The sources and text of Richard Wagner's opera "Die Meistersinger von Nürnburg"..
ML 410.W16B78""'"'"' "*"'" ™*ifflmifii«i!SS,,''' "''"'"<' Waoner's 3 1924 022 234 235 THE SOURCES AND TEXT OF RICHARD WAGNER'S OPERA DIE lISTERSINfiER TON IRlEEe A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE FACULTY OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY ANNA MAUDE BO WEN, PH. B. MUNICH PUBLICATION OF DR. H. LtJNEBURG, MAXIMILIANSPL. 3. I8q7. Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924022234235 To my mother this essay is gratefully dedicated. PREFATORY NOTE. The material for this thesis has been collected partly at Cornell University and partly abroad, in the libraries of Munich and Leipsic. Cordial acknowledgements are due Prof. Dr. Franz Muncker, of the University of Munich, Prof. Dr. Karl von Bahder, of the University of Leipsic, Prof. C. H. El son, Dicect or of ■ th e New England Conservatory of Music, and to the firm of B. Schott's Sons, Mayence, as well as to all members of my exaniining committee, for suggestions and information. Leipsic, 3 March, 1897. ANNA MAUDE BOWEN. INTRODUCTION. I. MINNESONG AND MASTERSONG. The question as to the relation of Minhesong to Mastersong has long been sctiled, and even the dust of the unequal conflict between Docen and Jacob Grimm has cleared away.*) We know now that the Minnesong was the living blossom, the Master- song the curious fossil, of the same poetic growth. The Master- singers themselves had an indistinct perception of this fact, for they made some of the legendary founders and first masters of their art old and famous Minnesingers. Wagner has utilized this connection by bringing into juxtaposition the virile and the sterile, the spontaneous and the formal, Walther and Beckmesser, lea- ving us to draw by inference our own poetic moral. We shall examine more closely the development of this relation. Grimm tells us**) that as soon as a national poetry loses its objective character it goes over into a glaring subjectivity, a change marked by the tendency toward lyric and artificial forms. The ^natural, simple, national, epic'*) disappears, and from that time on the effort of advancing culture is ever ,to unite the lost epic with the lyric, i. e. te approach the dramatic principle . .. the greatest triumph of complete culture and the highest poetic element".*) Thus, after the decadence of the national epic in Germany, Minnesong and Mastersong arose simultaneously, „the one [term] denoting the content, the other the form".^) This i) For Grimm's dictum see „Ueber den altdeutschen Meistergesang". For his account of this entire controversy see same book, 13 ff. 2) „Kleinere Schriften", IV, 13. 3) Ibid. IV, 13. 4) Ibid. IV, 13. 5) Ibid. IV, 13. - 8 - poetry was confined to the stronger and more independent part of the nation, that is, to the nobility, for the first two centuries and a half of its existence (1143 — 1400), but when the nobility declined, it passed into the hands of the ever increasingly powerful citizen-class, there living on two centuries longer (1400—1600). The Minnesong originated in the golden age of the Hohen- staufens, and bears the imprint of that knightly spirit, that deep religious fervor, and that extravagant worship of woman which characterize this period. To the two characteristics first mentioned we owe the third, for the crusading knight who fought to free the Holy Land from the terrible Turk was fired by the inspiration of the Mary-cult, the germ of his wider veneration for woman. This admiration for woman was no new thing in Germany. From the time when the author of the Ann ales tells us of the Germans that they regarded their women as sanctum aliquidetprovidum'), through the era of the N i b e 1 u n g e n - lied and of Gudrun, she was held in constant reverence, until Christianity, bringing with it the conception of the sinless mother of God, effected an increase of veneration which amounted to a cult. Thus inspired arose the Minnesingers, that melodious choir of poets who keep their heritage of renown even unto this day. Their songs of spring and love, so sincere, so naive, still breathe the odorous freshness of long-past joyance and delight. Thus sympathetically are they characterized by D' Assailly:^) ,Les Minnesinger chantent la nature avec la candeur des petits enfants qui s'elancent en souriant dans le bras de leur mere. lis font leurs chefs d'oeuvre comme le moissonneur fait sa garbe, sans y songer; et ne se retournent pas pour voir s'ils sont suivis de cette glaneuse qu'on nomme la posterite. lis sont voues k Dieu, k la Vierge, aux femmes, h la patrie. Une passion jeune et tendre les anime et penetre leur parole d'une sorte de parfum, mais cette passion est candide, et, loin de rechercher le bruit des villes ou le faste des cours, elle est amoureuse de solitude, de recueillement, de mystere. ... La voix du monde i) Tacitus: „Germania", § VIII. 2) „Les Chevaliers-Poetes de rAUemagne", 12 fF. — 9 — effraye les Minnesinger, la marche des passants les inquiete comme les oiseaux dans la saison des nids.') , . . lis sont simples, ils