Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg - The Mastersingers of Nuremberg
The first performance of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Mastersingers of Nuremberg) was on 21 June 1868. It is Wagner's only mature comedy, set in Nürnberg in the 16th century.
The master singers (Meistersinger) were a guild of singers, consisting of amateur poets and musicians, often master craftsmen in their main professions.
“In my view, to misuse Die Meistersinger as a prop for complacent, arrogant nationalism is to betray the grossest ignorance of its true nature. One would have to be deaf, blind, and utterly unperceptive to take this sublime depiction of human gaiety, with its utopian potential, and read a pogrom or a Party rally into it. Any attempt to force the work into an ideological mould is bound to be a distortion.”
(Wolfgang Wagner in his autobiography Acts)
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg was produced in the following cities the first years after the world premiere in München on 21 June 1868
| 1868-69 | Karlsruhe Dresden Mannheim Dessau Weimar |
| 1870 | Berlin Wien |
| 1871 | Praha |
| 1872 | Copenhagen (in Danish) |
| 1882 | London |
| 1883 | Amsterdam Budapest (in Hungarian) |
| 1885 | Brüssel |
| 1886 | New York (Metropolitan Opera) |
| 1888 | Bayreuth Festival |
The titles of Richard Wagner's operas in different languages
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg - Vorspiel
Klaus Tennstedt, London Philharmonic (Suntory Hall, Tokyo, Japan)
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Act 1 Vorspiel
| 07.18 | Leo Blech, Musikstadt Berlin Tonfilm 1929 |
| 08.XX | Richard Wagner, concert in Mannheim, 20.12.1871 (a few seconds more than 8 minutes, according to Richard Pohl) |
| 08.06 | Albert Coates, London, 1921 |
| 08.18 | Fritz Reiner, Pittsburgh, 1941 |
| 08.20 | Karl Muck, Berlin State Opera, 1927 |
| 08.28 | Karl Böhm, New York, 1959 |
| 08.30 | Hans Knappertsbusch, München, 1955 |
| 08.31 | Albert Coates, London, 1926 |
| 08.36 | Felix Weingartner, Wien, 1935 |
| 08.38 | Wilhelm Furtwängler, Berliner Philharmoniker, AEG Worker Concert, 26.02.1942 |
| 08.41 | Arturo Toscanini, NBC Symphony, 1946 |
| 08.42 | Fritz Reiner. New York, 1938 |
| 08.42 | Bruno Walter, New York, 1946 |
| 08.43 | Artur Bodanzky, New York, 1936 |
| 08.45 | Karl Böhm, Toronto Symphony, 1965 |
| 08.47 | Karl Böhm, Sächsische Staatskapelle, 1939 |
| 08.50 | Bruno Walter, Symphony Orchestra, 1930 |
| 08.53 | Artur Bodanzky, Berliner Staatsoper Orchester, 10.9.1927 |
| 08.53 | Hans Knappertsbusch, Wien, 1950 |
| 08.54 | Arturo Toscanini, NBC Symphony, 1954 |
| 08.54 | Karl Böhm, Bayreuth, 1964 |
| 08.55 | Arturo Toscanini, Salzburg, 1936 |
| 08.58 | Arturo Toscanini, La Scala, 1952 |
| 09.00 | Hans Richter, London, 1879 |
| 09.00 | Gustav Mahler, Brooklyn, New York, 1910 |
| 09.11 | George Solti, Vienna Philharmonic (3.10.1994, Suntory hall, Tokyo) |
| 09.11 | Herbert von Karajan, Bayreuth Festival 1951 |
| 09.24 | Herbert von Karajan, Dresden |
| 09.37 | Hans Knappertsbusch (N/A) |
| 09.49 | Christian Thielemann, recorded at Schloss Herrenchiemsee, Münchner Philharmoniker |
| 09.53 | Alain Altinoglu, Frankfurt Radio Symphony (20.3.2022) |
| 10.55 | Otto Klemperer, Philharmonia |
Sources: Jonathan Brown (Great Wagner Conductors), Per-Erik Skramstad
“Wagner says that the Meistersinger prelude will without exception be taken too slowly. It should be a strong march tempo.” (Felix Mottl, Diary, 26.5.1876)
