These are but illustrations. Throughout the whole range of musical procedure Wagner was emphatically an expander and fulfiller, if not an absolute pioneer. The influence of his technical work became fully manifest only in the latter part of the century.
209. The Dresden Circle.—Since Wagner's earliest years were
spent at Dresden and his first successes were won there, this is
the natural place for some notes upon the personnel of its
musical circle. The Saxon court for fully two centuries had been
notable for its attention to music. In church music it had long
maintained two establishments, one Catholic, the other Protestant.
In opera Dresden had been one of the strongholds of Italian
influence in Germany, though with the advent of Weber in
1816 it was gradually carried over to the support of German
ideas. The court kapelle had some repute among the orchestras
of central Europe. The musical forces usually included distinguished
vocalists and instrumentalists. But the policy of
administration did not secure chiefs of commanding enterprise
except at intervals, as in the cases of Weber and Wagner. Outside
of the court circle the only musical institutions of special
significance have been the Kreuzschule, an ancient foundation
like the Thomasschule at Leipsic (though never so eminent),
and the conservatory, founded in 1856.
For convenience of reference, a summary follows of the leading musical
personalities at Dresden during the century:—
The list of court-choirmasters contains several overlapping terms, due to the fact that various functions in church music, the opera and the orchestra have sometimes been distributed. In 1800 three choirmasters were in titular service—J. G. Naumann (d. 1801), Franz Seydelmann (d. 1806) and Joseph Schuster (d. 1812), with the last two of whom in 1802-6 Ferdinando Paër (d. 1839) was associated as operatic leader. From 1810 the Italian Morlacchi (d. 1841) was in charge, but during his incumbency came in from 1816 Weber (d. 1826), in 1824-26 Marschner (d. 1861), from 1826 K. G. Reissiger (d. 1859) and from 1829 Joseph Rastrelli (d. 1842). Reissiger was still in office when in 1843-9 Wagner (d. 1883) was given place as opera-director. He was succeeded in 1850-72 by Karl Krebs (d. 1880), and in 1860 Reissiger was followed by the accomplished Julius Rietz (d. 1877), previously of Leipsic, and Krebs in 1873 by Ernst Schuch. Rietz was succeeded in 1877 by Franz Wüllner (d. 1902), and he in turn from 1883 by Adolf Hagen.
In the court-orchestra the post of concertmaster was held in 1814-24 by the Italian Polledro (d. 1853); in 1839-59 by the Pole Lipinski (d.
