Richard Wagner
The Master Singers of Nuremberg
Act II
‘Albrecht Durer’s House at Nuremberg’
William Callow (English, 1812-1908)
Artvee
Translated by Abigail Dyer © Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved.
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Contents
- Act II, Scene 1
- Act II, Scene 2
- Act II, Scene 3
- Act II, Scene 4
- Act II, Scene 5
- Act II, Scene 6
- Act II, Scene 7
Act II, Scene 1
Downstage, a section of a street running Left and Right with a small alleyway Up, leading Off. Center, at the intersection of the street and the alley, two house facades (both practical) are visible. The one Stage Left, the house of a wealthy owner, is Pogner's. The simpler house Stage Right belongs to Sachs. In front of Pogner's house is a linden tree and in front of Sachs's, a lilac. As the scene begins, it's a fair summer evening that gradually turns to night. David is closing the street-side shutters to Sachs's workshop. Other Apprentices are on the street closing the shutters to other houses (all practical).
APPRENTICES (as they work)
On Saint John's Day, on Saint John's Day
Posies aplenty and ribbons gay!
DAVID (softly to himself)
"The flower garland of silk so fine,
Grant that the garland may soon be mine!"
MAGDALENE (enters from Pogner's house with a basket; tries to approach David unnoticed)
Psst! David!
DAVID(turning violently toward the alley)
You again, idiots?
Sing yourselves all your stupid ditties!
(reluctantly turns away)
APPRENTICES David, that hurts!
Why use such words?
Look 'round instead
And use your head!
On Saint John's Day, on Saint John's Day
The fool yells at Mistress Lene to go away!
MAGDALENE (pointing to her basket)
David, listen! Come closer, dear.
DAVID Ah! Mistress Lene! You are here?
MAGDALENE I've brought a spread!
Just take a peek:
All this is for my love to eat.
First, tell me quick, how went it at song school?
You taught the knight well? He's a Master now?
DAVID Ah, Mistress Lene! It was awful!
The knight has failed. The man struck out.
MAGDALENE (frightened)
He failed? He's out?
DAVID (as David reaches out his hand to take the basket, Magdalene snatches it away)
What's this all about?
MAGDALENE Hands off my basket!
Snacks? Don't ask it!
Dear God! Our young knight has struck out!
(gestures inconsolably as she exits back into the house; David, nonplussed, watches her go)
APPRENTICES (who have crept up unnoticed on David and Magdalene to listen in, now approach David as if to congratulate him)
Hail! Hail the groom so young and stout!
He won his lady at last!
We saw it all and heard each shout:
She whom his heart holds fast,
For whom he'd die if asked it,
Won't give him her picnic basket!
DAVID (erupting)
Still standing around?
Shut up and get out!
APPRENTICES (form a ring and dance around David)
On Saint John's Day, on Saint John's Day
Each man goes courting as he may.
The Master courts, the prentice courts.
There's much flirtation and snogging!
The old man courts the girl, of course.
The boy, the old maid is dogging.
Hurray! Hurray! On Saint John's Day!
(David is ready to jump in and start throwing punches as Sachs enters from the alley and comes between David and the Apprentices; the Apprentices separate)
SACHS (to David)
What's this? I find you fighting again?
DAVID:
Not I. They're singing dirty tunes!
SACHS Close your ears. It's better for you.
Go in, close up, all the lamps light!
(Apprentices disperse)
DAVID A singing lesson?
SACHS Not tonight.
Instead, for your impudence, as penance,
Put the new shoes on the last to stretch them!
(David and Sachs exit into the workshop through an inner door)
Act II, Scene 2
Pogner and Eva are returning home as if from a walk together. The daughter leaning lightly on her father's arm, both are taciturn as the come in from the alley.
POGNER (peering through a chink in Sachs's storefront shutter)
Let's see, is Master Sachs at home?
I'll speak with him.
(David enters from an inner room, carrying a light. He brings it to his work table near the window, where he sets it down, sits and gets to work.)
Shall we go in?
EVA (peering)
I think he's there. His lamps are lit.
POGNER Should I? But what for? Better not!
(turns away)
He makes strange propositions.
What counsel would he give me?
(he considers)
Did he not declare I went too far?
I chose a road that's not travelled,
As also is his habit.
Or would he say I'm being vain?
(turns to Eva)
And you, my child, say not a word?
EVA Obedient girls are seen, not heard.
POGNER How wise! How good!
(tenderly)
Come sit down here
A moment with your father dear!
EVA Won't we get chilled?
Today was cold.
POGNER(sits on a stone bench under the linden tree; Eva sits next to him, hesitant and apprehensive)
No, no. It's warm and pleasing,
A pleasant summer evening.
It means we'll have a lovely day
Tomorrow for the contest.
Oh, child! Does your own heart not say
What happiness for you awaits
When all of Nuremberg arrives,
Its townsfolk high and common,
Its guildsmen and its folk arrayed
Before you in the audience,
As you give out
The vict'ry crown
And take to be his wife
The Master of your choice?
EVA Dear Father, must it a Master be?
POGNER Mark well: a Master of your choice.
(Magdalena appears in the door and motions to Eva)
EVA (absently)
Yes, of my choice!
So come with me--
(loudly, to Magdalene)
(Soon, Lene, soon!)
--inside to eat!
(she stands)
POGNER (stands, annoyed)
But we have no guest.
