Opera heard in his earlier operas such as "Der fliegende Holländer", "Tannhäuser" and "Lohengrin"; and he was prepared to violate accepted musical conventions, such as tonality, in his quest for greater expressivity. In his mature music dramas, "Tristan und Isolde", "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg", "Der Ring des Nibelungen" and "Parsifal", he abolished the distinction between aria and recitative in favour of a seamless flow of "endless melody". Wagner also brought a new philosophical dimension to opera in his works, which were usually based on stories from Germanic or Arthurian legend. Finally, Wagner built his own opera house at Bayreuth with part
Lohengrin (opera) opera, the through-composed music drama. The composition is not divided into individual numbers, but is played from scene to scene without any interruption. This style of composition contrasts with that of the conventional number opera, which is divided into arias, recitatives, and choral sections. "Lohengrin" still contains lengthy performances—for example, Elsa's "Alone in dark days" and Lohengrin's Grail aria—which harken back to the classical solo aria form. Wagner made extensive use of leitmotives in his composition (for example, the Grail motif first revealed in the prelude, and the "question" motif first sung by Lohengrin to Elsa). These motives allowed Wagner