CHAPTER III.

"DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG."

Story of the Drama.--A Comedy Faithful to Classical Conceptions.--_Ridendo Castigat Mores._--Its Specific Purpose is to Celebrate the Triumph of Natural Poetic Impulse, Stimulated by Communion with Nature, over Pedantic Formalism.--Romanticism _versus_ Classicism.--A Contest which Stimulates Growth.--Walther as the Representative of Romantic Utterance.--Pedantry Pictured in the Master-singers and Caricatured in Beckmesser.--Sachs, the Real Hero of the Play.--An Intermediary and Champion of Both Parties.--Form must Adapt Itself to Spirit.--The Proposition Proved by the Music of Sachs' First Monologue.--The Symbolism of a Phrase Investigated.--Corrective Purpose of the Play as it is Disclosed by the Prelude.--Sachs as a Philosopher.--The Introduction to Act III. Expounded.--Photographic Pictures of Nuremberg Life.--Relics of the Master-singers.--A Master-song by the Veritable Sachs Pages 72-111