Act III. The introduction to this act opens with a variation of the

Isolde Motive, sadly prophetic of the desolation which broods over the scene to be disclosed when the curtain rises. On its third repetition it is continued in a long-drawn-out ascending phrase, which seems to represent musically the broad waste of ocean upon which _Tristan's_ castle looks down from its craggy height.

The whole passage appears to represent _Tristan_ hopelessly yearning for _Isolde_, letting his fancy travel back over the watery waste to the last night of love, and then giving himself up wholly to his grief.

The curtain rises upon the desolate grounds of Kareol, between the outer walls of _Tristan's_ castle and the main structure, which stands upon a rocky eminence overlooking the sea. _Tristan_ is stretched, apparently lifeless, under a huge linden-tree. Over him, in deep sorrow, bends the faithful _Kurwenal_. A _Shepherd_ is heard piping a strain, whose plaintive notes harmonize most beautifully with the despairing desolation and sadness of the scene. It is the =Lay of Sorrow=, and by it, the _Shepherd_, who scans the sea, conveys to _Kurwenal_ information that the ship he has dispatched to Cornwall to bear _Isolde_ to Kareol has not yet hove in sight.

The Lay of Sorrow is a strain of mournful beauty, with the simplicity and indescribable charm of a folk-song. Its plaintive notes cling like ivy to the grey and crumbling ruins of love and joy.

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The _Shepherd_ peers over the wall and asks if _Tristan_ has shown any signs of life. _Kurwenal_ gloomily replies in the negative. The _Shepherd_ departs to continue his lookout, piping the sad refrain. _Tristan_ slowly opens his eyes. "The old refrain; why wakes it me? Where am I?" he murmurs. _Kurwenal_ is beside himself with joy at these signs of returning life. His replies to _Tristan's_ feeble and wandering questions are mostly couched in a motive which beautifully expresses the sterling nature of this faithful retainer, one of the noblest characters Wagner has drawn.

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When _Tristan_ loses himself in sad memories of _Isolde_, _Kurwenal_ seeks to comfort him with the news that he has sent a trusty man to Cornwall to bear _Isolde_ to him that she may heal the wound inflicted by _Melot_ as she once healed that dealt _Tristan_ by Morold. In _Tristan's_ jubilant reply, during which he draws _Kurwenal_ to his breast, the Isolde Motive assumes a form in which it becomes a theme of joy.

But it is soon succeeded by the =Motive of Anguish=,

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when _Tristan_ raves of his yearning for _Isolde_. "The ship! the ship!" he exclaims. "Kurwenal, can you not see it?" The Lay of Sorrow, piped by the _Shepherd_, gives the sad answer. It pervades his sad reverie until, when his mind wanders back to _Isolde's_ tender nursing of his wound in Ireland, the theme of Isolde's Narrative is heard again. Finally his excitement grows upon him, and in a paroxysm of anguish bordering on insanity he even curses love.

_Tristan_ sinks back apparently lifeless. But no--as _Kurwenal_ bends over him and the Isolde Motive is breathed by the orchestra, he again whispers of _Isolde_. In ravishing beauty the Motive of Love's Peace caressingly follows his vision as he seems to see _Isolde_ gliding toward him o'er the waves. With ever-growing excitement he orders _Kurwenal_ to the lookout to watch the ship's coming. What he sees so clearly cannot _Kurwenal_ also see? Suddenly the music changes in character. The ship is in sight, for the _Shepherd_ is heard piping a joyous lay.

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It pervades the music of _Tristan's_ excited questions and _Kurwenal's_ answers as to the vessel's movements. The faithful retainer rushes down toward the shore to meet _Isolde_ and lead her to _Tristan_. The latter, his strength sapped by his wound, his mind inflamed to insanity by his passionate yearning, struggles to rise. He raises himself a little. The Motive of Love's Peace, no longer tranquil, but with frenzied rapidity, accompanies his actions as, in his delirium, he tears the bandage from his wounds and rises from his couch.

_Isolde's_ voice! Into her arms, outstretched to receive him, staggers _Tristan_. Gently she lets him down upon his couch, where he has lain in the anguish of expectancy.

"Tristan!"

"Isolde!" he answers in broken accents. This last look resting rapturously upon her, while in mournful beauty the Love Glance Motive rises from the orchestra, he expires.

In all music there is no scene more deeply shaken with sorrow.

Tumultuous sounds are heard. A second ship has arrived. _Marke_ and his suite have landed. _Tristan's_ men, thinking the _King_ has come in pursuit of _Isolde_, attack the new-comers, _Kurwenal_ and his men are overpowered, and _Kurwenal_, having avenged _Tristan_ by slaying _Melot_, sinks, himself mortally wounded, dying by _Tristan's_ side. He reaches out for his dead master's hand, and his last words are: "Tristan, chide me not that faithfully I follow you."