EVA (as before)
Not the noble?
POGNER (astonished)
How's that?
EVA Was he not there?
POGNER (half to himself, lost in thought)
He pleased me not.
(pulling himself together)
But no! But...what? What did I say?
EVA Dear Papa, come on! Go and get changed.
POGNER (as he enters the house)
I've lost my train of thought again.
MAGDALENE (confidentially, to Eva)
What did you learn?
EVA (as before)
Quite mum he stayed.
MAGDALENE Well, David said
The knight lost his chance.
EVA (frightened)
He lost it? Good God! What of my plans?
Ah, Lene, I'm scared! Who'll know what happened?
MAGDALENE Perhaps Hans Sachs?
EVA (brightly)
Yes, he loves me well.
That's it. I'll see him.
MAGDALENE But act with discretion:
Your father'd note if you skipped the meal.
So eat first. Then I can give you the message
(as they're going up the stairs)
That someone for you in secret sent me.
EVA (turning)
Someone? The noble?
MAGDALENE No way! No! Beckmesser.
EVA Beckmesser! That's just grand.
(Eva exits into the house. Magdalene follows her.)
Act II, Scene 3
Sachs, in light indoor clothes, enters the workshop from an interior room. He turns to David who has remained at his work table.
SACHS Let's see! That's good. Now one thing more:
Push my bench and stool to the door.
Go off to bed, wake up on time.
Sleep off your folly. Tomorrow be wise!
DAVID (as he arranges the table and stool)
You still have work left?
SACHS What's it to you?
DAVID (to himself)
What happened to Lene? What'd I do?
And why does the Master work so late?
SACHS You're still here?
DAVID Sleep well, Master!
(David exits into an interior room facing the alley)
SACHS Good night!
(arranges his work, sits at the door on his stool but leaves the work where it is and leans back, with his arm on the closed lower half of the workshop door. Very tenderly)
The gentle scent of lilac,
So soft, so strong and sweet,
It calms me gently, smiling,
It inspires me to speak.
(very softly)
What good is what I say to you?
I'm just a poor and simple fool!
When all my work is a bother
You, friend, offer release
But I ought to sit and stretch leather
And let all this poetry be!
(noisily and emphatically takes up his shoemaking work then leaves it again, leans back as before and contemplates)
And yet it haunts my mind.
It moves me, I don't know why.
I cannot fathom and yet can't forget it.
When it's in my grasp I cannot measure it!
And yet how could I measure
What cannot measured have been?
To no rule it paid attention
Yet not a mistake crept in.
It's sound, so old and yet fresh and new,
Like bird song in sweet May and June!
One who dared
To sing those airs,
Smitten by sweet bird song,
He would be mocked and scorned.
Springtime's command,
Her sweet demand,
She planted deep in his breast.
He sang then as he must.
And as he must, so could he.
(animatedly)
I noticed that especially.
(very tenderly)
The bird whom I heard sing,
Whose noble beak was made for song craft,
He made the Masters cringe,
But one man he pleased well, that's Hans Sachs!
Act II, Scene 4
Eva has entered the street from the house and shyly approached the workshop. She stands at the door unnoticed by Sachs, who is working tranquilly.
EVA Good evening, Master!
At your task still?
SACHS (pleasantly surprised)
Ah, child! Dear Evchen, still awake?
But what could keep you up, I ask you?
It's your new shoes?
EVA (sits next to Sachs on a stone seat)
You're way off base!
The shoes, I have not yet tried them on.
They are so fair and well adorned
That I have not dared to put my feet inside.
SACHS They're for tomorrow when you're a bride.
EVA But who will the bridegroom be?
SACHS Do I know?
EVA Do you know I'll be a bride?
SACHS Of course! The whole town knows.
EVA Right. The whole town knows.
Friend Sachs says it, it's surely so!
I thought he knew more.
SACHS What more should I know?
EVA For Pete's sake! Must I spell every word out?
Do you think I'm dumb?
SACHS I said that not.
EVA Then might you be wise?
SACHS I know that not.
EVA You know not. You say not.
Well, Friend Sachs,
Now I see what's what.
Tar is not wax!
I always had thought you were better.
SACHS Child, both wax and tar can have their use.
With wax I coat the silken ribbons,
The ones I used to tie your slippers sweet.
But these shoes right here need thicker strings on
And coats of pine tar for rougher feet.
EVA Who are they for? Someone grand?
SACHS I'd say so!
A Master single-minded who
Tomorrow intends to win a maiden:
Herr Beckmesser's is this pair of shoes.
EVA Then please use extra tar so he
Gets stuck in place and lets me be.
SACHS He hopes to win you with his singing.
EVA Must it be him?
SACHS A single man,
There are so few of them at hand!
EVA Couldn't a widower do the winning?
SACHS My child, for you too old he'd be.
EVA How's that? Too old? Art's all that counts.
He who grasps that, he may court me.
SACHS Dear Evchen, do you taunt me now?
EVA Not me! It's you! You're spouting gibberish!
Admit to your inconstancy.
God knows which fair damsel your heart now holds in it!
All these years I thought your heart held me.
SACHS Because in my arms I once carried you?
EVA (very tenderly)
Was it because you are childless?
SACHS (gently)
I had a wife and children once, too.
EVA Your wife has passed on and I've matured.
SACHS (brightly, then tenderly)
Grown beautiful!
