Begin with simple operas: such works as _Faust_ and _Carmen_, the tunes of which are already known to a large extent, at once suggest themselves; and perhaps in the same category, although in a very different class, may be placed _Lohengrin_ and _Cavalleria Rusticana_; after a course of easily grasped works, more exalted creations, such as _Don Giovanni_, _Fidelio_, and _Die Meistersinger_, may be approached; and finally we come to the serious works of Wagner’s _Ring_, such operas as _Tristan and Isolde_, the beauties of which are a sealed book to the inexperienced and the unmusical. As is the case with every phase of every art, real appreciation can only spring from real comprehension; that which is not understood cannot be fully beloved. There must be a beginning and a gradual growth; love for opera is hardly an inborn gift; rather is it a cumulative force, fed by an ever-increasing knowledge, and by ever-widening critical faculties. To love music, singing, or an orchestral performance does not also necessarily imply an ability to care in the very least for so polymorphous a work as opera, which must be a thing of separate study, the more difficult in that it demands attention from so many points of view. [Sidenote: =What is Necessary for its Enjoyment=] And when knowledge and experience are to some extent gained, become not too critical, for that mars enjoyment; those whose love is freshest for opera are not those unhappy critics who must perforce write a long analytical account of a new work ere the final curtain has fallen upon it, but rather those who have grown to cherish the musical phrases for their own sake and for their inherent beauty, irrespective of who may be singing them, provided the singing be good and correct. Love for opera, although not lightly gained, is also not lightly lost; it is a taste that endures and strengthens as time goes on and knowledge deepens. CHAPTER XVII. THE CHIEF OPERA HOUSES OF THE WORLD. Covent Garden—La Scala—San Carlo—Venice—Rome—Paris and the Grand Opera—Vienna—Budapest—Prague—Berlin —Dresden—Munich—Bayreuth—Russia—Other European countries—Egypt—America. [Sidenote: =Covent Garden=] Architecturally speaking, our English opera house is not one of the sights of London. Hidden away somewhat ignominiously in a side street, it has little appearance, in spite of its size, and by no means forms so conspicuous a feature in the way of public building as do the majority of the houses in foreign capitals. Of the performances devoted to opera given within its walls we have already said something, and may therefore pass on to a consideration of the ways and doings of some of the Continental opera houses. [Sidenote: =La Scala=]