When _Brangäne_ rushes in and hurriedly announces that she has informed the _King_ of the love-potion, and that he comes bringing forgiveness, _Isolde_ heeds her not. As the Love-Death Motive rises softly over the orchestra and slowly swells into the impassioned Motive of Ecstasy, to reach its climax with a stupendous crash of instrumental forces, she gazes with growing transport upon her dead lover, until, with rapture in her last glance, she sinks upon his corpse and expires.

In the Wagnerian version of the legend this love-death, for which _Tristan_ and _Isolde_ prayed and in which they are united, is more than a mere farewell together to life. It is tinged with Oriental philosophy, and symbolizes the taking up into and the absorption of by nature of all that is spiritual, and hence immortal, in lives rendered beautiful by love.

DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG

THE MASTERSINGERS OF NUREMBURG

Opera in three acts, words and music by Richard Wagner. Produced, Munich, June 21, 1868, under direction of Hans von Bülow. London, Drury Lane, May 30, 1882, under Hans Richter; Covent Garden, July 13, 1889, in Italian; Manchester, in English, by the Carl Rosa Company, April 16, 1896. New York, Metropolitan Opera House, January 4, 1886, with Fischer (_Hans Sachs_), Seidl-Kraus (_Eva_), Marianne Brandt (_Magdalena_), Stritt (_Walther_), Kemlitz (_Beckmesser_); Conductor, Seidl. _Sachs_ has also been sung by Édouard de Reszke, Van Rooy, and Whitehill; _Walther_ by Jean de Reszke; _Eva_ by Eames, Gadski, and Hempel; _Beckmesser_ by Goritz; _Magdalena_ by Schumann-Heink and Homer.

CHARACTERS

HANS SACHS, Cobbler } _Bass_ VEIT POGNER, Goldsmith } _Bass_ KUNZ VOGELGESANG, Furrier } _Tenor_ CONRAD NACHTIGALL, Buckle-Maker } _Bass_ SIXTUS BECKMESSER, Town Clerk } _Bass_ FRITZ KOTHNER, Baker } Mastersingers _Bass_ BALTHAZAR ZORN, Pewterer } _Tenor_ ULRICH EISLINGER, Grocer } _Tenor_ AUGUST MOSER, Tailor } _Tenor_ HERMANN ORTEL, Soap-boiler } _Bass_ HANS SCHWARZ, Stocking-Weaver } _Bass_ HANS FOLZ, Coppersmith } _Bass_ WALTHER VON STOLZING, a young Franconian knight _Tenor_ DAVID, apprentice to HANS SACHS _Tenor_ A NIGHT WATCHMAN _Bass_ EVA, daughter of POGNER _Soprano_ MAGDALENA, EVA'S nurse _Mezzo-Soprano_

Burghers of the Guilds, Journeymen, 'Prentices, Girls, and Populace.

_Time_--Middle of the Sixteenth Century.

_Place_--Nuremburg.

Wagner's music-dramas are all unmistakably Wagner, yet they are wonderfully varied. The style of the music in each adapts itself plastically to the character of the story. Can one, for instance, imagine the music of "Tristan" wedded to the story of "The Mastersingers," or _vice versa_? A tragic passion, inflamed by the arts of sorcery inspired the former. The latter is a thoroughly human tale set to thoroughly human music. Indeed, while "Tristan" and "The Ring of the Nibelung" are tragic, and "Parsifal" is deeply religious, "The Mastersingers" is a comic work, even bordering in one scene on farce. Like Shakespeare, Wagner was equally at home in tragedy and comedy.

_Walther von Stolzing_ is in love with _Eva_. Her father having promised her to the singer to whom at the coming midsummer festival the _Mastersingers_ shall adjudge the prize, it becomes necessary for _Walther_ to seek admission to their art union. He is, however, rejected, his song violating the rules to which the Mastersingers slavishly adhere. _Beckmesser_ is also instrumental in securing _Walther's_ rejection. The town clerk is the "marker" of the union. His duty is to mark all violations of the rules against a candidate. _Beckmesser_, being a suitor for _Eva's_ hand, naturally makes the most of every chance to put down a mark against _Walther_.

_Sachs_ alone among the _Mastersingers_ has recognized the beauty of _Walther's_ song. Its very freedom from rule and rote charms him, and he discovers in the young knight's untrammelled genius the power which, if properly directed, will lead art from the beaten path of tradition toward a new and loftier ideal.

