DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NURNBERG " Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg " or " The Master singers of Nuremberg," Richard Wagner's only comic opera, was presented in Munich, June 21, 1868, under the direction of Hans von Billow. The idea of the opera was suggested to the composer in boyhood, as was " Tann Buser," by the reading of one of Hoffmann's novels and was planned as a kind of " Mastersinger " companion-piece to the " Minnesinger " contest in " Tannhauser." The sketch was drawn up in 1845, during a summer holiday but soon was set aside for other comoosition.
Master Singers: Hans Sachs, a cobbler.
Veit Pogner, a goldsmith. Kunz Vogelgesang, a furrier.
Konrad Nachtigal, a buckle-maker. Sixtus Beckmesser, a town clerk. Fritz Kothner, a baker.
Balthazar Zorn, a pewterer. Ulrich Eisslinger, a grocer. Augustus Moser, a tailor. Herman Ortel, a soap-boiler.
Hans Schwartz, a stocking-weaver. Hans Foltz, a coppersmith.
Sir Walter Von Stolzing, a young French knight.
David, apprentice to Hans Sachs. Eva, Pogner's daughter.
Magdalena, Eva's nurse.
A night-watchman.
Burghers of all guilds, journeymen, apprentices, girls and people.
To appreciate this opera and the clever satire conveyed in it, one must have some knowledge of the Mastersingers and the rules that hedged them about. The members of the guild, who were burghers instead of knights like the Minnesingers, held different rank according to their pro ficiency. When a certain number of tunes had been mastered, the member was a singer; when he could write verses to a given air, he had developed into a poet; when he could set his poetry to music of his own invention, he was worthy to be called a mastersinger. There were no less than one hundred rules which composed the Tabular. Of these, thirty-three were concerning errors to be guarded against. One aspiring to membership must pass an exam ination and, if the chief examiner or marker chalked up seven mistakes, the candidate failed of admission. Frequent competitive tests with prizes were held.
The scene of " The Mastersingers " is laid in Nurem berg in the Sixteenth Century. On a Sunday afternoon (St. John's Day) service is just being completed in St. Cather ine's church. An oblique section of the church is shown, the last pews in the nave being visible. The good townfolk are there, among them Eva, the fair daughter of the gold smith and mastersinger Pogner, accompanied by her nurse and companion, Magdalena. Standing near a pillar at some distance from the worshipers is Walter von Stolzing, a young Franconian knight, who is intently watching the charming girl as she takes part in the hymn which is being sung. Eva is not unconscious of his gaze, for she turns repeatedly to give him a glance of encouragement. The hymn is ended and the people rise from their seats and start homeward. As Eva and Magdalena pass Walter, he addresses the young girl and she, eager to give him an opportunity to speak, makes the excuse of having left her kerchief and her pin in the pew. Magdalena thus is com pelled to absent herself for a moment and Walter seizes the chance to question Eva as to whether she is betrothed or free. Magdalena, seeing the drift of affairs, ends by answering his question. Eva is pledged to wed but she knows not to whom. The morrow shall decide that, for on that day the mastersingers are to hold a contest and to the victor, if he be unmarried and Eva be not opposed to him, her hand is to be given. Such is her father's wish and promise. Walter knows nothing of what being a master singer means, but Eva's assurance that she will choose him " or else no one," fires him with the determination to become a member of the singers' guild and thus to win the hand of the maiden whom, although he has known her but a day, he has grown to love passionately.
Magdalena's admirer and favored suitor is David, a young apprentice to Hans Sachs, the cobbler of the town and most gifted poet among the mastersingers. David and
his fellow apprentices begin preparing the church for hold ing the mastersingers' meetings. Magdalena and Eva now entrust Walter to David for instruction and directions as to what he must sing and how he must sing it. As soon as the maiden and her nurse have gone, David attempts to keep his promise and to give Walter some idea of the requirements for entering the guild. But he finds the young knight wholly ignorant on every point concerning the matter and, after rattling off a long list of titles of the different kinds of songs and citing some of the rules govern ing their use, he gives up in despair and, with his fellows awaits the sport that he knows will come from the appear ing as a contestant before the masters of such an unin formed singer as Walter. Pogner, Eva's father, enters accompanied by Beckmesser, the town clerk, a well informed, somewhat pompous and thoroughly self-satisfied old bach elor, who long has been a suitor for Eva's hand and who is confident that tomorrow will see him the victor. He is eager that a word in his favor be spoken to the girl and this the goldsmith promises to do. Walter comes forward and is given hearty welcome by Pogner at whose house he had been a guest the day before. One by one the master singers arrive and when all are assembled and the roll has been called, Pogner makes an address, in which he formally announces his decision to give his daughter's hand and dowry to the man who wins at the contest on the morrow. The question is raised whether it is right thus to dispose of a young girl's heart, and Pogner states that Eva will not be asked to wed the winner unless she loves him. Beck messer voices a fling at Hans Sachs that perhaps the cobbler would like to win the girl but Sachs declares that they both are too old for so young and fair a maid as Eva. This incenses the town clerk but he bides his time to get even. Pogner announces Walter's desire to sing before the mastersingers and, when the young applicant is asked where he had been taught to sing, he declares that from an old book which his sire gave him, he at wintertide beside the hearth read of spring and of returning summer and thus from this book of Walter von der Vogelweide he has learned his singing. The masters are dubious, all save Hans Sachs, who feels that possibly the young fellow may possess powers which are of worth. The trial song is at hand and Beck messer is appointed "marker." He enters the little cur tained enclosure and when all is ready he gives the signal for Walter to commence. Walter sings but it is a rhapsody of love and passion for the maiden he loves and hopes to win — a song far removed from the formal, rule-bound thing to which the masters are accustomed. Beckmesser's mark ing-board soon is covered over with the record of mistakes made and he is not slow to show his dislike of the singer whom he fears is favored by Eva. Sachs takes exception to Beckmesser's attitude and thus further inflames the town clerk, who now turns and twits Sachs with neglecting his cobbling in order to be a poet, citing, as an instance, that he has, himself, waited for days for a pair of shoes which Sachs had promised to finish but had not completed. Sachs laughingly assures him the shoes shall be ready that evening and the mastersingers break up their meeting in something closely resembling a row, all of them being incensed at Walter's boldness in attempting to sing before them. Only Sachs keeps apart from the general indignation. As Walter rushes away and as the mastersingers and apprentices leave the church, Sachs stands looking at the chair the young singer had occupied. The song, although new and appar ently formless, had conveyed to him something of strength and worth. He walks out thoughtfully as the curtain falls.