sont vrais plus qu'on ne saurait le dire. Leur esprit se remplit sans cesse de pensees riantes et limpides. ... La plupart ont un style qui leur est propre, une doleur de predilection, des tournures originales, une idee dont ils s'epreuvent aiissi bien que de leur dame. . . . Novateurs dans un siecle turbulent, nos poetes ont ete les premiers k sentir qu'un hymne d'amour vaut bien un bardit de guerre. . . . Qu'on ne s'attende pas h trouver des savants dans les Minnesinger ... la plupart ont beaucoup plus etudie dans les champs que dans les livres.' Add to this a sentence from Grimm:^) ,Unter andern ist offenbar, dass nie eine Poesie frauenhafter gewesen, als diese war, mit ihrer unermudlichen Blumenliebe, mit ihrem stillen Glanzen", and our characterization is complete. Minnesong was in its prime in the first quarter of the thir- teenth century, when Walther van der Vogelweide, Hartmann von Aue, Wolfram von Eschenbach and Gottfried von Strassburg were all yet living. After the tragic death of the' last of the Hohenstaufens , however, came about the gradual decay of knightly poetry. „Die Fiirsten ermiiden der Minnelieder nach und nach, das Volk kann sie nicht brauchen. Die Meister klagen iiber den Verfall des hofischen Sangs, die Loblieder auf die Fiirsten und Herren gerathen immer haufiger, schmeichelnder und gezierter, je schlechter sie bezahlt werden, und sie unterlassen dabei nie zu sagen, dass ihr Lob ein wahres sey und sie das der Schlechten verabscheuen." ^) The end of the thirteenth century Introduced „die kaiserlose, die schreckliche Zeit", followed by the autocratic rule of the Habsburgs, dark ages for Germany in very truth. The nobles became mere robber-knights, and at neither castle nor court was there welcome for the singer. i) D'Assailly appears purposely to omit all mention of the political poems of the Minnesingers. 2) nUeber den altdeutschen Meistergesang", 8. 3) Ibid. 31. — lO — The later Minnesingers indulge in extravagant vagaries of botli content and verse. It is a significant fact that Frauenlob, to vi^hom the Mastersingers referred the foundation of their first School, was one those singers who played with artificial verse- forms to the havoc of his subject. '■) But in the middle of the fifteenth century torpid Europe was aroused. Through the capture of Constantinople by the Turks and the almost simultaneous invention of printing came, for Germany at least, the era of Humanism and the Reformation. ^) The imperial cities had been steadily growing in importance, and soon became the centers of all culture. Who but the honest burghers began now to flirt with the shy Muse, as they looked about for recreation after their day's labor? And although they clipped the wings of their Pegasus, and trained him to amble along in harness withal, yet they had taken him out of pound, and they cherished him fondly until he was ready for a new flight. From the fifteenth century on, the time of court-life and wandering for this poetry was past. „Denn es hatten die Fiirsten den Meistersingern alle Gunst entzogen, und auf andere Stande konnten sie eine Einwirkung nicht erneuern, die sie nie gehabt. Dagegen gerieth die Kunst in den Biirgerstand allmalig herab, nicht als ob vorher keine Burger derselben theilhaftig gewesen , sondern well jetzo eine Me'nge aus diesem Stand sie umfassten und bliihender als je machten , wenn man auf die Anzahl der Ausiibenden sieht. Nirgends hatte der sinkende Meistergesang so lange gehalten, wenn er nicht in die deutschen Stadte gelangt ware, wo die wohlhabenden Burger es sich zur Ehre^-ersahen, dass sie die Kunst einiger ihrer Vorfahrer nicht ausgehen liessen, und bald war sie durch eine Menge Theilnehmer in Anspruch und Form- lichkeit gesichert. " ^) Many of the old Minnesingers were called Masters ; Veldeke i) Grimm: „Ueber den altdeutschen Meistergesang", 32. — „Frauen- lob's Werke sind uberreich wunderbar und von einer Verworrenheit, aus der sie sich gleichsam zu ihrem eigenen Schmerz nicht zu ISsen vermogen." 2) cf. Wilsing: „Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg", 2 ff. 3) „Ueber den altdeutschen Meistergesang", 33. 1 1 — is so called by Gottfried of Strassbiirg. At all events, with the beginning of the thirteenth century there were rules and Masters enough. ^) The famous War of the Wartburg was, according to Miiller,^) only a sort of Singing-school. The oldest Singing-school of which we have any account was founded in Mainz by Frauenlob (Heinrich von Meissen). Frauenlob is now celebrated, first, for his famous poetic en- counter with Barthel Regenbogen in regard to the greater dignity of the title Frau orWeib, in which he upheld the superiority of the former (hence probably the name by which he is best known), and secondly, for the quaint record of the Latin chro- nicler^) in regard to his burial: „Anno Domini MCCCXVII*) in vigilia Sancta Andrew se- pultus est Henricus dictus Frauenlob, in Maguntia, in am- bitu majoris ecclesise, juxta scholas honorifice valde : qui depor- tatus fuit a mulieribus ab hospitio. usque ad locum sepulture, et lamentationes et querela maximas anditse fuerunt ab eis, propter laudes infinitas, quas imposuit omni generi feemineo in dictaminibus suis. Tantae etiam ibi copia fuit vini fusa in sepulchrum suum, quod circumfluebat per totum ambitum ecclesiee. Cantica canticorum dictavit teutonice quffi vulgariter dicuntur Unser Frauen Lied, e multa alia bona." Well might the ladies weep and pour libations of wine into his tomb, for he was the last of the old Minnesingers, vowed to their service, as well as the first of the Mastersingers. IL ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF MASTERSONG. As regards the origin of their art, the Mastersingers had a proud legend which Wagenseil discredits, but relates as follows.:^) i) Grimm: „Ueber den altdeutschen Meistergesang", 30. 