e general enthusiasm for everything
connected with Wagner induced the authorities at Munich to produce it.
Since then it has been performed with comparative frequency, and formed
a part of the cycles of Wagner's works which were given in 1894 and
1895. Wagner's next work was of a very different nature. 'Das
Liebesverbot' was a frank imitation of the Italian school. He himself
confesses that 'if any one should compare this score with that of "Die
Feen" he would find it difficult to understand how such a complete
change in my tendencies could have been brought about in so short a
time.' The incident which turned his thoughts into this new channel was
a performance of Bellini's 'Capuletti e Montecchi,' in which Madame
Schroeder-Devrient sang the part of Romeo. This remarkable woman
exercised in those days an almost hypnotic influence upon Wagner, and
the beauty and force of this particular impersonation impressed him so
vividly that he relinquished his admiration of Weber and the Teutonic
school and plunged headlong into the meretricious sensuousness of Italy.
The libretto of 'Das Liebesverbot' is founded upon Shakespeare's
'Measure for Measure,' It was performed for the first and only time at
Magdeburg in 1836, and failed completely; but it is only just to say
that its failure seems to have been due more to insufficient rehearsal
than to the weakness of the score. After the success of 'Die Feen' at
Munich, it naturally occurred to the authorities there to revive
Wagner's one other juvenile opera. The score of 'Das Liebesverbot' was
accordingly unearthed, and the parts were allotted. The first rehearsal,
however, decided its fate. The opera was so ludicrous and unblushing an
imitation of Donizetti and Bellini, that the artists could scarcely sing
for laughter. Herr Vogl, the eminent tenor, and one or two others were
still in favour of giving it as a curiosity, but in the end it was
thought better to drop it altogether, less on account of the music than
because of the licentious character of the libretto.

'Rienzi,' the next in order of Wagner's operas, was written on the lines
of French opera. Wagner hoped to see it performed in Paris, and
throughout the score he kept the methods of Meyerbeer and Spontini
consistently in his mind's eye. There is very little attempt at
characterisation, but the opportunities for spectacular display are many
and various. In later years Meyerbeer paid Wagner the compliment of
saying that the