The Mastersingers of Nuremberg, Wagner's Comic Opera

. One of the last operas that Wagner wrote, and his only comic opera, was Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, about a guild of musicians in 16th-century Nuremberg. The City of Nuremberg was, at that time, a free city, governed in part by several guilds, professional organizations with elected officers, among which was the Guild of Mastersingers. The plot of Wagner's opera is anchored in the historical character of Hans Sachs, a renaissance poet, also a shoemaker, and legendary citizen of Nuremberg. Though Sachs is a central character in the story, the hero of the story is ostensibly the youthful knight Walther von Stölzing, who aspires to be a singer, and has come to meet Sachs from his native Franconia. The opera opens with one of the most beautifully constructed and executed overtures in the repertoire (conducted here by Giuseppe Sinopoli / Staatskapelle Dresden - amazing!) We do not see here the preoccupation with sweeping themes of good and evil and man and nature, but rather the homely ones of young love, friendship; human strengths and foibles. The overture, even if it retains the basic seriousness and grandeur of all of Wagner's work, does seem filled with a good humor notably lacking in his other works. The opening theme, which one hears starting with a delightful "crunch", is the stately theme of the Mastersinger Guild itself. This theme is followed by other themes, including the genial 'fellowship' theme, the 'love' theme (derived from the Prize Song, but in quadruple time), the 'rigid traditions' theme, as well as the playful theme that might be considered to represent the apprentices of the guild. The overture leads straight into a scene at church, where Eva, the daughter of the President of the Mastersingers' Guild and the goldsmith of the town, has come for Evensong, chaperoned by her maid Magdalena. Walther, a young knight visiting from abroad, is trying to get the attention of Eva, but her maid is anxious that the meeting is inappropriate. In the way of Renaissance romance among the middle classes, matters progress rapidly to the point where Walther learns that Eva is not available, since she is to marry the winner of the annual Singing competition, which is to be held on Midsummer's Day, at the feast of John the Baptist (Johannistag). Walther is not deterred; he is resolved to sing at the competition, and win Eva fair and square. It takes the skills of Eva, her maid Magdalena, and Magdalena's beau, Sachs's apprentice David, to explain to Walther that it is a closed competition, and that Walther would have to actually be accepted into the Guild (of Mastersingers) before he can compete. A meeting of the Guild is to take place in that very church that same evening. The women hurry away before the members arrive in twos and threes (after all, singing is men's business), and soon the Mastersingers learn that Walther is desirous of an audition to join, and our hero learns that the Town Clerk Beckmesser (who is a Mastersinger and who, unfortunately, is also interested in Eva for a wife) is to be the judge. Walther has been hurriedly instructed by David in how a composition must be constructed, and the poor knight turns in a performance which is as full of --to the ears of the guild-- obnoxiously avant-garde musical ideas as it is vigorous and bold. Needless to say, Walther's petition is rejected. The second scene is on the street outside the cobblery of Hans Sachs, which faces the far more opulent residence of the Goldsmith. Eva and Magdalena wait eagerly for news of the decision, which is, of course, disappointing. Wagner depicts a warm, tender discussion between Eva and her father, in which the predicament of a single father of a marriageable daughter are beautifully presented: he must make sure that she will be happy in the long term. In addition, he must be fair by the Guild. Eva disguises herself as her maid, in order to sneak across the street to meet the young knight at (Hans Sach's) shoe store. There are several cases of mistaken identity, which lead to minor fisticuffs, and the brawl escalates into a full-fledged riot, the famous riot scene, all choreographed lovingly by Wagner himself, a brilliant piece of comic writing. By the time the watchman arrives, it's all over, and everyone is off the street. [Note: this scene signals a whole new Wagner, a playfulness that has remained hidden for almost his entire life! When I told some of my friends that the writing here foreshadows some of the lighter scoring in Lerner and Lowe's My Fair Lady I was laughed at, but it's true. The score is unbelievably forward-looking. Or rather, Lerner & Lowe owe a lot to Wagner, which is certainly true.] Meanwhile, we learn about the complex relationship between Eva and Hans Sachs himself, which is close to love on the side of the cobbler, and close enough to love on the side of Eva --who has known him from childhood-- that, failing being won by young Walther, she would prefer the cobbler to sue for her hand, rather than to allow herself to be won by the Town Clerk, Beckmesser, whom she detests. Persuaded of the earnestness of the knight Walther, Hans gradually renounces his interest in the young woman in the course of a soliloquy that is a jewel on its own. (If only this scene