In the course of four months I only went to the opera once, to hear Meistersinger, otherwise there were only two Walküre performances. The rest of the programme was Oberon, Tannhäuser and Lohengrin, and not much else. Bülow did not have a particularly interesting programme. Only once was I very taken with a symphonic poem "Tod und Verklärung" by Richard Strauss. That was grand. I will not even mention his technique of instrumentation etc., but he had great ideas and an astounding ability to give his ideas form. That impressed me.