[296] I.e. as to why the poorer opera had impressed him more than the better one.
[297] Mein Leben, p. 102.
[298] Mein Leben, p. 104.
[299] See the article on Der dramatische Gesang, in G.S., xii. 15.
[300] The German "Gesang" is perhaps best translated here and elsewhere by this general term.
[301] I.e. the conventional forms of Italian opera.
[302] See the article Bellini, ein Wort zu seiner Zeit, in G.S., xii. 19. It must be remembered that this article, which was published anonymously, was intended to stimulate the interest of the Riga public in Bellini's Norma, which opera Wagner had selected for his benefit in December 1837. It is possible, therefore, that the impecunious young musician may have said a trifle more than he really thought. It is significant that Wagner omitted all these articles—Die deutsche Oper, Pasticcio, Der dramatische Gesang, and Bellini—from the collected edition of his works.
[303] Mein Leben, p. 174.
[304] Mein Leben, p. 175.
[305] Mein Leben, p. 175.