Book Size: 8 1/2" x 11" * * * * * * From the introductory. THE most popular of all operas at the present time is "Lohengrin." Yet when Wagner had completed that opera, in the spring of 1848, he was unable to get it performed at the Royal Opera in Dresden, where he was conductor. This was one reason why he joined in the revolutionary movement and was, consequently, obliged to seek safety in flight. He went to Switzerland, where he wrote essays and books, but composed no operas, for nearly "six years. When, at last, the desire to compose came back to him, "RHEINGOLD" was the result. "RHEINGOLD" is the first of the four music dramas constituting the great tetralogy, "The Ring of the Nibelung," which is usually called a trilogy, because Wagner himself designated " RHEINGOLD" as a" Fore-evening," or prelude, to the other three dramas -- "Die Walküre," "Siegfried," and "Gotterdammerung." The name Prelude is not inappropriate, because "RHEINGOLD" is much shorter than the three operas which constitute the trilogy, lasting, as it does, only five half-hours, while the duration of the others is nearer five whole hours. Shortly after completing "Lohengrin," Wagner made a prose sketch of the story of the "Nibelung's Ring." Then he wrote a dramatic poem, "Siegfried's Death," in which he made use of part of that story. While preparing to set this to music, he became convinced that the subject was too big for one drama; that there was material enough for several connected operas; and that the opera he had had in mind would be more intelligible and impressive if it were preceded by several others dealing with the incidents that led up to Siegfried's death; consequently he recast the poem he had called "Siegfried's Death," and changed its name to "Gotterdammerung." Then he wrote "Siegfried," "Die Walkure," and "Rheingold." The poems of the "Ring" dramas were, therefore, written in the reverse order to their performance. The musical compositions, however, began with "Rheingold," and ended with "Gotterdammerung."