in the Matthew Passion, much as the old
Italian painters surrounded his head with a halo. In 'Lohengrin' Wagner
used this beautiful idea more systematically than in 'Tannhaeuser';
Lohengrin's utterances are almost always accompanied by the strings of
the orchestra, while the wood-wind is specially devoted to Elsa. This
plan emphasises very happily the contrast, which is the root of the
whole drama, between spiritual and earthly love, typified in the persons
of Lohengrin and Elsa, which the poem symbolises in allegorical fashion.

CHAPTER X

WAGNER'S LATER WORKS

The attempt to divide the life and work of a composer into fixed periods
is generally an elusive and unsatisfactory experiment, but to this rule
the case of Wagner is an exception. His musical career falls naturally
into two distinct divisions, and the works of these two periods differ
so materially in scope and execution that the veriest tyro in musical
matters cannot fail to grasp their divergencies. In the years which
elapsed between the composition of 'Lohengrin' and 'Das Rheingold,'
Wagner's theories upon the proper treatment of lyrical drama developed
in a surprising manner. Throughout his earlier works the guiding theme
is used with increasing frequency, it is true, so that in 'Lohengrin'
its employment adds materially to the poetical interest of the score;
but in 'Das Rheingold' we are in a different world. Here the guiding
theme is the pivot upon which the entire work turns. The occasional use
of some characteristic musical phrase to illustrate the recurrence of a
special personality or phase of thought has given way to a deliberate
system in which not only each of the characters in the drama, but also
their thoughts, feelings, and aspirations are represented by a distinct
musical equivalent. These guiding themes are by no means the mere labels
that hostile critics of Wagner would have us believe. They are subject,
as much as the characters and sentiments which they represent, to
organic change and development. By this means every incident in the
progress of the drama, the growth of each sentiment or passion, the play
of thought and feeling, all find a close equivalent in the texture of
the music, and the connection between music and drama is advanced to an
intimacy which certainly could not be realised by any other means.

The difference in style between 'Lohengrin' and 'Das Rheingold' is so
very marked that it is only natural to look for so