While the fight is taking place, King Mark and Brangeane, standing without the castle wall, vainly call to him to stay his hand, as they have come with friendly intentions only, and now that he can resist them no longer they all come rushing in.  They are horror-struck at the sight of Tristan and Ysolde, both apparently dead; but Brangeane, having discovered that her mistress has only swooned, soon restores her to consciousness.  King Mark hastens to assure Ysolde that she and Tristan are both forgiven; for Brangeane having penitently revealed to him the secret of the love potion which she administered, he realises that they could not but yield to its might.  Ysolde, however, pays no heed to his words, but, gazing fixedly at Tristan, she mournfully extols his charms and love, until her heart breaks with grief, and she too sinks lifeless to the ground.  No restoratives can now avail to recall the life which has flown forever, and King Mark blesses the corpses of the lovers, and of the faithful servant who has expired at their feet, as the curtain falls.

[Illustration:  Walther crowned by Eva.]

THE MASTER SINGERS OF NUREMBERG.

When Richard Wagner was only sixteen years of age he read with great enthusiasm one of Hoffmann’s novels entitled ‘Saengerkrieg,’ giving a romantic account of the ancient musical contests at the Wartburg in Bavaria.  The impression made upon him by this account was first utilised in his opera of ‘Tannhaeuser,’ when his attention was attracted also to the picturesque possibilities of the guilds formed by the burghers.

It was not until 1845, however, that he made definite use of this material, and began the sketch for his only comic opera.  The first outline was drawn during a sojourn in the Bohemian mountains, when he felt in an unusually light and festive mood.  But the work was soon set aside, and was not resumed until 1862, when it was finished in Paris.  The score was then begun, and written almost entirely at Biberich on the Rhine, and Wagner himself conducted the overture for the first time at a concert in Leipzig.

This fragment was very well received and there was an ’enthusiastic demand for a repetition, in which the members of the orchestra took part as much as the audience.’  The opera itself, however, was first performed under Von Buelow, in 1868, at Munich.  The best singers of the day took the principal parts, and the result of their united efforts was ’a perfect performance; the best that had hitherto been given of any work of the master.’