Uploaded April 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra & Choir conducted by Rafael Kubelik. For a list of singers: tinyurl.com/288evu4x
I - Akt I
Vorspiel (0:00) - "Da zu dir der Heiland kam" (9:35) - "Verweilt! Ein Wort!" (13:14) - "David! Was stehst?" (22:12) - "Mein Herr! Der Singer Meisterschlag" (24:25) - "So bleibt mir einzig der Meister Lohn!" (33:26) - "Seid meiner Treue wohl versehen" (37:24) - "Das schöne Fest, Johannistag" (44:51) - "Verzeiht, vielleicht schon ginget ihr zu weit" (52:12) - "Am stillen Herd" (1:01:29) - "Fanget an!" (1:12:23) - "Seid ihr nun fertig?" (1:15:58) - "Halt! Meister! Nicht so geeilt!" (1:18:20)
II - Akt II
"Johannistag! Johannistag!" (1:26:40) - "Laß sehn, ob Meister Sachs zu Haus?" (1:30:25) - "Zeig her! Es ist gut" (1:35:47) - "Was duftet dort der Lieder" (1:36:52) - "Gut'n Abend, Meister!" (1:42:58) - "Hilf, Gott! Wo bliebst du nur so spät?" (1:52:57) - "Da ist er!" (1:54:49) - "Geliebter, spare den Zorn" (1:58:52) - "Üble Dinge, die ich da merk" (2:00:45) - "Wie? Sachs?" (2:02:29) - "Jerum! Jerum!" (2:03:43) - "Das Fenster geht auf!" (2:08:46) - "Den Tag seh' ich erscheinen" (2:17:06) - "Mit den Schuhen ward ich fertig schier!" (2:22:38)
III - Akt III
Vorspiel (2:28:22) - "Gleich, Meister! Hier!" (2:34:35) - "Am Jordan Sankt Johannes stand" (2:38:58) - "Wahn! Wahn! Überall Wahn!" (2:42:19) - "Grüß Gott, Mein Junker!" (2:49:18) - "Mein Freund! In holder Jungendzeit" (2:54:26) - "Morgenlich leuchtend in rosigem Schein" (2:59:22) - "Ein Werbelied! Von Sachs - Ist's wahr" (3:10:03) - "Das Gedicht. Hier ließ ich's" (3:17:25) - "Sieh, Evchen!" (3:25:16) - "Hat man mit dem Schuhwerk nicht seine Not!" (3:32:03) - "Ein Kind ward hier geboren" (3:37:19) - "Die 'selige Morgentraum-Deutweise" (3:40:16) - "Sankt Krispin, lobet ihn!" (3:47:53) - "Ihr tanzt? Was werden die Meister sagen?" (3:51:57) - "Silentium! Silentium!" (3:57:26) - "Euch macht ihr's leicht, mir macht ihr's schwer" (4:00:51) - "Nun denn, wenn's Meistern und Volk beliebt" (4:06:46) - "Das Lied, fürwahr, ist nicht von mir" (4:12:56) - "Mogenlich leuchtend in rosigem Schein" (4:17:35) - "Verachtet mir die Meister nicht" (4:25:14)
Wagner's "The Master-Singers of Nuremberg" (Die Meistersinger Von Nürnberg) was conceived and sketched in 1845, but soon put aside to write "Lohengrin". After finishing "Tristan and Isolde" in 1859, Wagner returned to the project and composed between 1861-7. The support of patron King Ludwig II of Bavaria secured the work's staging. It was premiered at Munich's National Theatre House on June 21 of 1868, conducted by Hans von Bülow. It was a triumphal success after a long series of artistic disappointments.
Set in the mastersingers’ Nuremberg, the opera centres on a burgeoning romance between Walther, an inspired but untutored singer, and Eva, the daughter one of Nuremberg’s mastersingers. He has determined that the winner of a song contest will inherit his wealth and win Eva’s hand in marriage (provided she consents), so Walther must discipline his natural talent by learning the intricate rules of the mastersingers’ musical style. After a failed attempt to impress the mastersingers, Walther and Eva plan to elope—forfeiting her father’s fortune and the acceptance of the community—but through a series of comic incidents their plans are foiled, and instead Walther seeks help from the kindly cobbler Hans Sachs, whose character was inspired by a real, historical mastersinger. With Sachs’s tutelage, Walther wins the contest, and all ends well.
Wagner used the traditions of the German Mastersingers as the basis for the musical conception of his opera. Through his frequent use of bar form (AAB, or Stollen, Stollen, Abgesang), for example, Wagner pays musical homage to these early composers, whose preserved output overwhelmingly favors this formal arrangement. One of the underlying themes of Die Meistersinger, that rules, while necessary for the tempering of inspiration, cannot create great art, is illustrated musically in Act One, Scene Three, when the character Kothner sings mechanical, etude-like music while reading the rules for composing a Mastersong.
In stark contrast to Kothner's pedantry is Walther's trial song, which consists of a ravishing wash of chromatic exuberance contained within the boundaries of no prescribed formal plan. If Walther, the naturally great musician, represents Wagner himself, then it is equally true that the obtuse and curmudgeonly Sixtus Beckmesser represents Wagner's artistic and aesthetic nemesis, Eduard Hanslick. Beckmesser's music makes this association sardonically clear, making frequent use of artless staccato notes that seem to bite, rather than sing.
Picture: ''The Mastersingers of Nuremberg – Stolzing's Rehearsal'' Painting by Michael Echter.
