Confusion arose in the very first scene, which was increased by the fact that the master’s instructions, both to orchestra and singers, were rendered almost unintelligible by his confused use of the German language.  This much at least we were soon able to grasp, that he was particularly anxious to disabuse us of the idea that this was a full-dress rehearsal, and to show us that he was set upon a thorough re-study of the opera from the very beginning.  Great, indeed, was the despair of my good old chorus-master and stage manager, Fischer—­who before had enthusiastically advocated the invitation of Spontini—­when he recognised that the dislocation of our repertoire was now inevitable.  This feeling swelled by degrees to open anger, in the blindness of which every fresh suggestion of Spontini’s appeared but frivolous fault-finding, to which he bluntly responded in the coarsest German.  After one of the choruses Spontini beckoned me to his side and whispered:  ’Mais savez-vous, vos choeurs ne chantent pas mal’; whereupon Fischer, regarding this with suspicion, shouted out to me in a rage:  ’What does the old hog want now?’ and I had some trouble to pacify the speedily converted enthusiast.

But our most serious delay arose, during the first act, through the evolutions of a triumphal march.  With the most vociferous emphasis the master expressed intense dissatisfaction with the apathetic demeanour of our populace during the procession of vestal virgins.  He was quite unaware of the fact that, in obedience to our stage manager’s instructions, they had fallen on their knees upon the appearance of the priestesses; for he was so excited, and withal so terribly short-sighted, that nothing which appealed to the eye alone was perceptible to his senses.  What he demanded was that the Roman army should manifest its devout respect in more drastic fashion by flinging themselves as one man to the ground, and marking this by delivering a crashing blow of their spears on their shields.  Endless attempts were made, but some one always clattered either too soon or too late.  Then he repeated the action himself several times with his baton on the desk, but all to no purpose; the crash was not sufficiently sharp and emphatic.  This reminded me of the impression made upon me some years before in Berlin by the wonderful precision and almost alarming effect with which I had seen similar evolutions carried out in the play of Ferdinand Cortez, and I realized that it would require an immediate and tedious accentuation of our customary softness of action in such maneouvres before we could meet the fastidious master’s requirements.  At the end of the first act Spontini went on the stage himself, in order to give a detailed explanation of his reasons for wishing to defer his opera for a considerable time, so as to prepare by multitudinous rehearsals for its production in accordance with his taste.  He expected to find the actors of the Dresden Court Theatre gathered there to hear