“Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg” by Richard Wagner libretto (English)

Contents: Roles; Act One; Act Two; Act Three

ACT TWO

SCENE ONE

The scene shows a street lengthwise with two houses, one on the left, another on the right. Between the two houses is a narrow alley winding towards the back of the stage. One house, grand in style, is Pogner's; the other, simple in style, is Sachs's. In front of Pogner's house there is a lime-tree, in front of Sachs's an elder. It is a pleasant summer evening and during this scene night falls.

(David is closing the shutters of Sachs's house and other apprentices are doing the same for the other houses in the background)

APPRENTICES
(as they work)
St John's Day! St John's Day!
Flowers and ribbons in plenty!

DAVID
(aside)
"The little flowery garland of fine silks",
might it soon be granted to me!

(Magdalena come out of Pogner's house with a basket on her arm and seeking to approach David unperceived)

MAGDALENA
Pst! David!

DAVID
(turning towards
the alley)
Are you calling again?
Sing your silly songs alone!

APPRENTICES
David, what is it?
If you weren't so proud
you'd look round -
if you weren't so silly!
"St John's Day! St John's Day!"
He doesn't want to know Mistress Lena!

MAGDALENA
David! Listen! Turn round to me!

DAVID
Ah! Mistress Lena! You here?

MAGDALENA
(pointing to her basket)
I bring you something good! Just look inside!
That's for my dear little treasure.
But first, quickly, how did the knight fare?
You advised him well? He won the garland?

DAVID
Ah, Mistress Lena! It's a sad sory:
he has completely sung away his chance!

MAGDALENA

Sung away? Completely?

DAVID
What does that matter to you?

MAGDALENA
(snatching the basket
away from David's
outstretched hand)
Hands off the basket!
No titbits for you!
God help us! Our knight undone!

(She goes back into the house, wringing her hands in despair. David looks after her, dumbfounded)

APPRENTICES
(who have quietly stolen
nearer and overheard,
now advance towards David
as if congratulating him)
Hail, hail to the young man on his marriage!
How successfully he has wooed!
We all heard, and saw it too:
she to whom he has given his heart
and for whom he would give his life -
she hasn't given him the basket.

DAVID
(flaring up)
Why are you idling here?
Hold your tongues this minute!

APPRENTICES
(dancing round David)

St John's Day! St John's Day!
Every man woos as he wishes.
The Master woos!
The apprentice woos!
There's much flirtation and cuddling!
The old man woos
the young maiden,
the apprentice the old maid!
Hurrah! Hurrah! St John's Day!

(David is about to fly at the boys in his temper, when Sachs, who has come down the alley, steps between them).
(The apprentices separate)

SACHS
(to David)
What's this? Do I catch you fighting again?
DAVID

Not I! They're singing coarse songs.

SACHS
Don't listen to them! Learn better than they!
To rest! Get inside! Lock up and light a lamp.

(The apprentices disperse)

DAVID
Do I have a singing lesson today?

SACHS
No, no singing -
as a punishment for your cheekiness today!
Put the new shoes on the last for me!

(David and Sachs go together into the workshop and disappear through an inner door)

SCENE TWO

(Pogner and Eva, returning from a walk together, come silently and thoughtfully down the alley, the daughter leaning on her father's arm)

POGNER
(peeping through a chink
in Sachs's shutter)
Let's see if Master Sachs is at home.
I'd like a word with him. Shall I go in?

(David comes out of the inner room with a light and sits down to work at the bench by the window)

EVA
He seems to be at home: there's a light within.

POGNER
Shall I? But what for? Better not!
(He turns away)
If someone is about to risk something unusual
what advice would he accept?
(after some reflection)
Was it not he who thought I was going too far?
And if I left the beaten track
was it not in his way?
But was it perhaps vanity, too?
(to Eva)
And you, my child, you say nothing?

EVA
An obedient child speaks only when asked.

