Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

Wolfgang Wagner's universally praised Bayreuth Festival production of "Die
Meistersinger" most clearly demonstrates the originality of its conception
in its treatment of Beckmesser. Refusing to caricature Beckmesser, to
represent him simply as a fool or a pedant, Wolfgang Wagner allows the
character the status of a genuine poet with a melancholy, almost elegiac
quality. The production dispenses with the usual clichés and the excessive
pathos which often lend the opera an overly "German" quality, and
concentrates on the specifically human aspect of the characters, which
other productions have tended to neglect. Hans Sachs is seen not as a
solemn patriarch, but as a likable middle-aged man; Stolzing emerges as a
sensitive, thoughtful individual drawn towards the bourgeoisie, rather than
as an aggressive aristocrat. Wolfgang Wagner has succeeded in liberating
"Die Meistersinger" from its aura of Teutonic heaviness and retrieving the
light and color of the original: late medieval Nuremberg truly comes to
life.

Composer:	Richard Wagner
Title:	Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Conductor:	Horst Stein
Staged By:	Wolfgang Wagner
Soloist:	Bernd Weikl, Siegfried Jerusalem, Hermann Prey, MariAnne Häggander, Graham Clark, Manfred Schenk, András Molnár, Martin Egel
Set:	Wolfgang Wagner
Orchestra:	Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele
Chorus:	Chor der Bayreuther Festspiele
Video Director:	Brian Large
Genre:	Opera
Length:	271 minutes
Cat.No.:	A05004621