art-work and the public. He was wholly modern in his employment of all the agencies that offered to induct the public into the beauties and meanings of the operas which he conducted. He was the precursor of Schumann, Liszt, Wagner, and all the present tribe of literary musicians. To do things perfunctorily seems to have been foreign to his nature. He labored as conscientiously to win appreciation for Marschner's "Heinrich IV. und d'Aubigné" and Meyerbeer's "Abimelek" as for Beethoven's "Fidelio." It is to Weber that we must trace the essential things which are recognized to-day as marking the difference between German and Italian opera outside of language and style of composition. It is a fact, the bearing of which ought to be borne in mind while studying the significance of Weber in the development of music, that he did not enjoy the favor of the leading men amongst his contemporaries. The popularity of "Der Freischütz" always remained an enigma to Spohr, and Schubert could find nothing to admire in "Euryanthe." His want of skill in the handling of form, which in the early part of his career we are justified in attributing to insufficient study, was an offence which these men and the majority who were like-minded with them could not forgive. In his orchestral treatment, too, and his obvious leaning toward dramatic and spectacular effectiveness, they could only perceive what is now termed sensationalism. The old notions of the relationship between music and poetry were still almost universally valid. Beauty had not come to be looked upon as a relative thing; it was believed that to be real it must appeal to all alike and that those of its elements which rested upon individual or national predilections were false in art. Characteristic beauty was an unknown quantity. Weber's definition of an opera when it was put forth sounded in the ears of his contemporaries like a heresy the realization of which would mean the destruction of operatic music. We are become familiar enough with it since Wagner achieved his reform, and therefore can scarcely appreciate how revolutionary it must have sounded three-quarters of a century ago. The opera, said Weber, is "an art work complete in itself, in which all the parts and contributions of the related and utilized arts meet and disappear in each other, and, in a manner, form a new world by their own destruction." A society in Breslau applied to Weber for permission to perform "Euryanthe" in concert style. Weber denied the request with the memorable words: "'Euryanthe' is a purely dramatic attempt which rests for its effectiveness upon the coöperation of all the sister arts, and will surely fail if robbed of their help." To these two definitions let us add two others touching singing and form: "It is the first and most sacred duty of song to be truthful with the utmost fidelity possible in declamation"; "All striving for the beautiful and the new good is praiseworthy; but the creation of