POGNER

How wise! How good! Come, sit down here
for a while with me on the bench.
(He sits on the stone seat
under the lime-tree)

EVA
Won't it be too cool?
It was very close today.
(She sits, nervously,
at Pogner's side)

POGNER
No no, it's mild and refreshing;
it's a delightful balmy evening.
That suggest that tomorrow
will be the most beautiful day.
O child, don't your heartbeats tell you
what happiness may be yours tomorrow,

when Nuremberg, the whole city
with burghers and commoners,
with guilds, people, and high council,
shall assemble before you
so that you may award the prize,
that noble garland,
as consort
to the Master of your choice?

EVA
Dear father, must it be a Master?

POGNER
Listen carefully: a Master of your choice.

(Magdalena appears at the door and signs to Eva)

EVA
(distraught)
Yes, of my choice. But just go in -

(I'm coming, Lena, I'm coming!) - to supper.
(She rises)

POGNER
(rising vexedly)
But there's no guest?

EVA
(as before)
The nobleman, I thought?

POGNER
(surprised)
What do you mean?

EVA
Haven't you seen him today?

POGNER
(half to himself)
I wasn't pleased with him.
But no... What then? Ah! am I growing dim?

EVA
Come, dear papa! Go and change!

POGNER
(going into the house before her)
Hm! What's going round in my head?

MAGDALENA
(secretly to Eva)
Have you learned anything?

EVA
He was still and silent.

MAGDALENA
David said he thought he was undone.

EVA
(disturbed)
The knight? God help me, what am I to do?
Ah Lena! What anguish! How can we find out?

MAGDALENA
Perhaps from Sachs?

EVA

Ah, he's fond of me!
Of course, I'll go to him.

MAGDALENA
Don't give anything away!
Your father would notice if we stayed any longer.
After supper! Then I shall have more to say

that someone has secretly entrusted to me.

EVA

Who then? The nobleman?

MAGDALENA
Nothing there! No!
Beckmesser.

EVA
That should be good!

(They go into the house)

SCENE THREE

SACHS
(in light indoor dress,
has come back into the workshop.
He turns to David,
who is still at his
work-bench)
Show me! It's good. Move my table and stool up
by the door there!
Go to bed! Be up in good time,
sleep off your folly and be sensible tomorrow!

DAVID
Are you going to work?

SACHS
Does that concern you?

DAVID
(aside)
What's wrong with Lena? Heaven knows!
Why's the Masters staying up late tonight?

SACHS
What are you still standing there for?

DAVID
Sleep well, Master!

SACHS
Good night!

(David goes into the inner room which overlooks the street)

(Sachs arranges his work, sits on his stool at the door, and then, laying down his tools again, leans back, resting his arm on the closed lower half of the door)

SACHS
So mild, so strong and full
is the scent of the elder tree!
It relaxes my limbs gently,
wants me to say something.
What is the good of anything I can say to you?
I'm but a poor, simple man.
If work is not to my taste,
you might, friend, rather release me;
I would do better to stretch leather
and give up all poetry.
(He tries again to get down
the work, with much noise.)
(He leaves off, leans back once more and reflects)

And yet it just won't go.
I feel it, and cannot understand it;
I cannot hold on to it,
nor yet forget it;
and if I grasp it wholly, I cannot measure it!
But then, how should I grasp
what seemed to me immeasurable?
No rule seemed to fit it,
and yet there was no fault in it.
It sounded so old, and yet was so new,
like birdsong who heard a bird singing
and, carried away by madness,
imitated its song,
would earn derision and disgrace!
Spring's command,
sweet necessity
placed it in his breast:
then he sang as he had to;
and as he had to, so he could:
I noticed that particularly.
The bird that sang today
had a finely-formed break;
if he made the Masters uneasy,
he certainly pleased Hans Sachs well!

SCENE FOUR

(Eva comes out into the street, walks ahyly towards the workshop, and stands unnoticed at the door beside Sachs)
(He takes up his work again)

EVA
Good evening, Master! Still so busy?

SACHS
(starting up in agreeable surprise)
Ah, child! Dear Eva! Up so late?
And yet, I know why so late:
the new shoes?