EVA I thought you might
Desire me as both your child and wife.
SACHS Then I'd have a child and have a wife!
A charming way to pass through life!
Oh yes, you thought through every detail.
EVA I think he mocks me. Did my plan fail?
And would the Master laugh even harder
If under his nose I go tomorrow
With Beckmesser, who'll sing me away?
SACHS If he should win, who'd stand in his way?
Your father might know what to do.
EVA Where has the Master's good sense gone to?
Would I have sought you if he knew best?
SACHS (dryly)
Quite right. Just so. I have no sense left.
Today was full of care and doubt,
Enough to knock all my sense out.
EVA (again coming closer)
What, at the song school? Things went amiss?
SACHS Yes, child! An audition caused me distress.
EVA Ah, Sachs! If right away you had mentioned,
I'd not have vexed you with useless questions.
So talk! What man auditioned today?
SACHS A nobleman who'd never trained.
EVA (as if exchanging confidences)
A noble? Oh my! He's in the guild now?
SACHS Oh no, my child! There was a row.
EVA So tell me all! How did it go?
What concerns you concerns me, too.
So he was a failure and sent away?
SACHS Hopeless failure suffered the chevalier.
MAGDALENE (enters from the house and calls softly)
Psst! Evchen! Psst!
EVA (turned eagerly to Sachs)
Hopeless failure? How?
There's nothing that can help him now?
So bad his voice, so oft erred he
That nothing can help him a Master be?
SACHS My dear, his trial was a disaster.
No song guild will e'er accept this man
For he who's born as a Master
By Masters rejected is out of hand.
MAGDALENE (calling more distinctly)
Your father insists.
EVA (to Sachs with increasing urgency)
There's no hope for him?
Not one of the Masters as friend did he win?
SACHS How could we Masters friends with him be
When he made us all second-rate seem?
Sir High and Mighty, let him be gone
The rest of the world to take on!
Then all we've learned by rote, with care,
He'll leave us all in peace to cough up
And not be here to show us all up.
May fortune favour him elsewhere!
EVA (rises as if in a rage)
Yes, fortune will send him elsewhere,
Far from your envious Master stanzas,
To friends whose hearts' warm glow he'll soon share,
Despite perfidious Master Hanses!
(to Lene)
Wait, Lene, wait! I'm on my way!
From him what comfort could I take?
It reeks of tar in here, good God!
He should burn it to thaw out his heart!
(agitated, she crosses the street with Magdalene and, in a state of alarm, remains at the house door)
SACHS (watches her with a meaningful nod of his head)
I thought as much! So now we plan!
(During the following Sachs is busy closing the upper half of the shop door enough so that only a little bit of light shines through. He himself can scarcely be seen.)
MAGDALENE Good God, why are you out so late? Your father calls.
EVA You go instead
And tell him I'm asleep in bed.
MAGDALENE No way, Evchen! Listen to me.
Beckmesser badgered till I agreed:
You are to go tonight to your window.
A serenade there he's planning to sing you,
A song he hopes you'll be so overcome by
You'll crown him victor and be his bride.
EVA That's all I need now! Why's it not he?
MAGDALENE Is David around?
EVA (peering into the distance)
What's that to me?
MAGDALENE (to herself)
I was so mean. I think I hurt him.
EVA Still no one there?
MAGDALENE (reacts as if she's seen someone)
I think I see a person.
EVA 'Tis he?
MAGDALENE Come now, go off to bed.
EVA Not yet! I await the dearest of men!
MAGDALENE It was a mistake. I saw him not.
Now come, before your father learns what's what!
EVA Ah, I'm afraid!
MAGDALENE And let us consider
How Master Beckmesser to get rid of!
EVA He'll serenade you, not me.
(she listens)
MAGDALENE Who, me?
(to herself)
Would that not cause David jealousy?
He sleeps near the alley. Hee-hee! That's fine!
EVA I hear some footsteps.
MAGDALENE (to Eva)
Come on, go inside.
EVA They're nearing!
MAGDALENE You're wrong. That's not his tread.
Now come! You must, till your father's in bed.
POGNER (voice from inside, Off)
Hey! Lene! Eva!
MAGDALENE (drags Eva, over her objections, by the arm up the steps to the door)
Do as I say.
Eva, come! Your knight's far away!
Act II, Scene 5
Walther has come up the street and turned the corner into the alley.
EVA (sees Walther)
He's coming!
(tears herself loose from Magdalene and rushes across the street to Walther)
MAGDALENE The game has changed!
Now it's: think quick!
(exits hastily into the house)
EVA (beside herself)
Yes, it's you, sir!
No, it's you, dear!
Loud I'll say it
So you must hear.
Loud proclaim it,
For I'm certain
You're my prize-won
Hero worthy
And my only friend.
WALTHER Ah, you're wrong. I'm just your friend.
Of the prize I'm undeserving,
Of the Masters, not yet worthy.
My audition
Met derision
And I realize
I'm forbidden
From my friend's fair hand.
EVA How you're wrong!
Your friend's fair hand
Alone the prize gives out.
Your courage bold, her heart enchants.
You only will she crown.
WALTHER Alas! You're wrong!
My friend's fair hand
E'en should it choose no winner,
Is subject to her father's plan
And to me is forbidden!
"The Master Singer with the prize,
To him alone may she be wife!"
