Overture to Die Meistersinger

Program Note:

After Wolkenstein’s lifetime, the Minnesang tradition gradually succumbed to the rise of the Meistersinger guilds. As their name implies, the Meistersinger were trained masters in a recognized craft, and the best formed guilds, took on apprentices, and presented their wares at festivals and competitions around central Europe. If many Minnesänger came from and performed at the aristocratic courts, the Meistersinger emerged from a growing middle-class of artisans and merchants. Masters were tasked with preserving the written and oral musical traditions as well as conveying the rules inherent good song composition. Its peak of popularity occurred in the 15th and 16th centuries.
At a time when scholarly interest in such music was still in its infancy, Richard Wagner (1813-1883) celebrated both Minnesänger and Meistersingers in opera. Most famous of all is Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, which Wagner composed in 1867. The Act I Prelude opens with a grandiose march, which the piano’s percussive nature can amply bolster. This becomes more apparent on the theme’s very grandiose reprise at the very end of the work. In between Wagner turns toward several polyphonic themes, one of which is given fugal development. On these occasions, it helps to have all eight hands in order to realize the inner voice activity. And melody cannot take second stage to bombast, for this is the Prelude to an entire opera centered on a master singer, Hans Sachs, one of the first recognized professionals in his field. Liszt made numerous piano transcriptions of opera that allowed households to experience music outside of the concert hall. Here, in this arrangement for two pianos, eight hands, even more of Wagner’s original music can be retained.

(c) Jason Stell