EVA
How wrongly he guesses!
I have not yet even tried the shoes yet;
they are so beautiful and richly adorned
that I have not yet dared put them on my feet.

(She sits down on the bench near Sachs)

SACHS
But tomorrow you will wear them as a bride?

EVA
Who then might the bridegroom be?

SACHS
Do I know that?

EVA
How do you know then that I am to be a bride?

SACHS
Oho!
The whole town knows that.

EVA
Well, if the whole town knows,
then friend Sachs has good authority!
I thought he knew more.

SACHS
What should I know?

EVA
Well, think! Will I have to tell him?
Am I so stupid?

SACHS

I don't say that.

EVA
Then might you be shrewd?

SACHS
I don't know.

EVA
You know nothing? You say nothing? Well friend Sachs,
now I truly perceive that pitch is not wax.
I would have thought you sharper.

SACHS
Child! Both wax and pitch are familiar to me:
with wax I coated the silken threads
with wich I made your dainty shoes:
today I am making shoes with thicker yarn,
and pitch is required for a rougher customer.

EVA
Who is that? Someone important?

SACHS
Yes, indeed!
A master proud, intent on wooing,
plans to be sole victor tomorrow:
I must finish Herr Beckmesser's shoes.

EVA
Then take plenty of pitch for them:
then he will stick to it and leave me in peace!

SACHS
He assuredly hopes to win you by his singing.

EVA
Why he then?

SACHS
A bachelor -
there are few of them about here.

EVA
Might not a widower be successful?

SACHS
My child, he'd be too old for you.

EVA
How so, too old? Art is what matters here!

Let him who understands it woo me.

SACHS
Dear Eva, would you mock me?

EVA
Not I! It is you, who are making excuses!
Admit that you are fickle.
God knows who may dwell in your heart now!
Yet I thought I'd been there for many a year.

SACHS
Because I liked to carry you in my arms?

EVA
I see, it was only because you were childless.

SACHS
I once had a wife, and children enough.

EVA
But your wife died, and I've grown tall.

SACHS
Tall indeed, and beautiful.

EVA
Then I thought:
you might take me for wife and child into your house.

SACHS
Then I should have a child, and wife too:
that would indeed be a pleasant pastime!
Yes, you have thought it out well for yourself.

EVA
I think the Master is just laughing at me.
And in the end would ha cheerfully,
under his very nose and in the sight of all,
let Beckmesser win me tomorrow with his song?

SACHS
Who could prevent him, were he to succeed?
Your father alone might know the solution.

EVA
Where does a Master keep his brains?
Would I come to you if I could find the answer at home?

SACHS

Oh yes! You're right: my brain is in a whirl.
I've had many cares and troubles today:
so it may well be that something's sticking.

EVA
(drawing close to him)
At the singing-school summoned today?

SACHS
Yes, child! A song-trial caused me distress.

EVA
Ah, Sachs! You should have said so at once,
I wouldn't have vexed you then with unnecessary questions.
Now, tell me, who was it who asked for a trial?

SACHS
A nobleman, child, quite untutored.

EVA

A knight? Goodness! Tell me, was he admitted?

SACHS
Not so, my child! There was much dispute.

EVA
Then tell me, say, how did it go?
If it caused you trouble, how could it leave me in peace?
So he fared badly, and failed?

SACHS
The knight sang his chance away hopelessly.

MAGDALENA
(coming out of the house
and calling softly)
Psst! Ev'chen! Listen!

EVA

Hopelessly? What?
Might there be no way of helping him?
Did he sing so badly, so faultily,
that nothing can help him to become a Master?

SACHS
My child, for him all is lost,
and he will not become a Master in any land;
for he who was born a Master
has among Masters the worst standing.

MAGDALENA
(calling louder)
Your father is asking for you.

EVA

Then tell me further
whether he won none of the Masters as a friend?

SACHS
That would be fine - still to be his friend!
He before whom everyone felt so small!
Squire High and Mighty, let him go!
May he fight his way through the world;
what we learned with dificulty and labour,
let us savour in peace;
let him not run amok among us,
but may Fortune smile upon him somewhere else.

