Wilhelm Richard Wagner - Overture to Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg
Program Notes of February 6, 2010
RICHARD WAGNER
Born Leipzig, 22 May 1813. Died Venice, 13 February 1883.
PRELUDE TO DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG
The Prelude was composed in June, 1862 and first performed in Leipzig on November 1 of that year, with the composer conducting. The opera was completed in 1867 and premiered on June 21, 1868, in Munich. The score calls for 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, cymbals, triangle, harp and strings. The work last approximately 9 minutes.
A composer must be a master craftsman, argues Sixtus Beckmesser, the town clerk in Richard Wagner's comic opera, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. Beckmesser is the "marker" in a medieval guild of song writers. As marker, Beckmesser is responsible for making sure that the songs written by the guild members adhere to the strictest rules of composition, and he marks their "mistakes". Young men who join the guild as apprentices study these rules with the older masters, like the legendary (and historical) Hans Sachs, with the hope of one day themselves achieving the rank of master singer, or "meistersinger." For Beckmesser, inspiration means nothing without craftsmanship. If the muse plants her kiss on the cheek of a mere novice, she is wasting her affections.
Not so, argues the novice, Walther von Stolzing, a young Franconian knight who has not yet mastered the rules, but believes he has been kissed by the muse. He finds inspiration in the beauty of nature and life and love, an idea that Beckmesser finds ludicrous. Walther enters the meistersingers' competition, hoping to prove himself worthy of the muse's affections, and also the affections of Eva, the daughter of one of the meistersingers. Eva's father has offered her hand in marriage to the grand prize winner of the song competition. Walther's first song attempt breaks all the rules, but Hans Sachs himself is moved by it, and Sachs helps Walther mold it into a somewhat more acceptable form. Even though his song still defies a good number of conventions, the freshness of Walther's inspiration wins him the competition and Eva's hand, and vanquishes Beckmesser's pedantry.
Richard Wagner found himself at the center of a contentious culture war similar to that of his Beckmesser and his Walther. On the one side were the enthusiastic proponents of Wagner's deeply expressive romanticism, and his tendency to dissolve the contours of compositional forms. On the other hand were his conservative critics, who wanted to preserve the formal integrity of the classical tradition, and who lionized Johannes Brahms as the hero of the conservative cause. This was a controversy that the supremely self-confident (a polite word for it) Wagner most heartily encouraged. He enthusiastically cast scorn on those he viewed as the "Beckmessers" of his time, those who valued mere craft above genius.
The polemics of the time notwithstanding, the music of Wagner's Meistersinger of Nürnbergis a masterpiece of both inspiration and craftsmanship. The prelude is a brilliant and delightful tapestry of a myriad of motifs that reappear with charm and wit throughout the opera. For example, the work opens with the grandiose meistersinger motif, which reappears later in a quick, staccato transformation, representing the cobbling of Hans Sachs. Taken together they give us a general impression of the meistersingers' grand vision, on the one hand, and their craftsmanship, on the other. Wagner's own craftsmanship in the prelude is undeniable, for the motifs are spun off and woven together with an artistry that is both intricate and breathtaking. As the composition nears its climax, multiple motifs are heard at once with an ever rising sense of excitement. Like Walther von Stolzing, Richard Wagner proves himself worthy of the muse's kiss.