He made this promise to the men
And cannot take it back again!
It gave me courage bold
And, strange though it all seemed to me,
I sang to love an ode
So I a Master, too, could be.
(angrily)
Ah, but those Masters!
Ha, all those Masters
And their rigid rhymes, hob-
Goblins of small minds!
My blood, it boils,
My heart stands still.
I could not foil
The trap that they built.
Come, freedom beckons!
I'll live in freedom!
There, my own Master I'll be!
If we're to wed, then
I must beseech you,
Run away now with me!
Don't wait, there's no point.
For us there is no choice!
Here I am haunted
By Masters taunting
Like evil banshees,
Rhyme-vigilantes,
Masters with guild cards
Holding their scoreboards.
Everywhere they lurk:
Out of the woodwork,
I can see crowds of
Masters around us.
Both taunting and shameless,
They stand as claimants.
In circles around you
They surround you
Screeching like Bedlam,
Hoping you'll wed them.
The Masters have you
On the song chair captive.
They lift you reeling
Up to the ceiling!
Should I just take it?
And should I not dare
Bravely fight my way to you there?
(The Night Watchman's horn is heard. Walther, with an emphatic gesture, clasps his sword and shouts)
Ha!
EVA (calming him down with a touch of her hand)
Beloved, put down your sword.
That's just the night watchman's horn.
Under the linden
Quickly be hidden.
The watchman soon will pass by.
MAGDALENE (calling softy under the door)
Evchen, it's time. Come inside!
WALTHER We'll go?
EVA (smiling)
Why shouldn't we?
WALTHER You'll flee?
EVA (with tender certainty)
The Masters' decree.
(She disappears with Magdalene into the house. The Night Watchman has, meanwhile, appeared into the alley. He steps Down singing and leans on the corner of Pogner's house, then continues on, exiting Right.)
NIGHT WATCHMAN Hear ye, hear ye, all ye townsfolk:
The clock struck ten this hour.
Guard well your fires and, too, your lights
So nothing burns down tonight.
Praise be God the Lord!
(Sachs, who has overheard Eva and Walther's conversation from behind the door of his shop, now opens the door a little more and shades his light.)
SACHS Wicked goings-on I observe.
Is an abduction in the works?
Mark it well! This must not be.
WALTHER (from behind the linden tree)
What if she stays here? Woe is me!
(Eva enters from the house in Magdalene's clothing; his mood changes)
But wait, she's coming? No, not she,
The old maid comes. But is that--? Yes!
EVA (sees Walther, hurries to him and throws herself light-heartedly on his breast)
This foolish child's upon your breast.
WALTHER Thank heaven! Now I realise
That I have won the Master prize.
EVA Let's not dilly-dally!
Escape through the alley!
Oh, were we long away!
WALTHER Here, through the alley!
And once we get past the gate,
Horse and servants wait.
(As the two of them turn to go into the alley, Sachs places his lamp behind a glass water bowl and lets a harsh stream of light falls over the street through the now fully opened shop door, so that Eva and Walther suddenly find themselves brightly illuminated.)
EVA (sound of the Night Watchman's horn in the distance; Eva pulls Walther back)
Oh no! The cobbler! If he should see!
Duck down. Go and hide behind the tree!
WALTHER What other exit can we find?
EVA There on the street side, but that road winds.
I don't know it well and there we'd be seen
By the watchman.
WALTHER The alley it is, then.
EVA The cobbler must first his window leave.
WALTHER To leave it I will convince him.
EVA No! Stay away! He knows you.
WALTHER The cobbler?
EVA It's Sachs.
WALTHER Hans Sachs? My friend!
EVA Not true!
About you he spoke wickedest gossip!
Act II, Scene 6
Beckmesser creeps up the alley following behind the Night Watchman at some distance. He peers up at one of Pogner's windows and, leaning on Sachs's house, begins to tune his lute.
WALTHER Who, Sachs? Him, too?
I'll knock off his block!
EVA (restraining Walther)
Best not!
What's that?
WALTHER That's a lute we hear.
(Sachs, upon hearing the first note of the lute, is struck by a new idea. He brings the light in again and quietly opens the lower half of the shop door)
EVA Oh, woe is me!
WALTHER What do you fear?
The cobbler, look, took in his light, so let us dare!
EVA No! Do you not see?
Another man is standing there.
(Unnoticed, Sachs has placed his work table in the doorway. Now he listens to Eva.)
WALTHER I see a man who tunes his lute.
But why's he here so late at night?
EVA It's Beckmesser. Oh!
SACHS Aha! I'm right.
WALTHER The scorer? Him? Here, in my control?
To arms! I'll knock that lout out cold!
EVA Dear God! Pipe down! Or would you wake my father?
He'll sing one song then go away.
Let's hide here in the shrubs together!
I've had such trouble with men today!
(She pulls Walther behind the shrubs that surround the bench under the linden tree.
Beckmesser, peering inquisitively at the window, plucks impatiently at his lute. When he's finally prepared to sing, Sachs pounds loudly with the hammer on the shoe last and lets his light shine brightly again onto the street.)
SACHS (very loudly)
Blimey! Blimey!
Hallohallohe!
(Beckmesser jumps angrily up from his stone seat and becomes aware of Sachs at work.)
Oho! Tralalei! Tralalei! Ohe!
BECKMESSER He'll do me in! This awful din!
