WAGNER[56] (1813-1883). The recorder of the history of music and of orchestration can find no more inexhaustive topic than when he approaches that of Richard Wagner's epoch-making innovations. What is more, the literature in connection therewith is so voluminous, that opportunity for even the slightest original deduction is denied him. No alternative is left him other than to restate in condensed form what the cardinal features of Wagner's ideals and reforms were. Such a review is indeed indispensable if these pages are to be complete. [Footnote 56: See Appendix of Musical Illustrations, Examples 67 to 75.] At the time that Wagner entered upon his career, German dramatic art was largely under the subjection of Meyerbeer, for Weber had not yet won universal popularity. The singer still reigned supreme; dramatic orchestration was primarily realistic and bombastic. Wagner himself betrayed in his earlier works how tempting and insidious the influence of Meyerbeer's dazzling mannerisms and idiosyncrasies could be. Moreover, in order to realize the full significance of Wagner's artistic growth, one should not lose sight of his youthful enthusiasm for Italian melody, even though his subsequent creations proved him to be a Teuton through and through, both in sentiment and in art. The highest ideals of German opera culminated in the music dramas of Wagner. As musician, poet, dramatist, and master of scenic effects and theatrical requirements, he grew to be the champion of national art, a self-appointed reformer not alone of opera as an end to itself, but as a means whereby the conditions of social life might be inspired and uplifted. And the remarkable concentration of his musical thought, his rare gifts as a poet, and his noble histrionic conceptions proved him worthy of the task. The philosophical aspect of this attainment embodies intimate connection between drama and music; merging of voice and orchestra; intensification and completion of the singer's thought by means of the orchestra; finally, dramatic illusion whereby conditions of mind rather than dramatic situations are portrayed. By developing the so-called _Leit-motiv_, Wagner discovered a most potent factor for recalling past events, for emphasizing those present, and for anticipating those of the future. The _Leit-motiv_ was, moreover, particularly well adapted to reveal the true conceptions of the composer himself. Vividness of portrayal was enhanced by means of intricate combinations of melodies and figures, free chromatic harmony, unfettered modulation, and elaborately conceived dramatic as well as thematic development toward some supreme climax. The application of the _Leit-motiv_ theorem was conducive to greater license in the treatment of vocal interpretation. A fusion of _parlante_ and the _arioso_ was the result, and in later works the comparatively unintelligible enunciation of combined vocal forces was obviated by discarding the chorus almost altogether.