Berlioz's dramatic legend--"A thing of shreds and patches"--Turned into an opera by Raoul Gunsbourg--The composer's "Scenes from Faust" --History of the composition--The Rakoczy March--Concert performances in New York--Scheme of the work--The dance of the sylphs and the aërial ballet--Dance of the will-o'-the-wisps--The ride to hell. Chapter IX "La Traviata" Familiarity with music and its effects--An experience of the author's--Prelude to Verdi's last act--Expressiveness of some melodies--Verdi, the dramatist--Von Bülow and Mascagni--How "Traviata" came to be written--Piave, the librettist--Composed simultaneously with "Il Trovatore,"--Failure of "La Traviata," --The causes--The style of the music--Dr. Basevi's view--Changes in costuming--The opera succeeds--First performance in New York, --A criticism by W. H. Fry--Story of the opera--Dumas's story and harles Dickens--Controversy as a help to popular success. Chapter X "Aïda" Popular misconceptions concerning the origin of Verdi's opera--The Suez Canal and Cairo Opera-house--A pageant opera--Local color-- The entombment scene--The commission for the opera--The plot and its author, Mariette Bey--His archaeological discoveries at Memphis --Camille du Locle and Antonio Ghislanzoni--First performance of the opera--Unpleasant experiences in Paris--The plot--Ancient Memphis--Oriental melodies and local color--An exotic scale--The antique trumpets and their march. Chapter XI "Der Freischütz" The overture--The plot--A Leitmotif before Wagner--Berlioz and Agathe's air--The song of the Bridesmaids--Wagner and his dying stepfather--The Teutonism of the opera--Facts from a court record --Folklore of the subject--Holda, Wotan, and the Wild Hint--How magical bullets may be obtained--Wagner's description of the Wolf's Glen--Romanticism and classicism--Weber and Theodor Körner--German opera at Dresden--Composition of "Der Freischütz"--First performances in New York, (footnote). Chapter XII "Tannhäuser" Wagner and Greek ideals--Methods of Wagnerian study--The story of the opera--Poetical and musical contents of the overture--The bacchanale--The Tannhäuser legend--The historical Tannhäuser--The contest of minstrels in the Wartburg--Mediaeval ballads--Heroes and their charmers--Classical and other parallels--Caves of Venus-- The Hörselberg in Thuringia--Dame Holda--The tale of Sir Adelbert. Chapter XIII "Tristan und Isolde" The old legend of Tristram and Iseult--Its literary history--Ancient elements--Wagner's ethical changes--How the drama came to be written --Frau Wesendonck--Wagner and Dom Pedro of Brazil--First performances in Munich and New York--The prelude--Wagner's poetical exposition-- The song of the Sailor--A symbol of suffering--The Death Phrase--The Shepherd's mournful melody--His merry tune--Tristan's death. Chapter XIV "Parsifal"