story, it is necessary to understand the conditions one had to fulfil
before he could be a mastersinger. First of all he must master the
"Tabulatur," which included the rules and prohibitions. Then he must
have the requisite acquaintance with the various methods of rhyming
verse, and with the manner of fitting appropriate music to it. One who
had partially mastered the Tabulatur was termed a "scholar;" the one
who had thoroughly learned it, a "schoolman;" the one who could
improvise verses, a "poet;" and the one who could set music to his
verses, a "mastersinger." In the test there were thirty-three faults
to be guarded against; and whenever the marker had chalked up seven
against the candidate, he was declared to have oversung himself and
lost the coveted honor.

The vorspiel is a vivid delineation of mediæval German life, full of
festive pomp, stirring action, glowing passion, and exuberant humor.
The first act opens in the Church of St. Katherine, at Nuremberg, with
the singing of a chorale to organ accompaniment. During the chorale
and its interludes a quiet love-scene is being enacted between Eva,
daughter of the wealthy goldsmith Veit Pogner, and Walter von
Stolzing, a noble young knight. The attraction is mutual. Eva is ready
to become his bride, but it is necessary that her husband should be a
mastersinger. Rather than give up the hand of the fair Eva, Walter,
short as the time is, determines to master the precepts and enter the
lists. As Eva and her attendant, Magdalena, leave the church, the
apprentices enter to arrange for the trial, among them David, the
friskiest of them all, who is in love with Magdalena. He volunteers to
give Walter some instructions, but they do not avail him much in the
end, for the lesson is sadly disturbed by the gibes of the boys, in a
scene full of musical humor. At last Pogner and Beckmesser, the
marker, who is also a competitor for Eva's hand, enter from the