Description
"This book, as the first full-length study of cultural, political, and national meaning in Die Meistersinger, offers a deep interrogation of one of Wagner's and indeed all of opera's most controversial works. Despite such troubling endorsements as Joseph Goebbels's proclamation that Die Meistersinger was 'the most German of all German operas', it somewhat remarkably maintained its status as a national work throughout its chequered performance history. Rather than achieving this apparent degree of flexibility through a vague use of existing national symbols or distant involvement with political ideals, however, this book argues that the opera directly shapes its particular conception of Germanness through its encoding of various social-historical relations in its depiction of Nuremberg and its musical-narrative exploration of key conflicts regarding provinciality, cultural identity, individualism, alterity, and universality. In four character studies which focus on the roles of Walther, Sachs, Beckmesser, and Eva, it introduces, advances, and provides a critical reflection on prominent debates in Meistersinger scholarship in a manner suitable for students, scholars, and those with a growing interest in the work"--
ISBN 9781032390338
