 Wagner’s admiration for Greek tragedy is only superficially similar to the Camerata’s attempt to revive it (see the entry  history of western philosophy of music: from antiquity to 1800, section 3.2).  In Opera and Drama (1852), he argues that opera’s fundamental mistake has been that of subordinating opera’s end (drama) to its means (music). He then describes opera as misguided from its very origins in Italy (Wagner 1852b: Introduction).