elapsed between the composition of ‘Lohengrin’ and ‘Das Rheingold,’ Wagner’s theories upon the proper treatment of lyrical drama developed in a surprising manner.  Throughout his earlier works the guiding theme is used with increasing frequency, it is true, so that in ‘Lohengrin’ its employment adds materially to the poetical interest of the score; but in ‘Das Rheingold’ we are in a different world.  Here the guiding theme is the pivot upon which the entire work turns.  The occasional use of some characteristic musical phrase to illustrate the recurrence of a special personality or phase of thought has given way to a deliberate system in which not only each of the characters in the drama, but also their thoughts, feelings, and aspirations are represented by a distinct musical equivalent.  These guiding themes are by no means the mere labels that hostile critics of Wagner would have us believe.  They are subject, as much as the characters and sentiments which they represent, to organic change and development.  By this means every incident in the progress of the drama, the growth of each sentiment or passion, the play of thought and feeling, all find a close equivalent in the texture of the music, and the connection between music and drama is advanced to an intimacy which certainly could not be realised by any other means.

The difference in style between ‘Lohengrin’ and ‘Das Rheingold’ is so very marked that it is only natural to look for some explanation of the sudden change other than the natural development of the composer’s genius.  Wagner’s social position at this point in his career may have reacted to a certain extent upon his music.  An exile from his country, his works tabooed in every theatre, he might well be pardoned if he felt that all chance of a career as a popular composer was over for him, and decided for the future to write for himself alone.  This may explain the complete renunciation of the past which appears in ‘Das Rheingold,’ the total severance from the Italian tradition which lingers in the pages of ‘Lohengrin,’ and the brilliant unfolding of a new scheme of lyric drama planned upon a scale of unexampled magnificence and elaboration.

Intimately as Wagner’s theory of the proper scope of music drama is connected with the system of guiding themes which he elaborated, it need hardly be said that he was very far from being the first to recognise the importance of their use in music.  There are several instances of guiding themes in Bach.  Beethoven, too, and even Gretry used them occasionally with admirable effect.  But before Wagner’s day they had been employed with caution, not to say timidity.  He was the first to realise their full poetic possibility.