The 'Salome' question may well be left for
time to settle, more especially as the subject and treatment of the work
combine to put its production upon the London stage beyond the limits of
immediate probability.
In modern times Singspiel has for the most part become merged in comic
opera, which, though originally an importation from France, has become
thoroughly acclimatised in Germany, and in the hands of such men as
Johann Strauss, Franz von Suppe, and Carl Milloecker, has produced work
of no little artistic interest, though scarcely coming within the scope
of this book. To the Singspiel, too, may be traced an exceedingly
unpretentious school of opera, dealing for the most part with homely and
sentimental subjects, of which the best-known representative is Victor
Nessler (1841-1890). Nessler's opera, 'Der Trompeter von Saekkingen,' is
still one of the most popular works in the repertory of German
opera-houses, and his 'Rattenfaenger von Hameln' is scarcely less of a
favourite. The first of these works is founded upon Scheffel's
well-known poem, and tells in artless fashion of the love of Jung
Werner, the trumpeter, for the daughter of the Baron von Schoenau; the
second deals with the story of the Hamelin rat-catcher, which Browning
has immortalised. Nessler has little more than a vein of simple melody
to recommend him, and his works have had no success beyond the frontiers
of Germany; but at home his flow of rather feeble sentimentality has
endeared him to every susceptible heart in the Fatherland.
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