is not intended to be critical, but is designed to be expository. It aims to help the Wagner lover to a thorough knowledge and understanding of the man and his works. The author has consulted all the leading biographies, and for guidance in the direction of absolute trustworthiness he is directly indebted to Mme. Cosima Wagner, whose suggestions have been carefully observed. He is also under a large, but not heavy, burden of obligation to Mr. Henry Edward Krehbiel, musical critic of _The New York Tribune_, who carefully read the manuscript of this work and pointed out its errors. The value of Mr. Krehbiel's revision and his hints cannot be over-estimated. Thanks are also due to Mr. Emil Paur, conductor of the Philharmonic Society, of New York, for certain inquiries made in Europe. The records of first performances have been prepared with great care and with no little labour. For the dates of those at most of the European cities the author is indebted to an elaborate article by E. Kastner, published in the _Allgemeine Musik. Zeitung_, of Berlin, for July and August, 1896. The original casts have been secured, as far as possible, from the programmes. For that of the "Flying Dutchman" at Dresden--incorrectly given in many books on Wagner--the author is indebted to Hofkapellmeister Ernst von Schuch, who obtained it from the records of the Hoftheater. The name of the singer of the Herald in the first cast of "Lohengrin," missing in all the published histories, was supplied by Hermann Wolff, of Berlin, from the records of Weimar. The casts of first performances in this country are not quite complete, simply because the journalists of twenty-five years ago did not realise their obligations to posterity. The casts were not published in full. The records have disappeared. The theatres in some cases--as in that of the Stadt--have long ago gone out of existence and nothing can be done. As far as given the casts are, the author believes, perfectly correct. CONTENTS PART I--THE LIFE OF WAGNER CHAPTER PAGE I--THE BOYHOOD OF A GENIUS 1 II--THE FIRST OPERAS 14 III--KÖNIGSBERG AND RIGA 27 IV--"THE END OF A MUSICIAN IN PARIS" 38 V--BEGINNING OF FAME AND HOSTILITY 50 VI--"LOHENGRIN" and "DIE MEISTERSINGER" 64 VII--"ART AND REVOLUTION" 73 VIII--PREACHING WHAT HE PRACTISED 85 IX--A STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND 96 X--A SECOND END IN PARIS 105 XI--A MONARCH TO THE RESCUE 117 XII--SOME IDEALS REALISED 127 XIII--FINIS CORONAT OPUS 136 XIV--THE LAST DRAMA 146 XV--THE CHARACTER OF THE MAN 154 PART II--THE ARTISTIC AIMS OF WAGNER I--THE LYRIC DRAMA AS HE FOUND IT 167 II--THE REFORMS OF WAGNER 178 III--THE MUSICAL SYSTEM 189 IV--THE SYSTEM AS COMPLETED 200 PART III--THE GREAT MUSIC DRAMAS INTRODUCTORY 213 RIENZI 221 DER FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER 234 TANNHÄUSER UND DER SÄNGERKRIEG AUF WARTBURG 250 LOHENGRIN 270 I--THE BOOK 272 II--THE MUSIC 283 TRISTAN UND ISOLDE 293 I--SOURCES OF THE STORY 294 II--WAGNER'S DRAMATIC POEM 300 III--THE MUSICAL EXPOSITION 315 DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG 328 DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN 355 I--THE SOURCES OF THE POEMS 364 II--THE STORY AS TOLD BY WAGNER 388 III--THE MUSIC OF THE TRILOGY 422 PARSIFAL 446 I--THE ORIGINAL LEGENDS 447 II--THE DRAMA OF WAGNER 461 III--THE MUSICAL PLAN 473 APPENDIX A--THE YOUTHFUL SYMPHONY 481 APPENDIX B--WAGNER AND THE BALLET 487 INDEX 491 PART I THE LIFE OF WAGNER RICHARD WAGNER CHAPTER I THE BOYHOOD OF A GENIUS "O kindischer Held! O herrlicher Knabe."--SIEGFRIED The ancestry of Richard Wagner has been traced as far as his grandfather. This good man was Gottlob Friedrich Wagner, a custom house official, whose life-work it was to see that...