2) Muller: „Die Meistersinger von NUrnberg", i4. 3) Urstisius: „Germaniae historici illustres" etc., II, 108. 4) Frauenlob died 13 18. See Uhland: „Geschichte der Dichtung und Sage", II, 293 note. 5) Wagenseil: „Buch von der Meister-Singer Holdseligen Kunst" etc., a supplement to his „De Civitate Noribergensi Commentatio", 503. 12 »The Mastersingers themselves have a very erroneous opinion, namely, that their art originated first in Germany in the time of the Emperor Otto I., and that moreover through XII gifted men, its undoubted devisers, as well as through the divine ordinance, since no one of them knew aught of the other. These men were called r^) i. Heinrich Frauenlob, Doctor of the Holy Scrip- tures at Mainz. 2. Heinrich Mogeling, Doctor of the Holy Scrip- tures at Prague. 3. Nicolaus Klingsohr, Master of the Liberal Arts. 4. Der starcke Poppo, otherwise also called der starke Poppser, a glass-burner. 5. Walther von der Vogelweide, a country gentleman. 6. Wolfgang Rohn or Rahm, a knight.^) 7. Hannss Ludwig Marner, a nobleman. 8. Barthel Regenbogen, a smith. 9. Sigmar the Wise, otherwise called der Romer von Zwickau.^) lo. Conrad Geiger, whom others call J age r, of Wiirtzburg, a musician.*) 11. N. Cantzler, a fisherman. 12. Steffan StoU, otherwise known as der alte Stoll, a rope- maker. " The Mastersingers were evidently proud of the noble names in this list. W age n sell says^) that the Mastersong was devised first „by most wise and learned people, as Doctors, knights and barons, nobles and other wise people, rich and poor'. Puschman says also:^) .And this art is to be held as especially dear and worthy on this account, that it is of exalted, noble origin, being first devised by excellent noble people.' It is interesting to note that „der starke Poppo", who is Master of the Seven Liberal Arts in Schilter and Puschman, becomes a tradesman in Wagenseil, a change which may perhaps show a tendency in i) Other lists substantially the same are in Schilter: „Thesaurus Anti- quitatum Teutonicarum", III, 88, and Puschman: „Grundtlicher Bericht des Deudschen Meistergesangs", reprinted in „Neudrucke deutscher Litteratur- werke des XVI. und XVII. Jahrhunderts", 4. 2) Wolfram von Eschenbach. See Schilter- III, 88. 3) Reinraar von Zweter. 4) Schilter, III, 88 gives his name as Conrad von Wurzburg, ein Geiger am Hof. 5) „Von der Meister-Singer Holdseligen Kunst", 52i. 6) ..Griindtlicher Bericht", 4. — 13 — the later times to make the art more completely, even in its origin, a possession of the Burgher-class. W a g e n s e i 1 continues his story : ^) „0f these they say that, because they rebuked the evil life and conduct of the pope and clergy, they were accused at first before Pope Leo VIII as heretics who were introducing new and false doctrines. In consequence of this therefore the Emperor, while in Italy, summoned the XII Mastersingers at first to Pavia, at the earnest solicitation of the Pope, and later, when he had gone from Italy into France, summoned them likewise to Paris ;^) and since in both of these places, in the presence of the Emperor, of the pope's legates, and also of many scholars and men of rank they not only gave glorious specimens of their gracious art, to the satisfaction of all, but also completely removed all false presumption of their heresy, — their newly devised art was approved and praised by both emperor and pope, as well as endowed with privileges, and they were exhorted diligently to persevere therein." Wagenseil then devotes four pages to the same account as given in a Mastersong dating from the beginning of the sixteenth century.^) Puschman, who wrote more than a century before Wagenseil, gives the date of the trial, Anno Christi 692.*) Grimm regards the whole story as a myth, and with justice.^) Wagenseil notes the incongruity in dates between the reign of Otto I and the death ofFrauenlob,") and Pusch- man himself must have had an inkling that something was wrong in his chronology, for he arbitrarily changes Otto I to i) „Von der Meister-Singer Holdseligen Kunst", 503. 2) This double locality of the trial, i. e. Payia and Paris, is evidently Wagenseil's attempt to reconcile two stories. Puschman, 4 gives Paris as the scene of the trial, the Strassburg Tablature, as also the Mastersong quoted by Wagenseil 5o5, Pavia. Schilter says of his account, „Nihil antiquius obtineri potui". We have no reason for supposing that the trial took place at Paris. 