What's wrong with that vulgarian?
SACHS When Eva, banished by our Lord,
From Paradise had trodden,
Her feet were cut by pebbles hard
Because they were unshodden.
The Lord took pity since
Her feet were dear to him.
He told his angel what to do:
"Go make that poor, dear sinner shoes!"
WALTHER (whispering to Eva)
What is that song? Why use your name?
EVA(whispering to Walther)
The Eve he means is not the same.
Yet there is mischief in his tune.
SACHS "And Adam, too, for, as I know,
On rocks and stones he stubs his toe.
So he can slog
Through woods and bogs,
Measure him for boots and clogs!"
WALTHER Why hesitate?
It's time to go!
BECKMESSER (approaches Sachs)
You, Master, up? At this hour late?
SACHS My good town clerk! You still wake?
Your shoes cause you such pain and sorrow?
I'm fixing them now. Come by tomorrow!
(he works)
BECKMESSER (angrily)
To the devil with shoes!
SACHS Blimey!
BECKMESSER I'm not amused!
SACHS Hallohallohe!
Oho! Tralalei! Tralalei! Ohe!
Oh, Eva, Eva, wicked girl,
Let this be on your conscience:
Now all the feet of all the world
By angels must be shodden!
WALTHER (as before)
Us, or 'tis the scorer he plays for a fool?
EVA (as before)
All three of us. You see? He's cruel.
Oh dear, his verse! A bad, bad omen.
WALTHER Be brave, my angel. It's just a poem!
SACHS If you had just stayed put,
No stone'd have hurt your foot.
EVA That song's sorrowful.
WALTHER What can you mean?
You're at my side! Oh lovely dream!
(pulls Eva tenderly to him)
SACHS 'Cause of your misdeed, newly wrought,
I ply my trade with thread and awl,
'Cause Adam sinned and fell so far,
I sole the shoes with pitch black tar!
You see, I sing angelically.
If not, I'd a devil be!
Bli--
BECKMESSER (bears down menacingly on Sachs)
Stop that right now! Is this a game?
Can you not tell night from day?
SACHS I like to sing. You like the same.
The shoes must all be done by tomorrow.
BECKMESSER So close your shop and work silently!
SACHS To work at night is such a sorrow.
If I'm to find some inner peace
I'll need fresh air and fresh, happy songs.
Now hear how the third verse goes along!
(polishing the thread very obviously)
Blimey! Blimey!
Hallohallohe!
Oho! Tralalei! Tralalei! Ohe!
BECKMESSER He'll drive me bonkers,
That vulgar cobbler!
(plugs his ears and paces in despair up and down the alley in front of the window)
Those screams, she'll think that they come from me!
SACHS Oh, Eva, hear, for goodness' sakes,
My cries and lamentations!
The artwork a shoemaker makes
Gets stepped on by all nations!
Did angels not console
Those destined shoes to sole,
Or call us up to Paradise,
I'd leave shoemaking in a trice!
But when I'm safe in heaven's keep
The world will lie beneath my feet:
A blissful view
For Sachs the shoe-
Maker and the poet, too!
EVA (very upset)
That song pains me! I don't know why.
Oh, come! Let us flee now!
(Beckmesser peers at the window, which now opens softly and at which Magdalene, dressed as Eva, appears)
WALTHER (his temper flaring)
So then, by the sword!
EVA No, don't! Oh stop!
WALTHER (takes his hand off his sword)
He's best ignored.
EVA Yes, patience is best! Oh, dearest man!
What a tough spot I've put you in!
WALTHER (softly to Eva)
Who's at the window?
EVA (softly)
It's Magdalene.
WALTHER Now that's very funny. You've turned the tables.
EVA Let's flee and end this longing and waiting!
WALTHER I wish that he'd start to serenade her.
(Walther and Eva sit leaning against each other on the bench. They follow the exchange between Sachs and Beckmesser with increasing interest.)
BECKMESSER The window is open! Dear God! She's neigh!
All's lost lest he stop his singing absurd!
(Beckmesser approaches Sachs's shop and plucks at his lute during the following, with his back to the alley, tilting the lute so he can keep an eye on Magdalene in the window)
Friend Sachs, with you I'd like a word!
You seem to have a shoe obsession!
As for my new shoes, just forget them.
As shoemaker, you're quite a prize.
As artist-friend, esteemed most high.
(plucks at the lute, tilts it again toward the window)
Your judgement, friend, is sound and strong
So would you judge my little song?
I aim to win tomorrow's contest
So I want your opinion honest.
SACHS Aha! So you can dupe and con me
And take out more aggression on me?
When I leave shoes and take up rhymes,
How badly my shoemaking declines!
They flop around!
The soles are unsound!
So I'll leave poetry
And, very sensibly,
Leave all my brains and wits at home, too,
And for tomorrow make your new shoes!
BECKMESSER (grovelling)
Oh, let that go! I meant it in jest.
Instead, hear what troubles my breast.
In town you're honoured high
And by Pogner's girl much admired.
I want most in the world
To win tomorrows contest
But I've no chance, be honest,
If my song can't please the girl!
So listen quietly.
When I'm done, tell me please
What you liked and what's wrong
So I might fix my song!
SACHS Oh, go and leave me be!
Do I deserve this flattery?
Just street songs are all my compositions:
In streets I shall sing them
And pound out the rhythm!
Blimey! Blimey!
