64 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO STUDIES 



were based upon the Nibelungen Lied, which dates back as far as the 

 year 1200. Wagner's only comic opera, Die Meister singer von N 'timber g 

 (1868), deals with a love story of the time of the Reformation, with 

 Hans Sachs as one of the leading figures. As Wagner wrote the librettos 

 to all his operas, and as they are now generally regarded in Germany 

 as poetic dramas of high literary excellence, quite apart from the unique 

 music with which he provided them, Wagner may be included here 

 among Germany's leading dramatists. 



The history of the Wagner music dramas on the American stage 

 dates from the seventies, when Lohengrin (1847) and The Flying 

 Dutchman (1841) were given in German. The great enthusiasm, 

 however, did not set in until the eighties when these operas were given 

 admirable performances in English by the ill-fated American Opera 

 Company organized by Mrs. Jeannette L. Thurber, and conducted by 

 Theodore Thomas. Even then and for a long time after, the Wagner- 

 ites preferred to hear the operas sung in German, as was done for several 

 seasons at the Metropolitan Opera House. Finally, however, Mr. 

 Henry W. Savage, who had previously devoted his energies to the pro- 

 duction of light and comic opera, decided to place the works of Wagner 

 in English in the best possible style on the American stage, with the 

 result that within the past ten years, three of his operas Tannhauser, 

 Lohengrin and The Valkyrie, have been given in all parts of the 

 United States. It will not be long before the entire number of Wagner's 

 works will be known in English, if one may judge by the great success 

 recently attained by the complete Ring given in London last season by 

 an English-speaking company. 



As has been said, the German poetic lore of the Middle Ages would 

 not, on its own merits, have claimed the attention of the modern world, 

 had it not been for Wagner. And indeed, it is a long time, many hun- 

 dred years in fact, before we in any way find a trace of German drama 

 on our modern stage. To be sure, the German theater was cultivated 

 continuously, and plays were written and acted, but their career was 

 ephemeral. After the Middle Ages, the German drama developed 

 through the Reformation period in much the same way as it did else- 

 where. The eighteenth century brought the pseudo-classic tragedy 



