Tradition, Community, and Nationhood in Richard Wagners Die Meistersinger von Nrnberg

Since its premiere in 1868, Wagners Die Meistersinger von Nrnberg has defied repeated upheavals in the cultural-political landscape of German statehood to retain its unofficial status as the German national opera. The works significance as a touchstone of national culture survived even such troubling episodes as its public endorsement in 1933 as the most German of all German operas by Joseph Goebbels or the rendition in previous years by audiences at Bayreuth of both national and Nazi-party anthems at the works culmination. This chequered reception history and apparent propensity for reinterpretation or reclamation has long fuelled debates over the socio-political meanings of Wagners musical narrative. On the question of Beckmesser, for instance, heated arguments have surrounded the existence of antisemitic stereotypes in the work as well as their possible indication of a racial-political dimension to Sachss restoration of Nuremberg society. Through a combination of musical-textual analysis with critical theory, this book interrogates the ideological underpinnings of Die Meistersingers narrative. In four interconnected studies of the characters of Walther, Sachs, Beckmesser, and Eva, the book traces a critical potential within the operas construction of provincial and national identities and problematizes existing discourse around its depiction of race and gender.