As a great musical poet, rather epic than dramatic in his powers, there can be no question as to Wagner's rank. The performance of the "Niebelungenring," covering "Rheingold," "Die Walküren," "Siegfried," and "Götterdämmerung," was one of the epochs of musical Germany. However deficient Wagner's skill in writing for the human voice, the power and symmetry of his conceptions, and his genius in embodying them in massive operatic forms, are such as to storm even the prejudices of his opponents. The poet-musician rightfully claims that in his music-drama is found that wedding of two of the noblest of the arts, pregnantly suggested by Shakespeare:-- "If Music and sweet Poetry both agree, As they must needs, the sister and the brother; . . . . . . One God is God of both, as poets feign." * * * * * Note by the Editor.--The knowledge of Wagner's music in England originated chiefly with the masterly playing of Herr Von Bülow, with the concerts given by Messrs. Dannreuther and Bache, and later on by the Wagner festival held at the Albert Hall in 1877, where Wagner himself presided at the performance of the music of his _Ring des Niebelungen_. He was not quite satisfied with its reception; but this is not altogether to be wondered at when we consider that the work was divorced from its scenic adjuncts, and that in his operas--in accordance with his own theory--the plastic arts as well as poetry and music are equally required to produce a well-balanced result. None the less, this festival greatly increased the interest in "the Music of the Future;" and in 1880 _The Ring des Niebelungen_ was performed at Covent Garden, while his other operas were given in their proper sequence at Drury Lane. In 1882 his last great work, _Parsifal_, was performed with striking éclat at Bayreuth. On the 18th of February 1883 he died of heart disease at Venice, whither he had gone to recruit his health. A personal friend has recorded that Wagner's body was laid in the coffin by the widow herself, who--as a last token of her love and admiration--cut off the beautiful hair her husband had so admired, and placed it on a red cushion under the head of the departed. The body of the great musician was taken to Bayreuth and buried, in accordance with the wishes he had himself expressed, in the garden of his own house, "Vahnfried." A large wreath from the King of Bavaria lay on the coffin, bearing the appropriate inscription--"To the Deathless One." On the 24th of July in the same year, _Parsifal_ was again performed at Bayreuth--a fitting requiem service over the great master. _Parsifal_ is the culmination of Wagner's epic work. In it he completes the cycle of myths by which he strove to express the varied and fervent aspirations of humanity; and in particular "the two burning questions of the day--1. The Tremendous Empire of the Senses. 2. The Immense Supremacy of Soul; and how to reconcile them."