3) Uhland: „Geschichte der^ Dichtung und Sage", II, 286. 4) „Grundtlicher Bericht", 4. 5) „Ueber den altdeutschen Meistergesang", n5 ff. 6) „Von der Meister-Singer Holdseligen Kunst", Sog. — 14 — Otto II in his second edpon '), a correction which profits little. To quote U h 1 a n d : ^) , Anachronismen fehlen freilich dieser Sage nicht. Der ge- ringste darunter ist, dass Leo VIII. im Jahr 962 noch nicht den pSpstlichen Stuhl bestiegen hatte. Aber auch von den samt- lichen Dichtern, deren Namen in die Zwolfzahl gesammelt sind, fallt keiner in die Zeit Otto's I. und Leo's VIIL, und ebenso- wenig sind sie grossenteils unter sich gleichzeitig. . . . Der alteste, Walther von der Vogelweide, gehort dem Anfang des 13. Jahr- hunderts, Frauenlob mit mehreren Andern dem Schlusse des- selben und Heinrich von Miiglin dem weit vorgeriickten 14. Jahr- hundert an." From Otto also they claimed to have received a golden crown % with which to adorn the victor in song, and this crown was the central ornament of the coat-of-arms of the Master- singers at Mainz. This city was „at once the High-school and the place of Assembly of the Mastersingers, whither those betook themselves, who desired to learn that art beyond all others. There were securely preserved the privileges and prerogatives which the societies received from time to time from the Roman emperors, especially the golden crown of the Emperor Otto . .. and the letter with the Mastersingers' coat-of-arms".*). The number twelve had no doubt a mystic signification. Metzger^) compares the twelve old Masters to the twelve apostles, and the schools of Nuremberg and Augsburg*) had also twelve Masters selected from their own number, as we shall have occasion to note. There is no doubt a reference in the number to the twelve heroes in the Rose Garden at Worms. The garden also played an important part in the Mastersingers symbolism. One of the tablets which was hung up to announce meetings of the Nuremberg School had painted on it a garden i) Grimm: „Ueber den altdeutschen Meistergesang", u8. 2) „Geschichte der Dichtung und Sage", 286 f. 3) Schilter, III, 88; Wagenseil, 492; Puschman, 4. 4) Wagenseil, 5i5. 5) Grimm: „Ueber den altdeutschen Meistergesang", 120, note. 6) Uhland: „Geschichte der Dichtung und .Sage", II, 288. — 16 — in which were several persons wandering about. Above it was the verse : *) „Zwolff Alte Manner vor viel Jahren, Thaten den Garten wohl bewahren, Vor wilden Thieren, Schwein, und Beeren Die wolten ihn verwiisten gem; Die lebten, als man zehlt verwahr, Neunhundert und 62 Jahr." W a g e n s e i 1 goes on to explain : ^) „That the garden was brought to mind, comes about probably on account of the Rose-Garden at Worms, so highly renowned in ancient times , wherein the bravest and strongest heroes of the world were wont to contend and to let their prowess be seen. . . . Just as if, as the heroes had striven for precedence with undismayed courage and with all the might of their bodies, so the Mastersingers strove also for the honor of their intellect and of their skill in the art of song." Hans Sachs, in his „Schulkunst",*) compares Mastersong to a garden also, and Puschman quotes a Mastersong which makes use of the same figure.*) So much for the rise of the Mastersong! From Mainz it spread throughout the cities of soutliern Germany, flourishing especially at Nuremberg and Strasburg.'^) „Im vierzehnten Jahr- hundert bliiht er zu Mainz, Strassburg, Colmar, Frankfurt, Wirtzburg, Zwickau, Prag. Im funfzehnten zu Niirnberg, Augs- burg. Im sechszehnten zu Regensburg, Ulm, Munchen, Steier- mark, Mahren (Iglau), Breslau, Gorliz bis nach Danzig. Im siebenzehnten zu Memmingen, Basel, Diinkelspiel. " ^) The Augs- i) Wagenseil, 54i. 2) Ibid. 54i. 3) Sachs: „Dichtungen", in „Deutsche Dichter des sechszehnten Jahr- hunderts", 10, 102 fF. Ranisch, 259 thinks that this reference to a garden quoted in Wagenseil may go back also to this same song by Sachs. 4) „GrundtIicher Bericht", 46 f. 5) Wagenseil, 5i5. 6) Grimm: „Ueber den altdeutschen Meistergesang", 129. — i6 - burg School was regularly established in 1450,') that at Stras- burg about 1492.^) Mastersong was most prosperous in the middle of the fifteenth century. At the end of the sixteenth century it began to decline. As everything else in Germany, it suffered severely from the Thirty Years' War, and from that time led only a precarious existence into our own century. In 1839 the School at Ulm dissolved, giving its insignia to the Ulm ,Liederkranz", but it was not until 1844 that Mastersong ceased to exist in Germany, by the formal dissolution of the Memmingen School.