Fall Concert Program Notes: Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

Posted on November 3, 2016

Portland Youth Philharmonic will present Richard Wagner‘s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Fall Concert on Saturday, November 12, 2016. Click here for more information and to reserve your seats today!

Wagner’s musical drama Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg holds a unique place in his output. Among his stage works, it is the only one missing supernatural elements and the only one not a tragedy. Inspired by the real 16th century Master Singer’s Guild of Nuremberg, Germany, the story is a metaphor for Wagner’s own musical struggle. Walther von Stolzing is a young knight determined to win the annual song contest with his new ideas. He must fight against the musical conservatism of many of the judges. Wagner clearly saw himself in the character, and saw in the character of Sixtus Beckmesser (the most pedantic of the Meistersingers) his own critics. Hans Sachs, who mentors Walther to a victory in the competition, was a real historical figure who lived from 1494 to 1576.

The prelude was composed and introduced several years before the opera was completed. Among Wagner’s most famous compositions, its permanence in the concert hall was quickly established. Brilliantly composed, it introduces much of the main musical material used in the opera, and shows off Wagner’s genius in orchestration and counterpoint.

The work has been performed previously by the Portland Junior Symphony/Portland Youth Philharmonic in 1933, 1934, 1938, 1947, 1952, 1968, 1982 and 1996.

Program notes by PYP Musical Director David Hattner