for Senta.  They are short and clean-cut; they recur when wanted, and are subjected to little modification.  There is not a single theme of this description in Tannhaeuser.  The first act is perfectly easy to follow.  There are no leit-motifs.  The Venus and bacchantic music will be heard again in the second and third acts; but the rest consists of numbers almost as completely detached as those that make up the Dutchman, though the joinings are not only more skilful, but are real music and not mere padding.  Wagner had not by any means yet arrived at the continuous music of his later work; in spite of his desire to sweep on from the beginning to the end of each scene, he was still forced to take frequent breath and disguise the stoppage as cleverly as he could.  The first scene contains many of Wagner’s most inspired melodies, notably the despairing song of Venus towards the end, a tune that might have come from Schubert.  The old Weber influence is to be seen in the contours of many of the themes, as well as their orchestral colour; and the steadfast four-bar rhythm reminds one, in spite of the difference of subject, irresistibly of Euryanthe.  It was not until the Tristan period that Wagner got rid of this.  In the second scene of the first act we find all the musical machinery of old-fashioned opera, but used with a mastery that leaves the Dutchman far behind.  There is first the shepherd’s delightfully fresh song, in wonderful contrast to the scents and stifling heat of the Venus cave music; then comes the Pilgrims’ Chorus; then come Tannhaeuser’s friends with at least one number, Wolfram’s appeal, which is distinct and separate from the rest of the music as a goldfish is from the water it swims in.  The act ends with a regular set finale, altogether on the old models.

The second act opens with Elisabeth’s scena; then follow her duet with Tannhaeuser, the march and chorus as the company troop in to hear the contest of minstrels, the various songs, Tannhaeuser’s fatal mistake, Elisabeth’s intercession for him, the voices of the pilgrims setting out for Rome, and Tannhaeuser’s rush to overtake them.  No use is made of the leit-motif; only when Tannhaeuser loses his wits and sings in praise of Venus do we get reminiscences of the Venusberg music.  In the third act the structure is the same.  Number flows into number, it is true, without full-closes—­without full-stops, so to speak; but those who have never before heard a note of Wagner can follow as easily as they could a Gluck or Mozart opera.  The Pilgrims’ Chorus occurs again, and again we have the Venus music, when Tannhaeuser, demented, sees her in the heart of the mountain and hears her calling him.