has been something of the same description.  As soon as his works gained their legitimate place in the affections of his countrymen, his influence began to assume formidable proportions.  The might of his individuality was irresistible.  It was not possible, as in Italy and France, to combine the system of Wagner with other elements.  In Germany it had to be Wagner or nothing, and thus, except for the writers of sentimental Singspiele, a form of opera which scarcely comes into the province of art at all, German musicians have vied with each other in producing imitations of their great master, which succeeded or failed according to the measure of their resemblance to their model, but had very little value as original work.  The production of Humperdinck’s ‘Haensel und Gretel’ gave rise to a hope that the merely imitative period was passing away, but it is plain that the mighty shadow of Wagner still hangs over German music.  Strauss’s ‘Salome’ may be the herald of a new epoch, but on that subject it is too soon to indulge in prophecy.

Wagner had completed what, for the sake of convenience, we have called his earlier period, before his influence began to make itself felt in German opera.  ‘Lohengrin’ was performed for the first time under Liszt’s direction at Weimar in 1850.  Eight years later Cornelius’s ’Barbier von Bagdad’ was performed at the same theatre under the same conductor.  This was Liszt’s last production at Weimar, for the ill-feeling stirred up by Cornelius’s work was so pronounced that the great pianist threw up his position as Kapellmeister in disgust, and took refuge in the more congenial society of Rome.  Peter Cornelius (1824-1874) was one of the most prominent of the band of young men who gathered round Liszt at Weimar, and by means of their music and writings sought to further the cause of ‘New-German’ art.  ‘Der Barbier von Bagdad’ was immensely in advance of its time.  It failed completely to attract the public of Weimar, the most cultivated in Europe, when it was originally produced, but it is now one of the most popular operas in Germany.  The beauties of the score are doubly astonishing when it is remembered that when it was written ‘Die Meistersinger’ had not been composed.  The germs of much that delights us in Wagner’s comic opera may be found in ‘Der Barbier,’ and it is certain that if Cornelius received his initial impulse from ‘Lohengrin,’ he himself reacted upon Wagner to a very remarkable extent.  The plot of ‘Der Barbier’ is long-winded and puerile, and the interest is entirely centred in the music, Noureddin loves Margiana, the daughter of the Cadi, and is bidden to an interview by Bostana, her confidante.  He takes with him Abul Hassan, a talkative fool of a barber, who watches in the street while Noureddin visits his sweetheart.  Suddenly the cries of a slave undergoing the bastinado are heard.  The barber jumps to the conclusion that Noureddin is being murdered, summons help and invades the house.  Noureddin takes refuge from the wrath