Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and the question of anti-semitism

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Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and the question of anti-semitism

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The eighth of Wagner's operas and his only comedy, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Mastersingers of Nuremberg) tells the story of a knight who wins a wife by challenging the musical establishment. It was the first of Wagner's operas to not be based in myth; rather, the composer went to great pains to research sixteenth-century Nuremburg and its mastersingers. The opera's main theme is the regeneration of art; this is illustrated by the contrast between the mastersingers' guild (which represents the current declining state of art) and its antithesis, Walther, whose music is self-taught, improvisatory, and not governed by a strict set of rules. Wagner uses this conflict as a means to wrestle with his own questions of how to best mediate the old and the new in music and opera. However, Wagner also examines the elements which could throw this new way forward into chaos: for this, we must look at Beckmesser as a personification of this chaos.

Introduction.
Wagner's suspicion of all things Jewish.
Wagner's highly charged article, 'Judaism in Music'.
1. Wagner's explicit descriptions of Jewish artists and fear of their eventual artistic domination.
Die Meistersinger.
1. Beckmesser as an anti-Semitic caricature.
2. The first opportunity to see Beckmesser in an anti-Semitic light.
3. Beckmesser's attempts to decipher the pilfered song.
4. The juvenile A-B-B-C-C-A-A rhyming pattern.
5. Glorifying Sachs rather than Walther.
Conclusion.
Bibliography.

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[...] I also intend to examine four concepts in relation to anti-Semitism and Die Meistersinger: Wagner's view of the of foreign influence on German art, the character of Beckmesser and his place among his peers in the opera, the exalted “Sacred German at the end of the opera, appropriation of the opera by the Nazi party as an ideological tool. Firstly, it is important to understand the basis for Wagner's suspicion of all things Jewish. The roots of Wagner's anti-Semitism can be traced to his jealousy of the success of two Jewish contemporaries, composers Giacomo Meyerbeer and Jacques Fromental Halévy. [...]

[...] However, as Barry Millington notes in his article “Nuremberg Trial: Is There Anti-Semitism in Die Meistersinger?”, although Beckmesser might be lusting after Eva, primary motive must surely be his desire to achieve regard and acclamation: not as the winner of the song contest . but as the man deemed worthy of the hand of Pogner's daughter . Wagner, surrounded as he was . by Jews who were attracted by the aura of distinction that emanated from him . imbued Beckmesser with these very characteristics” (250). [...]

[...] “'The Most German of all German Operas': Die Meistersinger through the Lens of the Third Reich.” Wagner's Meistersinger: Performance, History, Representation. Ed. Nicholas Vazsonyi. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press 98-119. Douglas, A.C. Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste.” Sounds and Fury (accessed 8 Mar 2007). . Eylon, Lily. Controversy over Richard Wagner.” Jewish Virtual Library (accessed 8 Mar 2007). . Glasgal, Ralph. “Wagner, Hitler and Anti-Semitism.” La Folia Online Music Review (accessed 8 Mar 2007). [...]

[...] “Reading Beckmesser Reading: Antisemitism and Aesthetic Practice in The Mastersingers of Nuremberg.” New German Critique 69 (Autumn 1996): 127-146. Magee, Bryan. Aspects of Wagner. Oxford: Oxford University Press May, Thomas. Decoding Wagner: An Invitation to His World of Music Drama. Pompton Plains, NJ: Amadeus Press McClatchie, Stephen. Analyzing Wagner's Operas: Alfred Lorenz and German Nationalist Ideology. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press Millington, Barry. “Nuremberg Trial: Is There Anti-Semitism in Die Meistersinger?” Cambridge Opera Journal 3.3 (Nov. 1991): 247-260. Wagner, Richard. [...]

[...] And again: “Letter from Herr von Gersdorff in Berlin about Die Msinger; as in Berlin, Beckmesser's serenade was the cue for the hissers, who were completely crushed however” (qtd. in Weil ch. 6). It is interesting to note, however, that the study of anti-Semitist coding in the opera was largely ignored until after World War II (beginning with the work of Theodor Adorno.) It seems that the only argument against the presence of the Jewish element in Beckmesser is that Wagner did not specifically name him as a Jew. [...]

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