Hallohallohe!
Oho! Tralalei! Tralalei! Ohe!
BECKMESSER That blasted man! He will drive me barmy,
Belting out songs of shoes and tarring!
Shut up! You'll wake the neighbours there!
SACHS They're used to it. No one will care.
Oh, Eva, Eva!
BECKMESSER (erupting in a rage)
You're a craven man and wicked!
You've gotten on my one last nerve!
If you don't shut up this minute,
I swear you'll get what you deserve!
(angrily plucks the lute)
Envious, that's all you are,
Although you think that you're so smart.
When someone else succeeds you must attack him.
See how I know you forward and backward?
That you've not been voted scorer to date,
That's what makes the bile-filled cobbler rage.
Well then! As long as Beckmesser lives
And as long as rhymes still cling to his lips,
As long as I still a Master remain,
Though Nuremberg thrive and wax,
I swear this to Hans Sachs:
Never will he the scorer be named.
(plucks the lute in a rage)
SACHS (who had listened calmly and attentively to him)
Was that your song?
BECKMESSER I've had it, Sachs!
SACHS It broke some rules but it had pizzaz.
BECKMESSER Will you not listen?
SACHS By God above us, sing on: I'll fasten the soles and uppers.
BECKMESSER But silently?
SACHS Well, you sing on;
My work will help you with your song.
BECKMESSER All that blasted banging, surely you'll end it?
SACHS Then how could I sole your shoe and mend it?
BECKMESSER What? You'll still hammer when I start wooing?
SACHS You'll sing your song, I shall do my shoeing.
BECKMESSER But I don't want shoes!
SACHS You'll say that now
Then in song school hold it against me somehow.
But wait! There's one solution left.
In concert do men get on best.
I still must fix these shoes--how boring--
But I would learn the art of song scoring.
No equal have you in the school.
How could I learn if not from you?
So sing your song; I'll hear and score
And carry on, too, with my chore.
BECKMESSER Then score away and when in my song
There's a mistake, just chalk-mark me wrong.
SACHS With chalk, the shoes I could work no more.
With my hammer on the shoe last I will keep score.
BECKMESSER Malicious plotting! God, it's so late!
She'll close up her window and go away!
(plucks the lute eagerly)
SACHS Let's begin, and quick or I'll start to sing!
BECKMESSER Don't you dare! It's maddening!
(Blast it! How frustrating!)
If you are so of scoring enamored,
Alright then, score with your last and with your hammer!
But you must abide strictly by the rules.
Don't mark off things I'm permitted to do.
SACHS By the rules, then, as they are known to me,
A shoemaker who does his work with glee.
BECKMESSER You give your word?
SACHS I'd never cheat!
BECKMESSER Not one demerit: smooth and sweet!
(he withdraws around the corner of the house)
SACHS Tomorrow, then, you'll have bare feet!
WALTHER What drama here! It's like a dream:
The song chair I'm still on, it seems.
EVA (leaning softly against Walther's breast)
My brow is troubled. Who can tell
If this is good or it bodes ill?
SACHS (indicates the stone seat in front of the shop door; Night Watchman's horn is heard in the very far distance)
Take this seat here!
BECKMESSER (moves to the corner of the house, remains standing)
I'll take that corner.
SACHS Why go so far?
BECKMESSER (goes back around corner of the house)
Because the scorer
Must not be seen. School rules apply.
SACHS I won't hear a word.
BECKMESSER Though quite refined,
My voice can really raise a din!
(positions himself in the corner across from the window)
SACHS (How nice!) Alright then! Let's begin!
(Sachs picks up his hammer. His hammer strikes are in response to misplaced syllables and other errors, and are indicated by the accent marks below.)
BECKMESSER (tunes his lute in a rage, unaware that he has unscrewed the D-string back down)
"As dawn of day brought sunshine
To its pleasúres impart,
(Beckmesser shivers at the sound of Sachs's hammer)
'Twas then awakened á fine
(startles violently but continues)
Couráge new in my--"
(looks angrily out from around the corner)
Is this a joke?
Where was I mistaken?
SACHS Better to make it
"'Twas then awakened
A fine, new courage in my--?"
BECKMESSER But then how would that rhyme with
"Of day brought sunshine?"
SACHS To you does the melody not matter?
I think the words should fit the tune.
BECKMESSER I will not argue. Silence your hammer or I'll get you back!
SACHS Sing your song through!
BECKMESSER I'm so confused!
SACHS Begin then once more.
The first three strikes I shall ignore.
BECKMESSER (aside)
It's better just to ignore his critiques
And hope the maiden they don't mislead!
(playing the lute)
"As dawn of day brought sunshine
To its pleasures impart,
'Twas then awakened a fine
Courage new in my heart.
I do not think of dying,
Rathér, of vying
For a maidén to wed.
Tell me, why should this day most
Beautíful of all be?
(aggravated)
I'll éndeavor now to show
It's bécause of a lady',
Whose béloved Herr father
Has éngaged got her,
I bélieve, in marriáge.
(very aggravated)
Hear ye, all men,
Come ye and ken:
There stands the fair, darlíng maidén
To whom I dare my song to pen.
Therefóre does thé morníng resplend,
As I previóusly said."
(comes raging around the corner toward Sachs)
Sachs! Look, you'll be my ruin!
Won't you be quiet?
SACHS Now I'm struck mute!