^) III. THE HISTORICAL VALUE OF THE MASTERSINGERS' ART. In his seventh chapter*) Wagenseil treats of the advan- tages and uses of the Mastersingers' art, somewhat as follows. In the first place, since the Mastersingers took their subjects largely from the Bible, it served to make that book more familiar. It conduced to the safety of the state, since it united the citizens, and established peace and quiet. It prevented the jealousy which often existed between different trades-guilds , for its members were taken from all these guilds. It also took the place of more questionable amusements, and reduced the evils of idleness. Hear Wagenseil again: ^) „But no one celebrates fewer holidays than the good Master- singers, for when they have worked hard and fast the whole day to win their bread, and now the eve of rest has come, while other tradesmen go into beer-houses or elsewhere together, these men sit down, compose new poems, repeat the old Tunes, write great books of songs, or instruct their apprentices, that the art may not perish. It is really a matter to wonder at, that the dear folks take upon themselves such great pains and labor, without the slighest advantage from it; for all that they do is j) Mey: „Der Meistergesang in Geschichte und Kunst," 6. 2) Schilter, III, 89. 3) No new „Tune" had, however, been invented since 1788. See Mey, i4. 4) Wagenseil, SSg ff. 5) Ibid. 5^0 ff. — 17 — merely out of love toward the German Fatherland, and toward that gracious old Art, in order that it may be handed down to their posterity as they received it from their ancestors. Else- where the saying „Marcet sine praemio Virtus, et nemo gratis bonus est* is valid, but here no reward can be expected. . .. I am completely of the opinion that the Mastersingers Guild- makes for the great renown and honor, first, of the few Imperial cities in which this art is now practiced, and then also of all Germany; since no nation anywhere in the world except ourselves can show so old a true poetic association, never interrupted in several thousand (sic !) years, but at all times flourishing with the favor and privileges ' accorded it by the government , and with its own rules and regulations. " We may quote also a view which ' has the advantage of greater historical perspective, and is still just and appreciative : ,Ich will hier nicht den Unsinn der vielen Dichtergesell- schaften herbeiziehen und strafen, aber die MeistersSnger damit entschuldigen , dass , nachdem schon alle ihre Kegel aus den wahren Schranken getreten war, die blosse Formlichkeit auf die Reinheit ihrer Sitten gewirkt hat und ein Band gestiftet hat, werther denn ihre Kunst war. Der Meistergesang zeigt sich weithin als ein Mittel mehr, welches, auf den Bund der Burger wohlthatig gewirkt hat. . . . Man ist leicht damit fertig gewesen, die Geschmacklosigkeit und Trocketiheit der spateren Meister- sUnger zu tadeln, hat aber dabei die Ehrlichkeit und Selbstver- kennung ganz iibersehen, womit sie ihre fromme Kunst iibten. " ') i) Grimm: „Ueber den altdeutschen Meistergesang", ii. Bo wen, Wagner's Meisterslnger, CHAPTER I. THE SOURCE FOR THE TECHNICAL DETAILS IN THE „MASTERSINGERS«'. I. GENERAL CUSTOMS AND USAGES OF THE MASTERSINGERS IN THE SCHOOL AND AT THE REVEL. The most detailed account of the observances of the Master- singers in their public functions is to be found inWagenseil's sixth chapter, *) a source closely followed by Wagner. „In Nuremberg the Mastersingers are permitted to hold their Singing-schools on the afternoon of Sunday and of holidays as often as they like. . . . And for this purpose has been thrown open from the earliest times the so-called Church of St. Catharine, perhaps because the same holy virgin and martyr was held to be a patron of the liberal arts et omnis elegantioris liters in the Roman church, according to the manner in which Minerva was esteemed by the pagans." Wagner, following this account, represents the School as having been held in this church. This is an anachronism for the time in which the „ Mastersingers " is supposed to play, i. e. the middle of the sixteenth century, for it was not until the seventeenth century that the place ot meeting was changed from the Church of St. Martha to that of St. Catharine.^) i) Wagenseil, 54o ff. All quotations not otherwise accredited are to be referred to this chapter passim. 2) See Ranis ch: „Lebensbeschreibung Hanns Sachsen", 27 note, who ^ives a song written by one Wolf Bautner in 1620 which confirms this statement: „Weil wir nun gar ein lange Zeit Sind bey Sanct Marte gwesen, — 19 — „ Several days before a Singing-school is to he held, the Markers or Directors of the Mastersingers Guild give notice of it, and such notice is given by the youngest Master, who shall go to the house of each Guildsman, nor shall he claim for this any recompense." Compare Wagner (VII, i68):') ,Zu einer Freiung und Zunftberathung ging an die Meister ein' Einladung.