title="No. 1 Cut the picture of Wagner from the picture sheet. Paste in here. Write the composer's name below and the dates also." tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}img"/>

BORN

DIED

The Story of the Boy Who Wrote Little
Plays

A very odd house used to stand in the quaint old Saxon City of Leipzig. This house was called the Red and White Lion. I suppose no one ever really saw a lion that was red and white, but nevertheless that was the name of the house. There, was born Richard Wagner, who was one day to write the wonderful opera scenes of which we will soon read.

WAGNER'S BIRTHPLACE

Richard Wagner's day of birth was May 22, 1813. That was more than a century ago! More than twelve hundred months!

Since that time, music has changed very greatly. When Wagner was born, much of the music that was being written had to follow certain patterns or models just as architects follow certain patterns in building a house. Now the composer when he writes music feels a great deal freer as he knows that he can make his own patterns,—that he is not held in by any such hard laws as those which held back such composers as Mozart, Bach, Haydn and Handel. It was Wagner who did much to set music free from the old barriers. This does not mean that music to-day is better than music that was written by Haydn and Beethoven. Indeed it often is not nearly so good, but it is freer, less held down by rule.

TANNHÄUSER

When Wagner wrote his first opera that had any success (Rienzi) he followed the models of composers of the day, but when he came to write operas that followed, such as Flying Dutchman, Lohengrin and Tannhäuser, he struck out in new and fresh paths which made him many enemies at first and many friends later.

As we read of a great man we must learn to see the world as it was in his day.

Today we think of the world as the home of our parents, of ourselves and of our friends; as the world of Mr. Edison, Mr. Wilson and Mr. Roosevelt. In the world of Wagner there was not one of these.

Who were the great musicians when he was a boy? Well, here are some of them. Can you tell one fact about each of the men whose pictures come next?

LISZT

SCHUMANN

VERDI

CHOPIN

Wagner's father died when he was only six months old, and the boy was brought up by his mother and his step-father, who was very kind to him. In one way Wagner was unlike most of the other great composers. He did not show any talent for music until he was almost a man. All that he thought of was writing plays.