Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (German: [diː ˈmaɪstɐˌzɪŋɐ fɔn ˈnʏʁnbɛːɐk]; "The Master-Singers of Nuremberg"), WWV 96, is a music drama, or opera, in three acts, by Richard Wagner.

With Hans von Bülow conducting, it was first performed on 21 June 1868 at the National Theater in Munich, today home of Bavarian State Opera.

It is the only mature Wagner opera based on an entirely original story, and in which no supernatural or magical powers or events feature.

It incorporates many of the operatic conventions that Wagner had railed against in his essays on the theory of opera: rhymed verse, arias, choruses, a quintet, and even a ballet.

[1] Taking the waters at Marienbad in 1845 he began reading Georg Gottfried Gervinus' Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung (History of German Poetry).

[2]Gervinus' book also mentions a poem by the real-life Hans Sachs on the subject of Protestant reformer Martin Luther, called "Die Wittenbergisch Nachtigall" (The Wittenberg Nightingale).

The opening lines for this poem, addressing the Reformation, were later used by Wagner in Act III Scene 5 when the crowd acclaims Sachs: "Wacht auf, es nahet gen den Tag; ich hör' singen im grünen Hag ein wonnigliche Nachtigall."

As a result of reading Schopenhauer's ideas about the role of music, Wagner re-evaluated his prescription for opera, and included many of these elements in Die Meistersinger.

It is Wahn which causes the riot in Act II – a sequence of events arising from a case of mistaken identity, which can be seen as a form of self-delusion.

Following the completion of Tristan und Isolde, Wagner resumed work on Die Meistersinger in 1861 with a quite different philosophical outlook from that which he held when he developed his first draft.

(Schopenhauer: The World as Will and Representation)The other distinctive manifestation of Sachs's character – his calm renunciation of the prospect of becoming a suitor for Eva's love – is also deeply Schopenhauerian.

Cosima Wagner was later to write: "When future generations seek refreshment in this unique work, may they spare a thought for the tears from which the smiles arose.

[a] Prelude Scene 1: Interior of Katharinenkirche (St. Catherine's Church)[b] in Nuremberg, Saint John's Eve or Midsummer's Eve, June 23 After the prelude, a church service is just ending with a singing of Da zu dir der Heiland kam (When the Saviour came to thee), an impressive pastiche of a Lutheran chorale, as Walther von Stolzing, a young knight from Franconia, addresses Eva Pogner, whom he had met earlier, and asks her if she is engaged to anyone.

Scene 2 As the other apprentices set up the church for the meeting, David warns Walther that it is not easy to become a mastersinger; it takes many years of learning and practice.

), Walther launches into a novel free-form tune (So rief der Lenz in den Wald), breaking all the mastersingers' rules, and his song is constantly interrupted by the scratch of Beckmesser's chalk on his chalkboard, maliciously noting one violation after another.

Scene 3 As twilight falls, Hans Sachs takes a seat in front of his house to work on new shoes for Beckmesser.

Prelude, a meditative orchestral introduction using music from two key episodes to be heard in act 3: Sachs's scene 1 monologue "Wahn!

Scene 2 Sachs gives Walther an interactive lesson on the history and philosophy of music and mastersinging, and teaches him to moderate his singing according to the spirit (if not the strict letter) of the masters' rules.

Beckmesser, his confidence restored by the prospect of using verses written by the famous Hans Sachs, ignores the warning and rushes off to prepare for the song contest.

At last, however, he admits to Eva that, despite his feelings for her, he is resolved to avoid the fate of King Marke (a reference to the subject of another Wagner opera, Tristan und Isolde, in which an old man tries to marry a much younger woman), thus conferring his blessing upon the lovers.

After celebrating their good fortune with an extended quintet (Selig, wie die Sonne meines Glückes lacht) – musically capping the first four scenes of act 3 – the group departs for the festival.

Various guilds enter boasting of their contributions to Nürnberg's success; Wagner depicts three of them: the Cobblers, whose chorus Sankt Krispin, lobet ihn!

The crowd sings the praises of Hans Sachs, the most beloved and famous of the mastersingers; here Wagner provides a rousing chorus, Wach' auf, es nahet gen den Tag, using words written by the historical Sachs himself,[3] in a chorale-like four-part setting,[14] relating it to the chorales of the "Wittenberg Nightingale" (a metaphor for Martin Luther).

The people are so curious about the song (correctly worded as Morgenlich leuchtend im rosigen Schein) that they allow Walther to sing it, and everyone is won over in spite of its novelty.

Pogner places the symbolic master-hood medal around his neck, Eva takes his hand, and the people sing once more the praises of Hans Sachs, the beloved mastersinger of Nuremberg.

Eduard Hanslick wrote in Die Neue Freie Presse after the premiere: "Dazzling scenes of colour and splendour, ensembles full of life and character unfold before the spectator's eyes, hardly allowing him the leisure to weigh how much and how little of these effects is of musical origin."

[20] The prelude to Act III is played over shots of old Nuremberg at the beginning of Triumph of the Will, the 1935 film by Leni Riefenstahl depicting the Nazi party congress of 1934.

[24] Millington's article spurred significant debate among Wagner scholars including Charles Rosen,[25] Hans Rudolph Vaget,[26] Paul Lawrence Rose,[27] and Karl A.

"[29] Nike Wagner, another of the composer's great-granddaughters, contends that Beckmesser is principally the victim of sadism, "which is inseparable from the syndrome that also produces violent fascism".

[30] Scholars Dieter Borchmeyer, Udo Bermbach [de] and Hermann Danuser support the thesis that with the character of Beckmesser, Wagner did not intend to allude to Jewish stereotypes, but rather to criticize (academic) pedantism in general.