Liszt on ‘Lohengrin’ (or: Wagner in absentia), Part 2, translation from ‘The Monthly Musical Record’ edited by David Trippett

On the rising of the curtain we see Heinrich der Vogler, the German king, who has come to Brabant in order to summon the nobility to a campaign which he is about to undertake against the Hungarians. The scene is laid in the tenth century on the banks of the Scheldt, whither the dukes, counts and barons, followed by their vassals and men of war, have come together to meet him. On his arrival, Heinrich finds the country disturbed by the dissensions and hatred of the principal nobles; and that he may learn the cause of this, he interrogates Count Friedrich von Telramund as being the most valiant among them and in the enjoyment of the highest renown.