After several weeks, all was ready for the first performance of Wagner's opera. The theater was crowded. The singers who took part had said much in praise of the music, and every one was anxious to hear it. They were not disappointed. Indeed, they all praised it highly, and Wagner became the hero of the hour.
Not long after this, another of Wagner's operas was sung in Dresden. It is called _The Flying Dutchman_. It was so well liked that every one in the city was glad to honor the composer. That made Wagner very happy. His life was filled with joy, for he was doing the work that he loved. How different were these days from those spent in Paris--those days of hunger and poverty! Now that all was sunshine and happiness, Wagner's life in France seemed like a bad dream.
_Tannhäuser_, one of Wagner's greatest operas, was written in Dresden. Sung for the first time in 1845, it was even better liked than his first two operas. After it had been given, people stopped the composer on the streets to give him words of praise.
The best loved of all Wagner's works is _Lohengrin_. Not only in Europe is this opera known and loved, but in America as well.
In 1848 Wagner was obliged to leave the country on account of political troubles. Switzerland became his home. The beautiful scenery there afforded the composer much pleasure. The snow-capped Alps could be seen all about, and in many places clear mountain lakes reflected the blue skies above.
Wagner lived in Switzerland about ten years. In that time he composed several operas. He wrote not only the music for these operas, but the words as well. The words alone form beautiful poems. Four of the operas written in Switzerland tell the old fairy story of the gold hidden at the bottom of the Rhine. Indeed, the first one of them is called _The Rhinegold_. Richard Wagner put the legend into poetry and then composed exquisite music to fit the words.
While Wagner was in Switzerland, the German people were learning to love his music more and more. You remember that _Lohengrin_ was written just before he left Germany. At that time it had not been sung.
Franz Liszt, a friend of Wagner's, became greatly interested in _Lohengrin_. Under his direction it was sung in a small town. All who heard it liked the beautiful story and still more beautiful music. Soon nearly every one in Germany had heard _Lohengrin_, the beautiful opera of the Swan Knight.