the gods wend on their way to Valhalla. We
have Wagner the sublime pictorial musician. The Rainbow motive is
perhaps not very graphic in itself, but it serves as a basis for a
delicious passage--evening calm and sunset after storm--comparable
only with a parallel passage in Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony. The
storm itself is Wagner in the plenitude of his power. It is short: it
is not "worked up": in a few strokes, brief and telling as Donner's
own hammer-strokes, the whole thing is done. Then the Valhalla music,
glorified by a gorgeous accompaniment, is heard again, only
interrupted by the wail of the Rhinemaidens below, sorrowing for the
loss of their pretty, harmless toy. Wotan hears the cry, and passes on
to feast in his castle. Grim care goes with him; but he has the
consoling idea of the free hero and the irresistible sword. So ends
the _Rhinegold_--Fricka content to have both Wotan and Freia; the
other gods not much concerned about anything; Wotan full of
apprehensions and also of determination--determination to rule without
paying the price of rulership.

V

I have attempted nothing more than a broad and rough description of
the _Rhinegold_. The opera was planned as a prelude, and suffers from
the defects of the plan, as well as from the fact that it was written
before Wagner's new method was ripe. He wrote to Liszt that the music
came up "like wild," or, as an irreverent critic once observed, like
mould on a pot of jam; and the second description is truer than the
speaker thought. The _Rhinegold_ has aged faster than any other of the
great works. Alongside of the sublime we find the petty; after phrases
as sweet and fresh as raindrops on young spring leaves we find stodgy,
"made," music; the atmosphere is not preserved. But gigantic
possibilities are opened out. The Rhine music is afterwards used to
splendid ends; the Spear motive, which makes its first appearance in
rather a trivial form--it might be a quotation from Weber or
Spohr--becomes later one of the crowning glories of the _Ring_; the
Fire music--the Loge theme--comes out at once in its full
magnificence. It is fair criticism to say that had Wagner written the
opera again after finishing the _Valkyrie_ he might have wrought up
his material into a perfect work of art. A mere mortal, even the
greatest mortal, could hardly be expected to attempt the task, and the
_Rhinegold_ is a little less than perfect. Moreover, it is
superfluous. We can follow th