1825, Wednesday, April 20

A poet who writes for the stage must have a knowledge of the stage, that he may weigh the means at his command, and know generally what is to be done, and what is to be left alone; the opera-composer, in like manner, should have some insight into poetry, that he may know how to distinguish the bad from the good, and not apply his art to something impracticable.

"Carl Maria Von Weber," said Goethe, "should not have composed Euryanthe. He should have seen at once that this was a bad material, of which nothing could be made. So much insight we have a right to expect of every composer; as belonging to his art."


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