* Further: , Every member of the guild who is summoned to the Singing-school is bound to appear, or if he cannot come, to have himself excused by a substitute." Compare Wagner (VII, i6g). In the roll-call, when Kothner comes to the name of Niklaus Vogel, who is absent, he is excused by his apprentice. „In the midst of the church of St. Catharine, at the beginning of the choir, a low platform is erected, on which is set a table with a great black desk, and around the table are set benches, and this platform, which is called the Marker's Seat (Gemerke) hat curtains drawn around it, so that one cannot see from without what goes on within. A cathedra, in the form of a pulpit, in which he who is about to sing a Mastersong seats himself, remains always unchanged in its place, not far from the large pulpit in which the sermons are preached." To this account correspond closely the stage-directions for this scene in Wagner (VII, 165). ,When the day appointed for the Singing-school has arrived, the advertisement of it is given by four or five tablets publicly hung up in the city, of which three are attached to the different Und man dieselb Kirch gmeiner Stadt Zu besserm Nutz that wenden, So hat ein hohe Obrigkeit Uns die Kirch erlesen St. Catharina an dem Ort, ' Unser Gesang zu voUenden." i) These references in parenthesis are to Wagner: „Gesammelte Schriften und Dichtungen", 2nd ed., and are inserted in the text in order to facilitate reference. — 20 — Stories of the great Market, the fourth however to the outer door') through which one enters the church of St. Catharine." The first tablet had on it a picture of the Rosegarden, the second .King David, depicted as playing on a harp as be kneels before the Lord Christ hanging on the cross" (a naive anachro- nism!), the third the birth of Christ, the fourth the likeness of .honest Hans Sachs". To each tablet wag added a printed bill of the following purport : ,In the Singing-school of today several Lovers of the Art propose to the Mastersingers several prizes for Singing.. Therefore shall be sung first in the Open Singing true and demonstf able Histories, edifying for > Christen- dom. The limit shall be from . . . to . . . 1 _. For. the competition ") from ... to ... / on the Principal Singing, no song shall be passed, unless it is in accordance with Holy Writ, i. e. from the Old and New Testament. The limit shall be ffom . . . to .. For the competition from ... to Let him who wishes to hear betake himself after mid-day service to St. Catharine's, where it will begin. Sometimes the poster reads thus: , Since by the favor of the Most Noble, Considerate and Wise Council of this city it is allowed and granted to the Mastersingers to call a public .Christian Singihg-school, and to hold it to the praise, honor and glory of God Almighty as also for the dissemination of his holy Divine Word, on this account in the aforesaid school shall be sung nothing except what is in accordance with holy Divine Writ; also it is forbidden to sing all abusive and irritating songs, (Straffer jind Reitzer) from which all discord springs, as well as all obscene songs. But he \ Rimes. i) The church of St. Catharine, once, part of a monastery, is situated in a court, which is entered by a large gate. It, is probably this court-gate, wliich opens on Jhe, street, that is here meant. ,. , 2) Das Gleichen, — This was the competitive singing for the prizes^ — 21 — who with true art does the best shall be honored with the David or School-jewel , and the ' one second to him with A fair wreath." The gathering of the audience in the church of St.jCatharine occurs after the mid-day service, or an hour before vespers, according to the Nuremberg reckoning, that is at one o'clock."*) This fact gives Wagner a chance for the striking opening of his drama. The church-service is just ending, and we hear one stanza of what might be an old German hymn just as the curtain risfes. When a goodly number of people were present the Open Singing began ^ in which all , even strangers, might participate. In this exercise the subject might be ,a true and honorable secular event" as well as something from the Bible. But in the Open Singing there was no marking, so that, beyond fame, one could win nothing, sing as one might. „ He who now wishes to sing, seats himself with fine courtesy in the singer's seat, takes off his hat or cap, and after he has paused for a while begins to sing and continues to the end." It will be seen from this that Walther commits a grave offense by rising from his seat in the excitement of his song (VII, 183);") After the Open Singing came the Principal Singing (H a u p t - Singen) in which might be sung only songs whose subjects came from the Bible. The singer was required to cite at the beginning of his song the book and chapter from which the subject was taken. ,When, in the Principal Singing, the singer has mounted the singing-seat and rested a while the chief Marker cries: Begin! Then the singer makes a beginning, and when a stanza or refrain is complete he stops until the Marker cries again: Go on ! After the song is ended the singer betakes himself from his seat and gives place to another." i) Time was ordinarily reckoned in Nuremberg according to the Italian or old Roman method. ■ 2) See „Strassburger Studien", III, 206. There is a specific name for this, i. e. Stuelsprungl, in the Ulm Register. — 22 — These two expressions are the ,Fanget an!"') and ,Fahret fort!"^) which occur so often in Wagner. The Markers, the most eminent men in the guild, criticized the songs. There were four of them, according to Wagen- seil.