Richard Wagner
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
This production ran: Oct 26 - Nov 14
This Production is in the past
Overview
Wagner’s sublime comedy takes the Met stage for the first time in seven years. Antonio Pappano conducts an unbeatable cast led by renowned baritone Michael Volle as the wise cobbler Hans Sachs and sensational soprano Lise Davidsen—returning triumphantly following her rapturously hailed 2019 company debut—as Eva. Tenor Klaus Florian Vogt and baritone Johannes Martin Kränzle join them as Walther von Stolzing and Beckmesser.
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Production a gift of Mrs. Donald D. Harrington
Revival a gift of Rolex, and Ted Snowdon & Duffy Violante
Languages
Languages sung in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Sung In
German
Titles
Title languages displayed for Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Met Titles In
- English
- German
- Spanish
Timeline
Timeline for the show, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Estimated Run Time
5 hrs 50 mins
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House Opens
-
Act I
85 mins
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Intermission
40 mins
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Act II
60 mins
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Intermission
40 mins
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Act III
125 mins
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Opera Ends
World premiere: Königliches Hof- und Nationaltheater, Munich, 1868
Wagner’s only comedy is a monumental yet intimate love story that is also a journey through the artistic process. The story revolves around the creation of a song—written by a brash, self-taught poet—and follows the very typical operatic formula of young love winning out over meddlesome old men. But more than a mere romance, the opera is an uplifting and inspiring treatise on the importance of art in a community and the world at large.
Creators
Richard Wagner (1813–83) was the complex, controversial creator of music-drama masterpieces that stand at the center of today’s operatic repertory. Born in Leipzig, Germany, he was an artistic revolutionary who reimagined every supposition about music and theater. Later in his career, he developed the idea of the Gesamtkunstwerk, or “total work of art,” combining music, poetry, architecture, painting, and other disciplines, a notion that has had an impact on creative fields far beyond opera.
PRODUCTION
Otto Schenk
Set Designer
Günther Schneider-Siemssen
COSTUME DESIGNER
Rolf Langenfass
LIGHTING DESIGNER
Gil Wechsler
CHOREOGRAPHER
Carmen De Lavallade
Composer
Richard Wagner
Setting
The opera takes place in the symbolically important town of Nuremberg, in southern Germany, around the year 1560. Nuremberg stood for many things: It was a political center of the Holy Roman Empire and became known as a center of business and excellent craftsmanship. Here, Nuremberg becomes an idealized representation of everything good about German tradition—an egalitarian hotbed of art and thought where a shoemaker really could be (and was) respected as an artist and a philosopher.
Articles
Music
The score of Meistersinger is a sublime achievement, at once lyric, grand, and amazingly detailed. It shows Wagner’s absolute command of his craft, from the lush orchestration to the soaring vocal solos to stirring ensembles. The many choruses also demonstrate the scope of Wagner’s genius, most notably the foursquare chorale that opens the work, the near anarchy of the complex riot scene in Act II, and the playful apprentices’ songs in Act III.
