_)--Ortrud is planning vengeance, and the theme of Lohengrin's
warning and threat to Elsa is presently heard; that warnin