Undaunted, Wagner continued his work on the score of his first real opera _Rienzi_, which is founded on Lytton’s novel of the same name. Its music is modelled after the style of Meyerbeer, and of the grand opera of Paris. The Wagner of reform was not yet born: before his crusade could start, its author must be convinced of the futility of the older methods, and as a struggling composer he had at present as his great idea the problem of making both ends meet; consequently in _Rienzi_ we do not find anything to specially arrest the attention, nor is the work looked upon by serious Wagnerians as worthy of consideration; it had its importance, however, in gaining Wagner a hearing, being produced at Dresden in 1842. [Sidenote: =Dresden, 1842=] Wagner went to Dresden to prepare the work for performance, and settled down there, taking up the duties of Hofkapellmeister. During his sojourn in the Saxon capital he produced _The Flying Dutchman_ (1843) and _Tannhäuser_ (1845). But in the latter year Wagner got himself into political troubles, and had to fly the kingdom. He settled down to a roving life in Paris and Switzerland, working at _Lohengrin_, which was produced by Liszt at Weimar in 1850. [Sidenote: =Zurich, 1852-55=] While living at Zurich he sketched the libretto of the _Ring_, a gigantic cycle of four operas, of which more anon. In 1855 he came to England as the conductor of the Philharmonic Society’s concerts for the year. A good deal of disapproval with his methods and his work was experienced by him in this country, and he returned to Zurich to take up his work again there, settling down not only to the _Ring_, but also to the newly-conceived _Tristan_. [Sidenote: =Munich, 1861-65=] In 1860 Wagner’s period of exile was at an end, and he returned to German soil and composed the most German of his operas, _Die Meistersinger_. Shortly afterwards he went to dwell in Munich, beneath the eye of his patron, King Ludwig II. of Bavaria, who financed him until the end of his life. The monarch and the composer were hand-in-glove with each other, so much so that in the year 1865 the latter had perforce to leave the Bavarian capital, returning to Swiss soil for six more years. [Sidenote: =Triebschen, 1866-72=] The well-known village of Triebschen, on the lake of Lucerne, was Wagner’s home during this period, during which most of the detail work of composition of the _Ring_ was polished off and in part produced. In 1870, his first wife having died, Wagner married Cosima von Bülow, a daughter of his friend Liszt. This is the present Madame Wagner, who rules all at Bayreuth to-day with so firm a grip. [Sidenote: =Bayreuth, 1872-83=]