ish
psychologist, Mr. James Sully, incidentally speaks of his experiences
in regard to Wagner's operas, in his work on "Sensation and
Intuition." "Although," he says, "I went to the first performance
decidedly prejudiced against the noisy _Zukunftsmusik_, I found that
after patient study of these operas I became so susceptible of their
high dramatic beauties that I lost much of my relish for the older
Italian opera, which began to appear highly unnatural. I heard from
other cultivated Germans--among others from Professor Helmholtz--that
they had undergone quite a similar change of opinion with respect to
these operas."

Who, on the other hand, has ever heard of a renegade Wagnerite? Such
an animal does not exist, and if a specimen could be found, it would
pay to exhibit him in a dime museum. The very expression seems a
contradiction in terms. Wagner frequently asserted that no one could
_understand_ his music unless he admired it; and there is truth in
this, for only enthusiasm can sharpen the mental faculties
sufficiently to enable us to perceive the countless subtle beauties in
Wagner's and Weber's scores. M. Saint-Saens, who is considered the
best living score-reader, compares Wagner's scores to those
master-works of mediaeval architecture which are adorned with
sculptured reliefs that must have required infinite care and labor in
the chiselling. Now, just as a careless observer of such architectural
works hardly notices the lovely figures sculptured on them, so the
average opera-goer does not hear the exquisite harmonic and melodic
miniature-work in Wagner's music-dramas. But if he has once taken the
trouble to study them, he becomes an enthusiast for life; for he
constantly discovers new and beautiful details which had previously
escaped his notice.

The eighth performance of "Siegfried" in New York was one of those
events that will always live in the memory of those who were so
fortunate as to be present. Everyone on the stage and in the orchestra
seemed to be inspired, and the audience in consequence was
electrified. For my part, although I had heard this music-drama at
least a dozen times previously, and knew every bar by heart, it seemed
as if I had never heard it before, so vividly were all its beauties
revealed in the white heat of Conductor Seidl's enthusiasm. All the
evening I sat trembling with excitement, and could not sleep for hours
afterward. I have for twelve years made a special study of the
emot