could be abbreviated, this opera would be one of the most celebrated in the repertoire, but the themes are too substantial to edit down without trivializing the scene.) Note: because of the more human-scaled dramatic themes of Meistersinger, Wagner did not need to make use of the more complex, detailed leitmotif technique of The Ring cycle, and later of Tristan und Isolde. Instead he uses a more relaxed technique based on longer tune fragments, similar to modern film-scoring methods, even if he used imaginative contrapuntal techniques to combine separate themes into composites that had both musical and dramatic meaning. Incidentally, at one point in his soliloquy, Sachs reflects that, like King Mark (of Tristan), his love for the young girl would ultimately lead to sorrow, and there is a brief quote from the principal theme from Tristan behind the gruff muttered words! (Wagner clearly considered that the Tristan theme was now part of an universal thematic pool from which he could draw even in Meistersinger.) The most clever part of the opera comes now. Sachs plans to persuade the Guild to permit Walther to sing at the festival; if he does well, he will be given both membership, and possibly the prize. But the youth has to be tutored in how to write a proper Master Song. Wagner brilliantly depicts the evolution of the Prize Song, according to historically authentic Meistersinger rules that Wagner researched for this project. The instruction too, of course, is presented in song, and early the next morning, Sachs and the young knight forge the song out of a dream melody the young knight remembers on waking. Wagner's representation of the interaction between inspiration and technique is amazing, unequaled in opera. Section by section, the youth builds his song, as Sachs hurriedly transcribes the words, interjecting his own comments on it while he scribbles away. In Renaissance Catholic Germany, it was one's Name Day (the Day of the feast of the Saint after whom one is named) that was celebrated instead of the birthday. 'Hans', of course, is an abbreviation of Johannes, and so Midsummer's Day, being the feast of John the Baptist (Johannistag), is the Name Day of Hans Sachs himself; his apprentice David has suitable celebratory activities planned for his master, to take place before the big Song Festival on the City Commons. Early in the morning, Sachs has a surprise for David, too; he is made a Journeyman with the traditional kick to the pants (enabling David to woo Magdalena with greater propriety). Eva slips in with Magdalena for a quick visit with Hans and Walther, to express her gratitude to the former, and her encouragement of the latter, and she is treated to the completed song, which fills her with pleasure, because of course it is a paean to her beauty and character. The last scene is at the Festival. (Most modern productions represent this portion very satisfactorily, certainly that of the New York Met.) There is a great deal of pageantry and grandeur and spectacle, beloved to opera-goers through the ages. (More than any other operas of Wagner, the music of Meistersinger lends itself to cinematic treatment.) The competition is convened, and it happens that Beckmesser has appropriated the words to Walther's song, which were lying on the table in Sach's house, unattended. He is allowed to sing 'his' entry, which he finds difficult, because Sach's hurried scrawl is hard to read. But he tries anyway, and poor Beckmesser is thoroughly humiliated. (Some rather clumsy Wagnerian humor here.) Then Sachs insists that the actual composer should sing it, namely Walther. In a very Wagnerian (if not original) musical twist, Walther sings a new, more elaborate, very 19th century version of his Prize Song. (Note how the crowd interrupts, to be sternly silenced by Hans Sachs!) It easily wins the competition, and earns Walther a very willing and totally dazzled Eva's hand in marriage. The opera closes with a (somewhat anticlimactic) hymn to German Art by Hans Sachs. Unfortunately, this Opera is the longest of all of Wagner's works (including the Ring operas taken separately). If it weren't for this, Die Meistersinger would enjoy far greater fame and admiration, and serve to convert more unbelievers to Wagner than it presently does. (The ending aria in praise of German Art should be abbreviated (ideally by a German, since it does have historical relevance in the context of the late 19th century). However, today we have DVDs, which enable us to see an opera in portions, at our convenience! One thing I notice all through Meistersinger is the delightful mix of lighthearted fun, and the warm seriousness of the themes of everyday human relationships. Renaissance Nuremberg is most definitely a place in which modern audiences would feel far more at home than pre-inferno Valhalla. Unfortunately, Wagner has discovered his more human side too late to write more operas of this richness. So, to conclude, Wagner's only "comic" opera is, in my humble opinion, not only one of his greatest works, but possibly an opera that could easily stand up to Mozart's Figaro, Verdi's Othello, or Bizet's Carmen. [Acknowledgements to Book of The Month Club Music Appreciation Records, and conductor Thomas Schippers, from whom I first learned to appreciate the Meistersinger overture!] ARCHIMEDES!