Sources: tinyurl.com/y9y2jfju, tinyurl.com/23vvjugt and tinyurl.com/2d3b3fwz
Score: tinyurl.com/26beykzp
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra & Choir conducted by Rafael Kubelik. For a list of singers: tinyurl.com/288evu4x
I - Akt I
Vorspiel (0:00) - "Da zu dir der Heiland kam" (9:35) - "Verweilt! Ein Wort!" (13:14) - "David! Was stehst?" (22:12) - "Mein Herr! Der Singer Meisterschlag" (24:25) - "So bleibt mir einzig der Meister Lohn!" (33:26) - "Seid meiner Treue wohl versehen" (37:24) - "Das schöne Fest, Johannistag" (44:51) - "Verzeiht, vielleicht schon ginget ihr zu weit" (52:12) - "Am stillen Herd" (1:01:29) - "Fanget an!" (1:12:23) - "Seid ihr nun fertig?" (1:15:58) - "Halt! Meister! Nicht so geeilt!" (1:18:20)
II - Akt II
"Johannistag! Johannistag!" (1:26:40) - "Laß sehn, ob Meister Sachs zu Haus?" (1:30:25) - "Zeig her! Es ist gut" (1:35:47) - "Was duftet dort der Lieder" (1:36:52) - "Gut'n Abend, Meister!" (1:42:58) - "Hilf, Gott! Wo bliebst du nur so spät?" (1:52:57) - "Da ist er!" (1:54:49) - "Geliebter, spare den Zorn" (1:58:52) - "Üble Dinge, die ich da merk" (2:00:45) - "Wie? Sachs?" (2:02:29) - "Jerum! Jerum!" (2:03:43) - "Das Fenster geht auf!" (2:08:46) - "Den Tag seh' ich erscheinen" (2:17:06) - "Mit den Schuhen ward ich fertig schier!" (2:22:38)
III - Akt III
Vorspiel (2:28:22) - "Gleich, Meister! Hier!" (2:34:35) - "Am Jordan Sankt Johannes stand" (2:38:58) - "Wahn! Wahn! Überall Wahn!" (2:42:19) - "Grüß Gott, Mein Junker!" (2:49:18) - "Mein Freund! In holder Jungendzeit" (2:54:26) - "Morgenlich leuchtend in rosigem Schein" (2:59:22) - "Ein Werbelied! Von Sachs - Ist's wahr" (3:10:03) - "Das Gedicht. Hier ließ ich's" (3:17:25) - "Sieh, Evchen!" (3:25:16) - "Hat man mit dem Schuhwerk nicht seine Not!" (3:32:03) - "Ein Kind ward hier geboren" (3:37:19) - "Die 'selige Morgentraum-Deutweise" (3:40:16) - "Sankt Krispin, lobet ihn!" (3:47:53) - "Ihr tanzt? Was werden die Meister sagen?" (3:51:57) - "Silentium! Silentium!" (3:57:26) - "Euch macht ihr's leicht, mir macht ihr's schwer" (4:00:51) - "Nun denn, wenn's Meistern und Volk beliebt" (4:06:46) - "Das Lied, fürwahr, ist nicht von mir" (4:12:56) - "Mogenlich leuchtend in rosigem Schein" (4:17:35) - "Verachtet mir die Meister nicht" (4:25:14)
Wagner's "The Master-Singers of Nuremberg" (Die Meistersinger Von Nürnberg) was conceived and sketched in 1845, but soon put aside to write "Lohengrin". After finishing "Tristan and Isolde" in 1859, Wagner returned to the project and composed between 1861-7. The support of patron King Ludwig II of Bavaria secured the work's staging. It was premiered at Munich's National Theatre House on June 21 of 1868, conducted by Hans von Bülow. It was a triumphal success after a long series of artistic disappointments.
Set in the mastersingers’ Nuremberg, the opera centres on a burgeoning romance between Walther, an inspired but untutored singer, and Eva, the daughter one of Nuremberg’s mastersingers. He has determined that the winner of a song contest will inherit his wealth and win Eva’s hand in marriage (provided she consents), so Walther must discipline his natural talent by learning the intricate rules of the mastersingers’ musical style. After a failed attempt to impress the mastersingers, Walther and Eva plan to elope—forfeiting her father’s fortune and the acceptance of the community—but through a series of comic incidents their plans are foiled, and instead Walther seeks help from the kindly cobbler Hans Sachs, whose character was inspired by a real, historical mastersinger. With Sachs’s tutelage, Walther wins the contest, and all ends well.
Wagner used the traditions of the German Mastersingers as the basis for the musical conception of his opera. Through his frequent use of bar form (AAB, or Stollen, Stollen, Abgesang), for example, Wagner pays musical homage to these early composers, whose preserved output overwhelmingly favors this formal arrangement. One of the underlying themes of Die Meistersinger, that rules, while necessary for the tempering of inspiration, cannot create great art, is illustrated musically in Act One, Scene Three, when the character Kothner sings mechanical, etude-like music while reading the rules for composing a Mastersong.
In stark contrast to Kothner's pedantry is Walther's trial song, which consists of a ravishing wash of chromatic exuberance contained within the boundaries of no prescribed formal plan. If Walther, the naturally great musician, represents Wagner himself, then it is equally true that the obtuse and curmudgeonly Sixtus Beckmesser represents Wagner's artistic and aesthetic nemesis, Eduard Hanslick. Beckmesser's music makes this association sardonically clear, making frequent use of artless staccato notes that seem to bite, rather than sing.
Picture: ''The Mastersingers of Nuremberg – Stolzing's Rehearsal'' Painting by Michael Echter.
Sources: tinyurl.com/y9y2jfju, tinyurl.com/23vvjugt and tinyurl.com/2d3b3fwz
Score: tinyurl.com/26beykzp
