Conradin Kreutzer (1780-1849) was a prolific contemporary of Marschner’s, but little of his music has remained to our time outside of _Das Nachtlager von Granada_ and a few songs. The music of the opera is often thin, but now and then Kreutzer could catch the German folk-spirit as scarcely any others could save Weber. Lortzing (1801-1851) was a more gifted musician, and several of his operas are occasionally performed now. Chief of these is _Czar und Zimmermann_, which tells the adventures of Peter the Great of Russia working among his shipbuilders. In more farcical vein is _Der Wildschütz_. The music admirably suits the bustling comedy of peasant intrigue. E. T. A. Hoffmann, who so deeply influenced Schumann, was a talented composer, and a number of his operas, thoroughly in the romantic spirit, were popular at the time. Nicolai’s[101] setting of Shakespeare’s ‘Merry Wives of Windsor,’ dating from about this time, is a comic opera classic, and Friedrich von Flotow’s ‘Martha’ is everywhere known. Its composer (1812-1883) wrote numerous operas, German and French, and at least one besides ‘Martha’ is still popular in Germany--‘Stradella.’ His music is, however, more French than German, though its rhythmic grace and piquancy, its easy, simple melody are universal in their appeal. Two more important figures, musically considered, are Schumann, with his one opera, ‘Genoveva,’ and Peter Cornelius, with several works which deserve more frequent performance than they receive. Schumann had well-defined longings toward dramatic activity, but had the customary difficulties of discriminating musicians in finding a libretto. He hit upon an adaptation of Hebbel’s _Genoveva_, a play drawn from a mediæval legend, rather diffuse and uneven in workmanship, but suffused with a noble poetic spirit that is only beginning to be appreciated. The play lacks the dramatic elements necessary for successful operas, and Schumann’s music, though filled with beauties, is not fully successful in characterization, and hence tends to become monotonous. The overture, however, is a permanent part of our concert programs. We feel about Schumann as about Schubert (whose several operas, _Fierrabras_, _Alfonso und Estrella_ and others, need be no more than mentioned), that they might have produced great dramatic works had they been permitted to live a little longer.