are full of the caressing touch of nature, and recall Berlioz’s Les Troyens.  But too often the music is superficial and conventional, and the tyranny of Wagner makes itself felt—­a rare enough occurrence in Strauss’s other works.  The poem is interesting; Strauss has put much of himself into it, and one is conscious of the crisis that unsettled his broad-minded but often self-satisfied and inconsistent ideas.

Strauss had been reading an historical study of an order of Minnesaenger and mystics, which was founded in Austria in the Middle Ages to fight against the corruption of art, and to save souls by the beauty of song.  They called themselves Streiter der Liebe ("Warriors of Love").  Strauss, who was imbued at that time with neo-Christian ideas and the influence of Wagner and Tolstoy, was carried away by the subject, and took Guntram from the Streiter der Liebe, and made him his hero.

The action takes place in the thirteenth century, in Germany.  The first act gives us a glade near a little lake.  The country people are in revolt against the nobles, and have just been repulsed.  Guntram and his master Friedhold distribute alms among them, and the band of defeated men then take flight into the woods.  Left alone, Guntram begins to muse on the delights of springtime and the innocent awakening of Nature.  But the thought of the misery that its beauty hides weighs upon him.  He thinks of men’s evil doing, of human suffering, and of civil war.  He gives thanks to Christ for having led him to this unhappy country, kisses the cross, and decides to go to the court of the tyrant who is the cause of all the trouble, and make known to him the Divine revelation.  At that moment Freihild appears.  She is the wife of Duke Robert, who is the cruellest of all the nobles, and she is horrified by all that is happening around her; life seems hateful to her, and she wishes to drown herself.  But Guntram prevents her; and the pity that her beauty and trouble had at first aroused changes unconsciously into love when he recognises her as the beloved princess and sole benefactress of the unhappy people.  He tells her that God has sent him to her for her salvation.  Then he goes to the castle, where he believes himself to be sent on the double mission of saving the people—­and Freihild.

In the second act, the princes celebrate their victory in the Duke’s castle.  After some pompous talk on the part of the official Minnesaenger, Guntram is invited to sing.  Discouraged beforehand by the wickedness of his audience, and feeling that he can sing to no purpose, he hesitates and is on the point of leaving them.  But Freihild’s sadness holds him back, and for her sake he sings.  His song is at first calm and measured, and expresses the melancholy that fills him in the midst of a feast which celebrates triumphant power.  He then loses himself in dreams, and sees the gentle figure of Peace moving among the company.  He describes her lovingly