I marked the errors;
Later we'll chat.
Meanwhile, I've still got soles to attach.
BECKMESSER (becomes aware that Magdalene wants to leave the window)
Has she left? Psst! Psst! Dear God, my plan!
Sachs, I'll remember this, spiteful man.
(turns the corner shaking his fist at Sachs; prepares himself for the second verse)
SACHS (holding the hammer above the shoe last)
Scorer's here still:
Sing at will!
BECKMESSER (ever louder and more breathless)
"This day would my' heart savour,
Courtíng the maiden young,
But see, the maiden's father
Addéd one cónditión
On who gets his inheritance
And on who merits
His daughtér's pledge to troth.
An honoured Master worthy,
On his daughtér he dotes.
Simúltanéously', though,
His love of art he'd show:
Alone may the prize winner
In Master Singing
Be hís son-ín-the-law.
(stamps his feet angrily)
Now I use art
So for my part,
Without shamefúl or petty fraud,
Good fortune máy let thé victór,
(Sachs, shaking his head, gives up marking each individual mistake and instead hammers repeatedly to get the key out of the last.)
He whó sings wíth burníng ardóur,
To thé maidén be wed."
SACHS (leaning far out of the shop)
Are you quite finished?
BECKMESSER (in terror)
Why ask me that?
SACHS (triumphantly holds out the finished shoes)
Since the shoes are fixed. I've done my task.
I call this a pair of scorer shoes.
Now hear my little scorer's tune!
With hammer strikes I hit them
Till on the sole was written,
Here plain as day,
All that I say:
Your score inscribed for aye.
Good songs need beats.
Who rhythm cheats,
Even a clerk with feather,
He should be tanned like shoe leather.
Peace be with you.
Go in good shoe!
Your feet will keep the beat
As you make your retreat!
BECKMESSER (has withdrawn to the alley and, leaning against the wall, sings with great effort, breathlessly and hastily, to drown Sachs out, while swinging the lute angrily at him, as Sachs swings the shoes around in the air by their laces. Accent marks here denote poorly placed syllables but there are no accompanying hammer strikes in this verse.)
"That you may Master call me,
I wíll prove it today.
I am for thé prize longing,
Am thirsty and hungry'.
(David has opened the shop window behind Beckmesser and peeks out from it)
I call on the nine muses
To give infusions
To my poetic call.
The rules I'd never mix up.
I cán keep time and tune
But oversights and slip-ups
Happén to everyone
When hís mind is distracted
By wooing protracted
A young maidén to wed.
A bachelór,
I steeled my nerve,
My honour, name and all I'm worth
To come serénade you in verse
And hope the prize she wíll confer
If she my song likéd."
NEIGHBOURS (first a few, then more and more, open their windows and look out onto the alley)
What's screeching there with all its might?
Is this allowed so late at night?
Pipe down out there! It's slumber time.
My! Just hear how that poor donkey cries!
You there! Be quiet! Go away!
Go yowl in some other place!
DAVID (becomes aware of Magdalene)
Gadzooks! Who's he? And who's that maid?
It's Lene there, I see her plain!
Good grief! That man she asked to come by?
One song from him and she casts me aside?
Just wait and you'll see how I'll tan your hide!
(withdraws inside; returns with a cudgel, climbs out of the window and goes after Beckmesser)
The devil take him, that blasted guy!
Act II, Scene 7
MAGDALENE Good heavens! David! God, what a night!
Oh, stop them! Oh, stop them! To death will they fight!
(During the following, Sachs immediately puts his light out and closes the shop door so that he leaves only a little opening from behind which he can watch the goings-on in the plaza under the linden tree.
Eva and Walther watch the commotion with increasing alarm. Walther wraps Eva in his cloak and pulls her close to him. They hide themselves in the shrubs around the linden so they can hardly be seen.
The Neighbours leave their windows as more and more of them come to the street in their night shirts.
A few Apprentices, then more, enter from all sides. Later, Journeymen enter from all sides wielding cudgels. Finally, Masters and elder Townsfolk enter from all sides.
Beckmesser and David scuffle, disappear into the crowd and quickly reappear Downstage, Beckmesser running away and David holding him back, beating him.)
BECKMESSER You blasted kid! Will you let go?
DAVID OK! I'll break your arm with one blow.
NEIGHBOURS Look there! Let's go! That's quite a brawl!
Come one! Come all! There's an assault!
You there, stand down and clear the way!
If you don't stop, we'll join the fray!
NEIGHBOUR ONE Oh, look! What is this? You are here, too?
NEIGHBOUR TWO (shoving Neighbour One)
Mind your business! What is it to you?
NEIGHBOUR ONE (squaring off with him)
I know your kind.
NEIGHBOUR TWO (shoves him)
I know yours better!
NEIGHBOUR ONE How is that?
NEIGHBOUR TWO(they come to blows)
Like this!
SOME NEIGHBOURS It's the cobblers!
OTHER NEIGHBOURS No, it's the tailors.
SOME NEIGHBOURS No, it's the drunkards!
OTHER NEIGHBOURS No, it's the vagrants!
NEIGHBOURS (punching each other)
Asses! Imbeciles!
I've waited ages!
What'r you afraid of?
That's for the law suit!
Wait till I give you the boot!
Did your wife send you here?
Watch while I kick your rear!
Have you cried uncle yet?
So fight back! That's it!