^) The oldest, with Luther's version of the Bible before him, noticed whether the song agreed with the scriptural version, as well as whether it was couched in Luther's vocabulary. The second noticed the text, and marked down with chalk on the desk the errors against the Tablature. The third wrote down the riming words, and noted any errors in rime or in the verse- scheme, and the fourth criticized the melody. „ During the Singing the remaining Guildmembers must refrain from speaking or noise, that the singers may not become confused", says Wagenseil, an injunction not observed by the Masters as Walther proceeds with his trial-song (VII, 187 flf.). If there was a tie in the singing, those who had sung equally well were obliged to continue until one had sung entirely without mistakes (glatt gesungen) or at all events with fewer than the other. There were two prizes, which were not, however, given outright, but only to be worn during the assembly and the following Revel. The first was a silver chaiti, hung with all sorts of medallions which had been presented to the society, the second a wreath of silk flowers. The chain was itself too cumbersome to wear, so a lighter one, hung with three silver and gilded medallions, was provided for the winner. This ornament received the name of the King David, for on the central medallion was a picture of King David playing on the harp, „and this Hans Sachs bequeathed to the company".*) The winner of the King David was privileged to sit at the next meeting with the Markers, :) Wagner, VII, iSg, 182, 218, 219, 263. 2) Ibid. VII, 220, 221, 267, 268. 3) Puschman, 30 gives three as the number. No Tablature gives less than two, and three seems to have been the usual number. 4) Wagenseil, 545. Wagenseil tells us with honest pride that he himself replaced this, since it had grown old, by a silver chain and a gilded medallion. - 23 — and remind them of their oversights, while the winner of the wreath stood at the door at the time of the next meeting and received the money. Wagner deviates from this account in the disposal of the prizes. He makes the wreath the first prize, by virtue of which Walther wins Eva for his bride. The apprentices announce this in the first act (VII, 165): „Das Blumeni^ranzlein aus Seiden fein, wird das dem Herrn Ritter beschieden sein?" In the last act, after Walther's song is succesfuUy finished, Eva places on his brow a wreath" twined of laurel and myrtle" (VII, 269), (evidently Wagner thought this more auspicious than a silken wreath for the happy occasion); and the King David, a golden chain (not silver as in Wagenseil), with three me- dallions, is given him only to signify his elevation to the dignity of Mastersinger. Now in Wagenseil the King David is the first prize, the wreath the second, but what matters this when the artist's purposes are better served by a reversal of order? The text of a song in one melody was open for a prize only once a year ; but if the same text were adapted to a different melody it might be sung and rewarded several times. Two songs with the same melody were not to be sung the one immediately after the other. The Markers are adjured to mark truly and diligently, according to the intention of the art, and not according to bias . . . „not otherwise than as if one were sworn to it, although in truth one neither can nor ought to swear" : ^) In case some relative of a Marker was to sing, the latter was required to resign his office for the time being to some unprejudiced person. Compare with this Sachs' utterance in the first act (VII, 1 86): „Der Merker werde so bestellt, dass weder Hass noch Lieben das Urtheil triiben, das er fallt" It rested with the judgment of the Marker whether the singer's errors i) Wagenseil, 545 f. This, as other passages, is taken directly frOm Puschman. — 24 — should be told him at once, or after the school in private, .that others may not scoif at him*.') ii i As to how the uninitiated learned Mastersong and were taken into the Guild, we learn the following: ,If a person has desire and love for the Mastersingers art, he betakes himself to any Master in whonrt he has confidence and who has worn the jewel at least once, and begs him to assist him with good instruction. He who is thus besought will do so gladly, and undertakes the great labor which the teaching of such very difficult tunes entails entirely gratis, merely from a desire to further the art for posterity. On which account the Masters themselves seek for pupils, and for this cut short their rest and slep : since they must employ their day in the exercise of their trade and in the winning of food." When an apprentice had learned the rules and a number of Melodies , including the four crowned Melodies, ^) he was presented to the masters in the Revel (usually on St. Thomas' Day) for their acceptance. The Marker examined the candidate, asking whether he was of honorable birth, of a frivolous or quiet character, whether he visited the Singing-school regularly. He was further tested as to whether be had sufficient knowledge of the art, and knew what a vowel or consonant was, whether he knew the qualities of rimes, what were masculine and what femine, whether he knew a sufficient number of tunes, especially the four crowned tunes, and in case of necessity could mark a song. Compare Wagner (VII^ i6o): ,hab' ich das Leder glatt geschlagen, lern' ich Vocal und Consonanz sagen; wichst' ich den Draht gar fein und steif, was sich da reimt, ich wohl begreif ; i) Hans Sachs suggests the following day as an appropriate time. See Genee, 4i2. „Item die mercker sint schuldig almal den nechsten tag nach der Singschpel seinen iden Singer der ait ze gleichen ist kumen, seinen fel so ers pegert an ze zaigen." 