Oh so good to be back at the Met!!! And what a way to kick the season off!

Richard Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg came at an important turning point in his career: Wagner was living in exile, deep in debt; Tannhäuser had been ridiculed in Paris; Tristan und Isolde was completed, but not yet performed, even deemed ‘unperformable.’ The composition of the score for Siegfried, third installment of the Ring, was hopelessly stuck in the forest with Siegfried, a dead dragon, a dead Nibelung, and a talking woodbird. Minna, his first wife, had suggested years before that he write a simple, happy, and, most important, performable opera that could actually be put onstage in most opera houses instead of trending in the opposite direction.

His solution was Die Meistersinger, which, though it has many affecting stretches that bring a smile or a laugh or a happy tear, it has serious stretches about love, art, society, and power.

The Met’s current production by Otto Schenk, with lighting by Günther Schneider-Siemssen, costumes by Rolf Langenfass and lighting by Gil Wechsler, premiered in 1993. It is a detailed evocation of 16th century Nürnberg, which, at the time, was a thriving center of business, production and the art of song. Excellence and training in the latter were enforced by the masters of the various guilds, craftsmen who also were musicians and patrons of the arts.

**Hans Sachs brings Walther and Eva, David and Magdalene together before the Song Contest**

Hans Sachs, the cobbler, is at the center of everything. He, like the other Mastersingers, is conservative when it comes to the art of composition and singing. As part of the strong tradition, Sachs recognizes the need for rules governing composition and performance, but, unlike most of the others, he can be moved by deeply felt divergences from the rules. Sachs is open to progress.

Michael Volle, whom I missed in the previous revival in 2014, lived up to all high expectations. His Sachs is as multifaceted as the arguments and revelations he shares with us throughout the long performance. In voice, expression, and complexity Volle never falters. Bravo!!!

**Walther von Stolzing sings the Trial Song in Act I.**

Most of Wagner’s operas have heroic outsiders who bring about some manner of change. To name a few: the Dutchman, Lohengrin, Siegmund, Siegfried, Tristan, and Parsifal. But in Meistersinger, Walther Von Stolzing doesn’t intend to reform the art of composition held sacred by the Mastersingers. We gather he’s actually surprised to learn that there is one. Stolzing just sings from the heart and loves Eva. But with a little tutoring from Sachs, he wins the Song Contest and Eva’s hand. Klaus Florian Vogt, familiar to Met audiences as Parsifal in the last revival, creates a winning Walther, particularly as his relationship with Hans Sachs evolves in Act III. Volle and Vogt interact in a way that communicates the sincerity of Sachs’ support both in Walther’s love for Eva and the need for him to win the contest.

Sixtus Beckmesser’s serenade to Eva is marked by Hans Sachs’s strokes on the shoes he is making

In terms of time on stage and singing, Sixtus Beckmesser, the Town Clerk in Nürnberg, might be second only to Hans Sachs. Johannes Martin Kränzle’s performance emphasized Beckmesser’s sincere quest to win Eva’s hand in marriage by winning the Song Contest (in spite of the fact that he is old enough to be her father). Kränzle’s character is rightly frustrated by Sachs’s comments in Act I, certainly in Act II by Sachs’s role of the Marker, one who marks the errors in construction and execution of the songs by hammer strokes on the shoes he is making, but he remains positive, actually dancing in joy when Sachs lets him take the manuscript of a song to perform in the Song Contest that afternoon. Bravo!

**Eva seeks information from Sachs about the outcome of Walther’s trial song. She and Sachs are close.**

Lise Davidsen is an Eva who grows into a more confident and assertive young woman, particularly with Sachs, who, she understands, is on her side in her quest to marry Von Stolzing. Davidsen filled the auditorium with a robust voice and solid stage presence. Don’t miss her!

Veit Pogner, a goldsmith and also Eva’s father, clearly loves his daughter, but, like many fathers, is a little slow to catch on that she has matured. Pogner is sung by Georg Zappenfeld.

Smaller roles were performed positively, assertively, without any lapses in character. Paul Appleby’s David, Sachs’s apprentice was endearing and evident throughout. He gave the long list of the rules of composition to Walther without a hitch; his generally positive outlook, including his love for Magdalene, were touching. Claudia Mahnke was a cheerful Magdalene.

Of the Mastersingers, Fritz Kothner, the baker, sung by Martin Gantner, outlines the rules for the Trial Song; Kunz Vogelgesang is sung by Miles Mykkanen, Konrad Nachtigall is sung by Mark Delaval, Hermann Ortel is sung by Bradley Garvin, Balthasar Zorn is sung by Chaz’men Williams-Ali, Augustin Moser is sung by Robert Watson, Ulrich Eisslinger is sung by Scott Scully, Hans Foltz is sung by Richard Bernstein, and Hans Schwarz is sung by Scott Conner. The Night Watchman is sung by a rich voiced Alexander Tsymbalyuk.

For me, witnessing Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg live at the Metropolitan Opera, no matter how many times, reveals nuances in orchestration and phrasing often missed. Conductor Antonio Pappano’s conception of the score brought to the ear many newfound connections, but without drawing undue attention to them nor impeding the forward propulsion of the music to make them emerge.

All in all, it was a magical afternoon at the Met, opening my 2021-2022 season. Bravo to Antonio Pappano and to the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and the Metropolitan Opera Chorus, all of the artists mentioned above, to Paula Suozzi who directed this revival. I can’t imagine a more wonderful welcome back!

This matinee performance, live at the Metropolitan Opera, of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg was Sunday, November 7, 2021. Here’s to looking forward to the rest of the season!

Until next time! After the New Year.