_Sachs_ alone among the _Mastersingers_ has recognized the beauty of _Walther's_ song. Its very freedom from rule and rote charms him, and he discovers in the young knight's untrammelled genius the power which, if properly directed, will lead art from the beaten path of tradition toward a new and loftier ideal.
After _Walther's_ failure before the Mastersingers the impetuous young knight persuades _Eva_ to elope with him. But at night as they are preparing to escape, _Beckmesser_ comes upon the scene to serenade _Eva_. _Sachs_, whose house is opposite _Pogner's_, has meanwhile brought his work bench out into the street and insists on "marking" what he considers _Beckmesser's_ mistakes by bringing his hammer down upon his last with a resounding whack. The louder _Beckmesser_ sings the louder _Sachs_ whacks. Finally the neighbours are aroused. _David_, who is in love with _Magdalena_ and thinks _Beckmesser_ is serenading her, falls upon him with a cudgel. The whole neighbourhood turns out and a general _mêlée_ ensues, during which _Sachs_ separates _Eva_ and _Walther_ and draws the latter into his home.
The following morning _Walther_ sings to _Sachs_ a song which has come to him in a dream, _Sachs_ transcribing the words and passing friendly criticism upon them and the music. The midsummer festival is to take place that afternoon, and through a ruse _Sachs_ manages to get _Walther's_ poem into _Beckmesser's_ possession, who, thinking the words are by the popular cobbler-poet, feels sure he will be the chosen master. _Eva_, coming into the workshop to have her shoes fitted, finds _Walther_, and the lovers depart with _Sachs_, _David_, and _Magdalena_ for the festival. Here _Beckmesser_, as _Sachs_ had anticipated, makes a wretched failure, as he has utterly missed the spirit of the poem, and _Walther_, being called upon by _Sachs_ to reveal its beauty in music, sings his prize song, winning at once the approbation of the _Mastersingers_ and the populace. He is received into their art union and at the same time wins _Eva_ as his bride.
Emil Fischer as Hans Sachs in "Die Meistersinger"]
Weil and Goritz as Hans Sachs and Beckmesser in "Die Meistersinger"]
The Mastersingers were of burgher extraction. They flourished in Germany, chiefly in the imperial cities, during the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries. They did much to generate and preserve a love of art among the middle classes. Their musical competitions were judged according to a code of rules which distinguished by particular names thirty-two faults to be avoided. Scriptural or devotional subjects were usually selected and the judges or Merker (Markers) were, in Nuremburg, four in number, the first comparing the words with the Biblical text, the second criticizing the prosody, the third the rhymes, and the fourth the tune. He who had the fewest marks against him received the prize.