2) These were the Long Measures or Tunes of Heinrich Miigling, Heinrich Frauenlob , Ludwig Marner and Bartel Regenbogen respectively. Wagenseil, 354 ff. — 25 — den Pfriemen schwingend, im Stich die Ahl', was stumpf, was klingend" . .. He was then given an opportunity to sing a Mastersong, and if- be erred to the extent of more than seven mistakes, he could not be taken in. This is a condition twice repeated by Wagner (VII, 165, 181): „Sieben Fehler giebt er euch vor, die merkt er mit Kreide dort an, wer iiber sieben Fehler verlor, hat versungen und ganz verthan!" After this the Commendator and Candidatus retired, and the oldest Marker enquired whether the canditate were agreeable to the company, and sufficiently skilled. If the answer was favorable the candidate must pledge himself: I. To remain faithful to the art of song. II. To defend the art and the Guild whenever he heard them attacked. III. To live peaceably with his brother-members of ■ the GuHd, and to assist them where it was in his power, both in their bodily wants and in their reputations. IV. To sing no Mastersong in the open streets by' day or by night, nor at carouses or in unseemly places. Yet to a stranger inspired by a worthy desire to hear a Mastersong he should not refuse to sing one. The older custom was then to baptize the novice with water, and by this ceremony the Apprentice (Lehrling) became a Singer. V\^hen the Singer became sufficiently skilled he was permitted to take part in the Open Singing, and was there announced as free (freigesprochen) and declared a Master. This is Wagner's , losgesprochen " (VII, 1 56) : ,der Lehrling wird da losgesprochen, der nichts wider die Tabulatur verbrochen; Meister wird, wen die Prob' nicht reu't." ' A Nuremberg Mastersinger, M. Ambrosius Metzger, gives a poetic account of the whole ceremony in the melodies of various Masters, a song which was in high repute inWagenseil's day. — 26 — No doubt the name of Apprentice, as well as many of the ceremonies of his reception as a Master, were borrowed from the usages of the trades-guilds.. After the Singing-school an „ honorable, decorous and peace- ful revel" was held in a neighboring tavern. All weapons were to be laid aside, play, useless conversation, superabundant drinking, were forbidden. A wreath was offered, for which anyone might sing. Irritating songs were forbidden, as provoking discord, and no one might challenge another to sing for money. No one might sit at table with the Markers unless expressly invited. The winner of the wreath in the Singing-school waited on the revel, and, if he needed aid, the winner of the wreath the previous time assisted. The wreath-winner and the Markers received a slight compensation for their services. The revel was paid for from the common funds of the guild. Finally, a deceased Mastersinger was to be accompanied to the grave by all the members of the guild, and when a Marker died, a song was to be sung by them all in his honor at the grave. II. THE TABLATURE. The rules of the Mastersingers' School were drawn up in the so-called Tablature, a code defining the errors which might be committed, and prescribing the punishment for each. The oldest Tablature preserved is that of the Nuremberg School, of the year 1540. The one followed by Wagner is again that contained in Wagenseil, who here follows Puschman closely, but in a different order. First come a few general definitions.') A Bar is, accordig to Wagenseil, a complete poem, not as Wagner uses it (VII, 240), a single stanza. Each Bar has its regular rime-and verse-structure, ordained and preserved by the lips of the Master. „This all the Singers, Poets and Markers should know how to measure and count off on their fingers". i) Wagenseil, 521 ff. All technical words used by Wagner which are taken from this chapter of Wagenseil will be designated by being printed in capitals. — 37 says our authority. A Bar is composed of several Stanzas (Gesatze). A Stanza is composed of Strophe and Antistrophe (Stollen), which are identical in metrical and melodic structure, and a Refrain (Abgesang) of different organization.') The Refrain is some times followed by another strophe. How exactly Wagner has turned the very language of Wagenseil into his verse may be seen from the following passages from each : ^) Wagenseil : ,Ein jedes Meister-Gesangs Bar hat sein ordentlich Gemas, in Reimen und Silben . .. Ein Bar hat mehrentheils unter- schiedliche Gesatz oder Stuck, als viel deren der Tichter tichten mag. 