In _Lohengrin_ we meet with one of the most popular of Wagner’s works: Lohengrin, an unknown knight, appears in a boat drawn by a swan, as it were by magic, to succour Elsa of Brabant, wrongfully accused of the murder of her brother by Frederic of Telramund, and Ortrud his wife: he defeats Telramund in a duel, and Elsa bestows her hand upon him. Ortrud nurtures revenge, and suggests that Elsa has married a nameless adventurer. Elsa, although she has promised never to question Lohengrin as to his name, or origin, falls a prey to insinuation and to anxious curiosity: she elicits from him that he is son to Parsifal, guardian of the Holy Grail, and now his origin is known, the swan will come to bear him away once more. At his departure Ortrud suggests that the swan is none other than the brother whom Elsa is under suspicion of having made away with, but Lohengrin, by the power of the Holy Grail, restores her brother to her, and then sails away, leaving her for ever. The mystical beauty of the “Grail” (see p. 28) theme, with its distinctive and original scoring for flutes and string harmonics, always throws the hearer, at the outset of the Prelude, into the right mood for this work. The music is not throughout at an equally high level, but there is a greater consistency than in the earlier works, and more use is made of guiding themes. The well-known “Bridal Chorus,” so often played at weddings, occurs in the second act, and adds greatly to the spectacular opportunities afforded; there is beautiful writing, also, in Elsa’s procession to the Cathedral, and in Lohengrin’s “Farewell.” [Sidenote: “=Tristan and Isolde=”] _Tristan and Isolde_ is an exposition of a legend which narrates how King Mark of Cornwall sends his trusty knight Tristan to bring back for him from Ireland a bride, Isolde. The knight and the maiden, under charm of a love potion administered by the maid Brangäne, fall in love with each other during the voyage, and on their return are neither of them faithful to King Mark. The followers of the latter surprise them, and Melot stabs Tristan, who is then conveyed to his castle in Brittany. Here he pines away in longing for Isolde, and dies just as she reaches the shore. The combined themes of Tristan’s Sufferings and Isolde’s Love-longing. [Music]