“Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg”

The best definition of the true purpose of comedy which I know is that it is to “chastise manners with a smile” (Ridendo castigat mores); and it has no better exemplification in the literature of opera than Wagner’s “Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg.”  Wagner’s mind dwelt much on Greek things, and as he followed a classical principle in choosing mythological and legendary subjects for his tragedies, so also he followed classical precedent in drawing the line between tragedy and comedy.  “Tannhauser,” “Tristan und Isolde,” “Der Ring des Nibelungen,” “Parsifal,” and, in a lesser degree, “Lohengrin,” are examples of the old tragedy type.  To them the restrictions of time and space do not apply.  They deal with large passions, and their heroes are gods or godlike men who are shattered against the rock of immutable law—­the “Fate” of the ancient tragedians.  His only significant essay in the field of comedy was made in “Die Meistersinger,” and this is as faithful to the old conception of comedy as the dramas mentioned are to that of tragedy.  It deals with the manners, vices, and follies of the common people; and, therefore, it has local environment and illustrates a period in history.  It was conceived as a satyr-play following a tragedy ("Tannhauser"), and though there can be no doubt that it was designed to teach a lesson in art, it nevertheless aims primarily to amuse, and only secondarily to instruct and correct.  Moreover, even the most cutting of its satirical lashes are administered with a smile.

As a picture of the social life of a quaint German city three and a half centuries ago, its vividness and truthfulness are beyond all praise; it is worthy to stand beside the best dramas of the world, and has no equal in operatic literature.  The food for its satire, too, is most admirably chosen, for no feature of the social life of that place and period is more amiably absurd than the efforts of the handicraftsmen and tradespeople, with their prosaic surroundings, to keep alive by dint of pedantic formularies the spirit of minstrelsy, which had a natural stimulus in the chivalric life of the troubadours and minnesingers of whom the mastersingers thought themselves the direct and legitimate successors.  In its delineation of the pompous doings of the mastersingers, Wagner is true to the letter.  He has vitalized the dry record to be found in old Wagenseil’s book on Nuremberg, {1} and intensified the vivid description of a mastersingers’ meeting which the curious may read in August Hagen’s novel “Norica.”  His studies have been marvellously exact and careful, and he has put Wagenseil’s book under literal and liberal contribution, as will appear after a while.  Now it seems best to tell the story of the comedy before discussing it further.