It was when Romanticism became militant that it fired the heart of Weber and enlisted him as a soldier. In Berlin Brentano offered him the subject of "Tannhäuser" for treatment. He had considered the story of "Der Freischütz" as far back as 1810. He was not ready for such work until he had fought the fight for a German operatic institution in Prague and in Dresden. In one respect the conditions were more favorable in the Bohemian capital than in the Saxon. In the former it was chiefly indifference and ignorance with which he had to contend; in the latter the patriotic fires which might have been helpful were buried under the ashes of hatred of Prussia. The splendid Teutonism of Weber was tolerated with ill grace, and the intrigues of his associate Morlacchi, at the head of the Italian opera, were permitted to make fourfold more difficult the stupendous task of building up a German opera in a city that had always been dominated by Italian influences in art. It was four years before Weber could take the step which to us looks like an appeal from the Saxon court to the German people. The case was that of "Der Freischütz" against the Italian régime, and it was tried and won on June 18, 1821, in the new opera house in Berlin. The Italian régime was maintained in Dresden through the efforts of the conductor of the Italian Opera, Morlacchi, the concert-master Polledro, the church composer Schubert, and Count von Einsiedel, Cabinet Minister. The efforts of these men placed innumerable obstacles in Weber's path and their influence heaped humiliations upon him. Confidence alone in the ultimate success of his efforts to regenerate the lyric drama sustained him in his trials. Against the merely sensuous charm of suave melody and lovely singing he opposed truthfulness of feeling and conscientious endeavor for the attainment of a perfect _ensemble_. Here his powers of organization, trained by his experience in Prague, his perfect knowledge of the stage imbibed with his mother's milk, and his unquenchable zeal gave him amazing puissance. Thoroughness was his watchword. He put aside the old custom of conducting while seated at the pianoforte and appeared before his players with a _bâton_. He was an inspiration, not a figure-head. His mind and his emotions dominated theirs and were published in the performance. He raised the standard of the chorus, stimulated the actors, inspected the stage-furnishings and costumes and stamped harmony of feeling, harmony of understanding, harmony of efforts upon the first work undertaken--a performance of Méhul's "Joseph in Egypt." Nor did he confine his educational efforts to the people of the theatre. He continued in Dresden the plan first put into practice by him in Prague of printing articles about new operas in the newspapers to stimulate public appreciation of their characteristics and beauties. For a while the work of organization checked his creative energies, but when his duties