Piqued by the failure of his Russian operas, Rubinstein now resolved to compose to German texts and to try his luck abroad. Profiting by his reputation as the greatest of living pianists, he succeeded in getting his _Kinder der Heide_ accepted in Vienna (1861); while Dresden mounted his _Feramors_ (based upon Moore's "Lalla Rookh") in 1863. Between two concert tours--one in 1867, and the other, with Wienawski in America, in 1872--Rubinstein completed a Biblical opera _The Tower of Babel_, the libretto by Rosenburg. This type of opera he exploited still further in _The Maccabees_ (Berlin, 1875) and _Paradise Lost_, a concert performance of which took place in Petersburg in 1876. Between the completion of these sacred operas, he returned to a secular and national subject, drawn from Lermontov's poem "The Demon," which proved to be the most popular of his works for the stage. _The Demon_ was produced in St. Petersburg on January 13th (O.S.), and a more detailed account of it will follow. _Nero_ was brought out in Hamburg in 1875, and in Berlin in 1879. After this Rubinstein again reverted to a Russian libretto, this time based upon Lermontov's metrical tale _The Merchant Kalashnikov_, but the opera was unfortunate, being performed only twice, in 1880 and 1889, and withdrawn from the repertory on each occasion in consequence of the action of the censor. _The Shulamite_, another Biblical opera, dates from 1880 (Hamburg, 1883), and a comic opera, _Der Papagei_, was produced in that city in 1884. _Goriousha_, a Russian opera on the subject of one of Averkiev's novels, was performed at the Maryinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, in the autumn of 1889, when Rubinstein celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his artistic career. The famous series of "Historical Concerts," begun in Berlin in October, 1885, was concluded in London in May, 1886, after which Rubinstein returned to St. Petersburg and resumed his duties as Director of the Conservatoire, a position which he had relinquished since 1867. During the next few years he composed the Biblical operas _Moses_ (Paris, 1892) and _Christus_, a concert performance of which was given under his own direction at Stuttgart, in 1893; the first stage performance following in 1895, at Bremen. In the winter of 1894 Rubinstein became seriously ill in Dresden, and, feeling that his days were numbered, he returned in haste to his villa at Peterhof. He lingered several months and died of heart disease in November 1895. "His obsequies were solemnly carried out," says Rimsky-Korsakov.[23] "His coffin was placed in the Ismailovsky Cathedral, and musicians watched by it day and night. Liadov and I were on duty from 2 to 3 a.m. I remember in the dim shadows of the church seeing the black, mourning figure of Maleziomova[24] who came to kneel by the dust of the adored Rubinstein. There was something fantastic about the scene."