What is Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg?
'''''Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg''''' ('''''The Mastersingers of Nuremberg''''') is an [[opera]] by [[Richard Wagner]]. It is the only [[comedy|comic]] opera that Wagner wrote. Wagner wrote the words (the [[libretto]]) in 1862 and composed the music in 1867. It was first performed in [[Munich]] in 1868. The story is set in the town of [[Nuremberg]] (German: Nürnberg) in [[16th century]] [[Germany]]. It is about a group of Mastersingers. The Mastersingers (German: Meistersinger) were a [[guild]] of singers in Germany many centuries ago. The most famous of them was a man called Hans Sachs, who lived in the [[16th century]]. Although Hans Sachs was a real person, the story of the opera was made up by Wagner. It is a story about a song [[contest]]. ==The story of the opera== The [[prelude]] (orchestral introduction) to the opera is very famous and is often played by itself at concerts. It has several tunes which are sometimes cleverly played at the same time ([[counterpoint]]). These tunes are used during the opera and are associated with particular people or ideas (such tunes are called [[leitmotif]]s). ===Act One=== The young [[knight]] Walther is in [[church]] and sees a beautiful young girl, Eva. He wants to know whether she is married. She tells him that she will be married to the person who wins the singing contest the next day. Walther tries to learn the art of the Mastersingers from David, who works for Hans Sachs, the [[cobbler]]. David himself is in love with Magdalene. The [[apprentice]]s start to prepare the [[Stage (theatre)|stage]] for the contest. If Walther is to win the contest he will have to compose his own mastersong and sing it. He will have to compose it according to a lot of strict rules (the number of lines, the rhyming patterns etc.). When he meets the other Mastersingers he introduces himself, saying that he learned the art of singing from the ancient poet [[Walther von der Vogelweide]] and from [[nature]] itself. He sings this in a song which is very beautiful, but it doe