Only it's not set to music.
Wagner's choice of subjects had from the outset shown an imagination far above that of any earlier librettist; yet he had begun with stories which could attract ordinary minds, as he dismally realized when the libretto of Der fliegende Hollander so pleased the Parisian wire-pullers that it was promptly set to music by one of their friends.
This song, set to music by Auber, was on the lips of every Frenchman, and rivalled in popularity the Marseillaise.
Some of the popular songs set to music by him became known as Giustiniani.
According to Ephraim's biographer, his main motive for providing these hymns set to music was his desire to counteract the baneful effects produced by the heretical hymns of Bardaisan and his son Harmonius, which had enjoyed popularity and been sung among the Edessenes for a century and a half.