Take that, you scoundrels!
Just wait, you rascals!
You swindling bastards!
Idiot!
Run on home!
Go away!
You, shut up!
APPRENTICES Those are the locksmiths, right?
It was those guys started the fight!
No, the blacksmiths started it!
No, those are locksmiths there, I'd bet!
The joiners I see there!
This is the butchers' fight.
Hey look! The coopers have lent a hand!
I see barber-surgeons have joined in the dance!
On it goes! There's quite a shindig here.
Grocers, too, have joined the fray
With barley malt and candy canes,
With pepper, nutmeg and cinnamon,
They smell nice but
They're an embarrassment.
They smell nice but
In fistfights they're all wimps.
Just look! That jerk,
He wears an ugly smirk.
Do you refer to me?
To you refer? Let's see!
More and more join in!
The real fighting begins!
Hey! There she blows!
Right on the nose!
Hey! Take that! Pow!
Laid him flat with that!
No grass will grow under that spot now!
JOURNEYMEN Hey there! The journeymen come!
The fight is on! Let's get us some!
A free-for-all is underway.
Come, journeymen, join in the fray.
A fight, you say? We're on our way!
It's the tanners! It's the weavers,
Those double-dealers!
I think so, too:
They all swindle you!
Kick their behinds!
Knock them all out!
Look at how the fight is heating up!
There's the butcher Klaus--
I'll point him out.
Tomorrow's Saint John's Day!
Stay out of the house!
Come on!
Hey! Fists are flying!
Tailors with their irons!
Guildsmen, come play!
It's Saint John's Day!
Float like a butterfly,
Sting like a bee!
You there, move on or get hurt!
This plaza is our turf!
Might you be trying to block the path before us?
Make way! We're joining in!
You make way instead!
Girdlers!
Tin smiths!
Glove makers!
Pewter makers!
Candlers!
Move on or you'll get hurt!
This street is our turf!
Never back down!
Knock them all down!
Don't go soft now!
Cloth cutters!
Flax weavers!
Knock them all down!
MASTERS What's going on? A mass fistfight?
It's spreading far and wide!
Calm down! Go home! Don't hang around
Or thunderbolts on you will hail down!
Run off home! Don't hang around!
Right! Terrific thunderbolts on you'll rain down
If you don't head on home right now!
WOMEN NEIGHBOURS What's going on? Those boys will play rough!
It seems they're having fisticuffs!
If only Father hadn't joined!
Ah, what a night! My! Just look here!
A noisy fight! It makes a girl take fright!
Hello, you men down there!
Just use your common sense!
Did all of you at once
Decide to throw a punch?
Oh! My man's in the brawl!
Well, I can't see at all!
Have they all lost their minds?
Or have they all drunk too much wine?
Help me! My father! My father,
Oh! They'll strike him dead!
Peter! Just listen up!
God, what a hellish mess!
They can't hear themselves speak!
Their heads and hands are
Bobbing all around!
Franz, get back in the house!
What a rumpus!
What a ruckus!
Hey, listen,
Pour water on those men!
Pour water down on their heads!
Scream! Cry for rescue!
Bloody murder!
Scream! Cry louder!
Help us! Bloody murder!
MAGDALENE (screaming)
Listen now, David,
Won't you let go of him, poor man?
He harmed me not at all
So stop this stupid brawl!
How very sad!
Good God, he's got him still!
My David has gone mad!
Oh, David, look, it's Herr Beckmesser!
POGNER Good God! Eva! Close up!
I'll go downstairs and see what's what!
WALTHER (who had been hiding in the shrubs with Eva, now takes ahold of Eva tightly with his left arm, and with his right hand, draws his sword)
Now we two can dare
Fight our way through there!
(Pogner, in his nightgown, appears at the upstairs window. Summons Magdalena, who had been wringing her hands in despair, inside and closes the window.
Walther presses his way Center, swinging his sword, in order to escape with Eva into the alley. Sachs springs with alacrity out of his shop, bounds over to Walther and grabs him by the arm.
At the same time as the Night Watchman's horn sounds, the Women have dumped water from the windows onto the brawling men below. The Men react in panic and alarm to the sound of the horn. Neighbours, Apprentices, Journeymen and Masters flee in all directions and the stage is suddenly empty. House doors are quickly closed and the Women disappear from the windows, which they slam shut.)
POGNER(from the steps)
Hey! Lene! Where are you?
SACHS (pushing the half-unconscious Eva up the steps)
Go in, Mistress Lene!
(Pogner enfolds Eva in his arms and takes her inside. Sachs directs David into the shop with a kick, pulls Walther into the shop behind him and immediately shuts the window. Beckmesser, now freed from David's beating and in a pitiable state, escapes into the crowd and flees.
As soon as the street empties completely and all the houses are shut up, the Night Watchman steps Downstage Left, rubs his eyes, looks around in astonishment. Shakes his head and calls with a soft, trembling voice)
NIGHT WATCHMAN Hear ye, hear ye, all ye townsfolk:
The clock struck eleven this hour.
Well guard yourselves from ghosts and from ghouls
So no evil comes to steal your souls.
Praise be God the Lord!
(He sounds his horn. The full moon comes out and shines brightly into the alley, through which the Night Watchman exits. As the Night Watchman turns the corner, the Curtain closes quickly, exactly on the last bar of music.)
Act II Curtain