After _Walther's_ failure before the Mastersingers the impetuous young knight persuades _Eva_ to elope with him. But at night as they are preparing to escape, _Beckmesser_ comes upon the scene to serenade _Eva_. _Sachs_, whose house is opposite _Pogner's_, has meanwhile brought his work bench out into the street and insists on "marking" what he considers _Beckmesser's_ mistakes by bringing his hammer down upon his last with a resounding whack. The louder _Beckmesser_ sings the louder _Sachs_ whacks. Finally the neighbours are aroused. _David_, who is in love with _Magdalena_ and thinks _Beckmesser_ is serenading her, falls upon him with a cudgel. The whole neighbourhood turns out and a general _mêlée_ ensues, during which _Sachs_ separates _Eva_ and _Walther_ and draws the latter into his home.

The following morning _Walther_ sings to _Sachs_ a song which has come to him in a dream, _Sachs_ transcribing the words and passing friendly criticism upon them and the music. The midsummer festival is to take place that afternoon, and through a ruse _Sachs_ manages to get _Walther's_ poem into _Beckmesser's_ possession, who, thinking the words are by the popular cobbler-poet, feels sure he will be the chosen master. _Eva_, coming into the workshop to have her shoes fitted, finds _Walther_, and the lovers depart with _Sachs_, _David_, and _Magdalena_ for the festival. Here _Beckmesser_, as _Sachs_ had anticipated, makes a wretched failure, as he has utterly missed the spirit of the poem, and _Walther_, being called upon by _Sachs_ to reveal its beauty in music, sings his prize song, winning at once the approbation of the _Mastersingers_ and the populace. He is received into their art union and at the same time wins _Eva_ as his bride.

The Mastersingers were of burgher extraction. They flourished in Germany, chiefly in the imperial cities, during the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries. They did much to generate and preserve a love of art among the middle classes. Their musical competitions were judged according to a code of rules which distinguished by particular names thirty-two faults to be avoided. Scriptural or devotional subjects were usually selected and the judges or Merker (Markers) were, in Nuremburg, four in number, the first comparing the words with the Biblical text, the second criticizing the prosody, the third the rhymes, and the fourth the tune. He who had the fewest marks against him received the prize.

Hans Sachs, the most famous of the Mastersingers, born November 5, 1494, died January, 1576, in Nuremburg, is said to have been the author of some six thousand poems. He was a cobbler by trade--

Hans Sachs was a shoe- Maker and poet too.

A monument was erected to him in the city of his birth in 1874.

"The Mastersingers" is a simple, human love story, simply told, with many touches of humour to enliven it, and its interest enhanced by highly picturesque, historical surroundings. As a drama it conveys also a perfect picture of the life and customs of Nuremburg of the time in which the story plays. Wagner must have made careful historical researches, but his book lore is not thrust upon us. The work is so spontaneous that the method and manner of its art are lost sight of in admiration of the result. Hans Sachs himself could not have left a more faithful portrait of life in Nuremburg in the middle of the sixteenth century.

"The Mastersingers" has a peculiarly Wagnerian interest. It is Wagner's protest against the narrow-minded critics and the prejudiced public who so long refused him recognition. Edward Hanslick, the bitterest of Wagner's critics, regarded the libretto as a personal insult to himself. Being present by invitation at a private reading of the libretto, which Wagner gave in Vienna, Hanslick rose abruptly and left after the first act. _Walther von Stolzing_ is the incarnation of new aspirations in art; the champion of a new art ideal, and continually chafing under the restraints imposed by traditional rules and methods. _Hans Sachs_ is a conservative. But, while preserving what is best in art traditions, he is able to recognize the beautiful in what is new. He represents enlightened public opinion. _Beckmesser_ and the other _Mastersingers_ are the embodiment of rank prejudice--the critics. _Walther's_ triumph is also Wagner's. Few of Wagner's dramatic creations equal in lifelike interest the character of _Sachs_. It is drawn with a strong, firm hand, and filled in with many delicate touches.

The _Vorspiel_ gives a complete musical epitome of the story. It is full of life and action--pompous, impassioned, and jocose in turn, and without a suggestion of the overwrought or morbid. Its sentiment and its fun are purely human. In its technical construction it has long been recognized as a masterpiece.

In the sense that it precedes the rise of the curtain, this orchestral composition is a _Vorspiel_, or prelude. As a work, however, it is a full-fledged overture, rich in thematic material. These themes are Leading Motives heard many times, and in wonderful variety in the three acts of "The Mastersingers." To a great extent an analysis of this overture forecasts the work itself. Accordingly, again through the courtesy of G. Schirmer Inc., I avail myself of my _Wagner's Music-Dramas Analysed_, in the account of the _Vorspiel_ and of the action and music that follow it.

The pompous =Motive of the Mastersingers= opens the _Vorspiel_. This theme gives capital musical expression to the characteristics of these dignitaries; eminently worthy but self-sufficient citizens who are slow to receive new impressions and do not take kindly to innovations. Our term of old fogy describes them imperfectly, as it does not allow for their many excellent qualities. They are slow to act, but if they are once aroused their ponderous influence bears down all opposition. At first an obstacle to genuine reform, they are in the end the force which pushes it to success. Thus there is in the Motive of the Mastersingers a certain ponderous dignity which well emphasizes the idea of conservative power.

