al of a large portion
of the opera. The tune of the first stanza in the _Valkyrie_ is only
referred to once again throughout the work; and by far the most
expressive part is made out of a love-theme previously heard. In the
_Mastersingers_ song there is subject-matter enough to make a whole
opera. From this point it is impossible to quote themes--they are far
too long. In this respect a writer on music is at a disadvantage with
a writer on literature; the latter can cite long passages to establish
a case or illustrate his meaning; the unfortunate musical writer must
refer his readers to scores, and it is inconvenient to sit amidst a
pile of these--and Wagner's are the longest and weightiest in
existence--and dive now here, now there, to follow the author without
danger of mistaking him. The most important passage in Walther's song
begins at bar 13 (counting from the beginning of the nine-eight
measure); and it is developed in as masterly a fashion as any of the
earlier subjects, only now the style is symphonic, in the Viennese
way, as the others were contrapuntal. The whole thing is full of the
yearning spirit of spring; and, not at all strangely, bears a marked
family likeness to Siegfried's song about his mother in the _Ring_.
Throughout the deliberations of the masters the music remains at a
high level: there are no _longueurs_; dry recitative and barren
attempts to treat prose poetically alike are absent. Kothner's
delivery of the rules of the art are good-natured fun; Wagner, with
his parody of eighteenth-century mannerisms, laughing at the wiseacres
who wished to tie down modern musicians to the procedure of their
forbears. Walther's trial song, with its gorgeous instrumentation, and
the rush of the winds of March through budding woods, is even finer
than the first; and it contains passages which are employed with
exquisite effect in the next Act. There occurs a deal of what can only
be called musical horseplay as Beckmesser, the pedant type, hidden
behind a curtain, marks Walther's "mistakes"; then comes the only
phrase (_d_) in the opera which can be said to be definitely associated
with Hans Sachs. It stands first for Sachs' honest longing for the
_new_; and afterwards it is made to express the longing in his soul
for other things. With the consummate craftsmanship Wagner possessed
at this period he adds to the score the utterance of the masters'
disapproval, of Sachs' approval, of Beckmesser's pedantic
malicio