Part 14 (1/2)
Each of the five singing together expresses, according to custom in concerted pieces, the aspect which the common subject, or the hour, has for him And so dear Sachs, while Eva and Walther rejoice on their side, and David and Lene--to whom the apprentice's proe,--rejoice on theirs, Sachs, adding a less glad but , reveals his heart,--with no one to listen, for all are singing ”Full fain”--he sighs, ”Full fain had I been to sing before the winsome child, but need was that I should place restraint upon the sweet disorderlydream it was, hardly dare I to think upon it” But the wreath of immortal youth shall be the poet's reward Impertinent to pity the sturdy Sachs, who has his poetry and his strong heart And he has at alldream There has been really no renunciation on his part, for he had never allowed hi with the tender temptation Not for an instant does he present hienerosity hich he eh in his good sense he had denied it to hi dreananimous one
It is time when they have finished to start for the seat of the Saint John's Day celebration Sachs sends Eva home to her father, orders David to close the shop, and starts along with Walther
While the curtain is lowered for the change of scene, one of those musical transformations takes place of which there are several instances in these operas With elele; the old are withdrawn, and presently, reen nitz; in the distance, the city of Nurereat stand for the -contest Crowds of holiday-makers are on the spot already, uilds nia, shoe-ether to aribbon-knots Conspicuous aetful for thekiss on his partner's cheek Frivolities stop short with the arrival of the masters These assemble to the sound of ill call their unofficial reatthe banner of the guild, and the people acclainer escorts Eva to the seat of honour When all are in their places, a corps of young apprentices, filling the function to-day of heralds, and carrying staffs of office liberally be flowered, call out in Latin the order for silence Quiet being established, Sachs, spokesman for the occasion, rises At once the silence is shattered by cheers for the popular poet, cries of joy at sight of hi of kerchiefs and hats To sho every one knows and loves his songs, the people entone one of the live Sachs!” they shout, ”Hans Sachs! Long live Nure's beloved Hans Sachs!” It is too much for poet to experience unmoved, and Sachs's voice, when the people quiet down at last, to listen, only gradually regains its manly fir reat honour If I aht that it is the gift of your love Great honour already has fallen to nity of spokesman And the announceh honour!” He iner's project, but with these important modifications or omissions,--and it is they which constitute the stroke Sachs has been preparing No mention whatever is made of the li: that the singers contending uild, and that the es
So the offer stands: A lovely girl and a rich inheritance shall be the portion of the singer who before the assembled people shall carry off the prize,--awarded, one naturally understands, since nothing different is stated, by popular acclamation Free candidature, therefore popular election! And Sachs so presents the thing that the e to chance the aardness of a public scene; they can hardly clai to non-masters, should accept the contest on the sa the risk of a perfectly justified revolt on the part of the ; he has counted on the restraining effect of the public occasion; has counted on luck, which proverbially follows the bold High-handed, his course, undeniably, but too much was at stake for any narrow consideration to hold back Sachs: the happiness of Eva,--of, as he says, at the conclusion of his announcement, ”the aret that Nure holds in such honour art and its professors!” Hearty applause follows his words
Pogner grasps his hand, moved, infinitely relieved ”Oh, Sachs, my friend, what thanks do I owe you! How did you knoas weighing on my heart?”--”Much was staked upon that cast,” replies Sachs; ”now pluck up heart!”
He catches sight of Beck with the rest of thehis bit ofthe desperate sweat fro on?”--”Oh, this song!” groans the Marker, ”I cannot make head or tail of it, and I have worked over it, in all truth, hard enough!” Sachs shows him, if he but knew it, a way of escape ”My friend, you are not obliged to use it”--”What is the good? My own song, through your fault, is done for Now be a kind dear fellow, it would be abominable of you to leave ive it up”--”Give it up? Well, hardly! I can easily beat all the others, if only you will not sing I a, but I a upon your popularity”
Sachs abandons hi-contest open
Kothner summons the contestants, ”And let the oldest,” he calls, ”coin We are late!”
The little heralds have piled up grassy sods into a sort of pedestal for the singers to stand on They lead Beck, and can hardly from nervousness keep his balance on the none too secure elevation The coin to titter Murmurs fly from one to the other: ”What? That one? That is one of the suitors? Why, he can't even walk! Keep quiet! He is an eminent master! He is the town-clerk Lord, what aover! Be still, and stop your jokes; he has a seat and a voice in the committee!”--”_Silentium! Silentiuin!” Beck to the queen of the day and to the asse as he reh the medium of his mind What he utters, with many an anxious peep at the crumpled manuscript, is nonsense of the most ludicrous
For every word he substitutes another of distantly the sa how he has not understood a syllable
The melody, if so were he had mastered it, has cos to the eccentric words is his own serenade, but perverted by the interference of the alien influence
The masters at the end of the first verse look at one another, mystified ”What is that? Has he lost his senses? An extraordinary case! Do our ears deceive us?” The people giggle and make remarks, not too loud as yet
At the end of the second verse, the oneis one piece of nonsense!”
while the people giggle louder and make remarks less and less respectful
At the end of the third verse, populace and hter Beck at Sachs ”Accursed cobbler! To you I owe this!--The song is none of mine,” he excitedly inforaveit, he foisted off hismanuscript at Sachs's feet, and rushes off like one pursued by a nest of hornets
A of Sachs's?
Theis yours? Be so good, Sachs, as to explain!” Sachs has picked up and s, as aHerr Beckmesser is mistaken, in this respect as in others How he obtained it let him tell you himself But never should I be audacious to the point of boasting that so fine a song had been written by me, Hans Sachs”--”What? Fine? That crazy rubbish? Sachs is joking! He says that in fun!”--”I declare to you, gentlele glance that Master Beckmesser misrepresents it I swear to you, however, that you would hear it with delight were one to sing it in this circle correctly as to word and melody And one who should be able to do this would by that fact sufficiently prove that he is the author of the song, and that in all justice, if he found just judges, he would be called a master I have been accused and must defend myself Let me therefore suht is on my side, let him come forward as a witness before this assembly”
Quietly and quickly, with his proudly-borne head and his light proud step, Walther advances A ht of hiood populace on who figure finds instantaneous favour ”A proper witness, handso proper nise the intruder of yesterday, and to grasp the situation They accept it good-huh, with artistic appreciation, no doubt, of Sachs's well ed _coup de theatre_ ”Ah, Sachs, confess that you are a sly one! But, for this once, have your way!”
”Masters and people are agreed to try the worth of , sing the song And you, ht” He hands them the manuscript
Walther takes his stand on the flowerywe know already Presently however, the song lifts him away, and he alters, as with that power of inspiration behind him how could he help?--he amplifies, makes more beautiful still But by that time the masters have become so interested that they withdraw their attention from the er alone
The song is in its final effect considerably different fro the fruit of the moment, like Walther's other improvisations It preserves, however, both in text and tune, a sufficient likeness to the first to prove it of an identical source
It is the saes
In a blessed love-dreaarden where, beneath afulfil beauty: Eve, in the garden of Paradise
In a poet's waking drea up a steep path There, beneath a laurel-tree, he had beheld--and from her hand had received upon his broater frorave and sublime: the Muse of Parnassus