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In great contrast to this is the =Lyric Motive=, which seems to express the striving after a poetic ideal untrammelled by old-fashioned restrictions, such as the rules of the _Mastersingers_ impose.

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But, the sturdy conservative forces are still unwilling to be persuaded of the worth of this new ideal. Hence the Lyric Motive is suddenly checked by the sonorous measures of the =Mastersingers' March=.

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In this the majesty of law and order finds expression. It is followed by a phrase of noble breadth and beauty, obviously developed from portions of the Motive of the Mastersingers, and so typical of the goodwill which should exist among the members of a fraternity that it may be called the =Motive of the Art Brotherhood=.

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It reaches an eloquent climax in the =Motive of the Ideal=.

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Opposed, however, to this guild of conservative masters is the restless spirit of progress. Hence, though stately the strains of the Mastersingers' March and of the Guild Motive, soon yield to a theme full of emotional energy and much like the Lyric Motive. _Walther_ is the champion of this new ideal--not, however, from a purely artistic impulse, but rather through his love for _Eva_. Being ignorant of the rules and rote of the _Mastersingers_ he sings, when he presents himself for admission to the fraternity, measures which soar untrammelled into realms of beauty beyond the imagination of the masters. But it was his love for _Eva_ which impelled him to seek admission to the brotherhood, and love inspired his song. He is therefore a reformer only by accident; it is not his love of art, but his passion for _Eva_, which really brings about through his prize song a great musical reform. This is one of Wagner's finest dramatic touches--the love story is the mainspring of the action, the moral is pointed only incidentally. Hence all the motives in which the restless striving after a new ideal, or the struggles of a new art form to break through the barriers of conservative prejudice, find expression, are so many love motives, _Eva_ being the incarnation of _Walther's_ ideal. Therefore the motive which breaks in upon the Mastersingers' March and Guild Motive with such emotional energy expresses _Walther's_ desire to possess _Eva_, more than his yearning for a new ideal in art. So I call it the =Motive of Longing=.

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A portion of "Walther's Prize Song," like a swiftly whispered declaration of love, leads to a variation of one of the most beautiful themes of the work--the =Motive of Spring=.

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And now Wagner has a fling at the old fogyism which was so long an obstacle to his success. He holds the masters up to ridicule in a delightfully humorous passage which parodies the Mastersingers' and Art Brotherhood motives, while the Spring Motive vainly strives to assert itself. In the bass, the following quotation is the =Motive of Ridicule=, the treble being a variant of the Art Brotherhood Motive.

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When it is considered that the opposition Wagner encountered from prejudiced critics, not to mention a prejudiced public, was the bane of his career, it seems wonderful that he should have been content to protest against it with this pleasant raillery instead of with bitter invective. The passage is followed by the Motive of the Mastersingers, which in turn leads to an imposing combination of phrases. We hear the portion of the Prize Song already quoted--the Motive of the Mastersingers as bass--and in the middle voices portions of the Mastersingers' March; a little later the Motive of the Art Brotherhood and the Motive of Ridicule are added, this grand massing of orchestral forces reaching a powerful climax, with the Motive of the Ideal, while the Motive of the Mastersingers brings the _Vorspiel_ to a fitting close. In this noble passage, in which the "Prize Song" soars above the various themes typical of the masters, the new ideal seems to be borne to its triumph upon the shoulders of the conservative forces which, won over at last, have espoused its cause with all their sturdy energy.

This concluding passage in the _Vorspiel_ thus brings out with great eloquence the inner significance of "Die Meistersinger." In whatever the great author and composer of this work wrote for the stage, there always was an ethical meaning back of the words and music. Thus we draw our conclusion of the meaning of "Die Meistersinger" story from the wonderful combination of leading motives in the peroration of its _Vorspiel_.

In his fine book, _The Orchestra and Orchestral Music_, W.J. Henderson relates this anecdote:

"A professional musician was engaged in a discussion of Wagner in the corridor of the Metropolitan Opera House, while inside the orchestra was playing the 'Meistersinger' overture.

"'It is a pity,' said this wise man, in a condescending manner, 'but Wagner knows absolutely nothing about counterpoint.'

"At that instant the orchestra was singing five different melodies at once; and, as Anton Seidl was the conductor, they were all audible."

In a rare book by J.C. Wagenseil, printed in Nuremburg in 1697, are given four "Prize Master Tones." Two of these Wagner has reproduced in modern garb, the former in the Mastersingers' March, the latter in the Motive of the Art Brotherhood.

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