programmes of the
Choral and Eroica Symphonies are masterpieces in their kind; and his
analysis of the _Iphigenia in Aulis_ overture can never be surpassed.
Stage-managers have found his directions for the performing of
_Tannhaeuser_, _Lohengrin_ and the _Dutchman_ invaluable; they are also
sometimes read by conductors, and should be read by singers. They show
how in composing his operas Wagner meant every note he put to paper:
the most minute fibres of the musical growth are alive, a living part
of the organism.

III

"I shall probably never come back to Germany." So wrote Wagner from
Paris on March 2, 1855, to his friend Wilhelm Fischer, stage-manager
and chorus-master at the Dresden opera. Wagner was then on his way to
London to direct a series of Philharmonic concerts. "It was a great
piece of folly for me to come to London...." So wrote Wagner from
London to Fischer a little--perhaps a month--later. It was, says Mr.
J.S. Shedlock in his admirable translation of the _Letters to Dresden
Friends_, "an unfortunate visit." But was it? and, if so, in what
sense? "The public of the Philharmonic concerts is very favourably
disposed towards me." "The orchestra has taken a great liking to me,
and the public approves of me." And as a matter of fact Wagner had no
reason to be dissatisfied with the visit, nor has Mr. Shedlock for
calling it "unfortunate." The whole situation is summed up in another
communication to Fischer, dated London, June 15, 1855--

"... The false reports about my quarrel with the directors of
the Philharmonic Society here and my consequent departure from
London are based upon the following incident--

"When I went into the cloak-room after the fourth concert, I
there met several friends, whom I made acquainted with my
extreme annoyance and ill-humour that I should ever have
consented to conduct concerts of such a kind, as it was not at
all in my line. These endless programmes, with their mass of
instrumental and vocal pieces, wearied me and tormented my
aesthetic sense; I was forced to see that the power of
established custom rendered it impossible to bring about any
reduction or change whatever; I therefore nourished a feeling of
disquietude, which had more to do with the fact that I had again
embarked on a thing of the sort--much less with the conditions
here themselves, which I really knew beforehand--but least of
all with my publ