EVA
(rising angrily)
Yes, it shall smile upon him somewhere other
than among you nasty, jealous little men;
where hearts still glow warm,
in despite of all malicious Master Hanses!
(to Magdalena)
At once, Lena! At once! I'm just coming!
What comfort could I take from here?
It stinks of pitch here, may God have mercy!
Let him burn it, then at least he'd grow warm!

(She crosses the street hastily to Magdalena and remains in agitation at her own door)

SACHS
(with a meaningful nod
of his head)
I thought so. Now we must find a way!

(During the following he closes the upper half of his door too, so as to leave only a little crack of light showing. He himself remains almost invisible)

MAGDALENA
Good heavens! Where are you, so late?
Your father was calling.

EVA
Go in to him:
Say I'm in bed in my little chamber.

MAGDALENA
No, no! Hear me! Let me have my word.
Beckmesser found me: he gives me no peace,

to-night you are to be at your window,
he wants to sing and play you something beautiful,
the song with which he hopes to win you,
to see if it pleases you.

EVA
That's all I needed! If only he would come!

MAGDALENA
Have you seen David?
EVA
What's he to me?

MAGDALENA
(aside)
I was too harsh; he'll fret.

EVA
Do you see nothing yet?

MAGDALENA

There seems to be someone coming.

EVA
Would it were he!

MAGDALENA
Come, let's go in!

EVA
Not until I've seen the dearest of men!

MAGDALENA
I was mistaken, it was not him.
Come now, or your father will notice something!

EVA
Ah! how anxious I am!

MAGDALENA
And we must also discuss
how to get rid of Beckmesser.

EVA
You'll go to the window in my place.

MAGDALENA
What, me?
(to herself)
That might make David jealous.

He sleeps on the alley side! Ha! That would be fine!

EVA
I hear footsteps there.

MAGDALENA
(to Eva)
Come now, you must!

EVA
Even nearer!

MAGDALENA
You're wrong! It's nothing, I'll wager,
Oh come! You must, till your father's in bed.

POGNER'S VOICE
(calling within)
He! Lena! Eva!

MAGDALENA
It's high time!
(She tries to drag Eva
indoor by her arm)
Do you hear? Come! Your knight is far away.

SCENE FIVE

(Walther has come up the alley and now turns the corner by Pogner's house).

EVA
(sees Walther)
There he is!
(She tears herself free
from Magdaena and rushes
towards Walther)

MAGDALENA
That's that! Now we must be cunning!
(She hurries into the house)

EVA

Yes, it is you,
it is you!
I'll tell everything,
for you know it;
I'll bewail everything,
for I know it;
you are both
hero of the prize
and my only friend.

WALTHER

Alas, you're wrong! I'm only your friend,
not yet worthy
of prize,
not the equal
of the Masters:
my inspiration
met with contempt,
and I know
I may not aspire
to my fair friend's hand!

EVA
How wrong you are! Your friend's hand
alone will award the prize;
as her heart has discovered your courage,
only to you will she give the garland.

WALTHER
Alas! no, you're wrong! My friend's hand,
even if it were destined for no one in particular,
would, bound by her father's will,
still be lost to me.

"It must be a Mastersinger:
only the man you crown may she woo!"
Thus he spoke solemnly to the gentlemen,
and can't turn back, even if he wanted to!
That's what gave me courage;
though everything seemed strange to me
I sang full of love and ardour
that I might win the rank of Master.
But these Masters!

Ha, these Masters!
The gluey, sticky nature
of these rhyming laws!
My gall rises,
my heart stands still,
when I think of the trap
into which I was lured!
Away to freedom!
That's where I belong -
where I'm Master in the house!
If I'm to woo you today,
I beseech you now,
come, and follow me away from here!
There's nothing to hope for,
there's no choice!
Everywhere Masters I see
like evil spirits,
ganging up
to mock me:
with their guilds,
from Marker's boxes,
from every corner,
in every spot
I see nothing but Masters
crowding together,
with scornful nods
gazing insolently at you,
surrounding you
in circles and rings,
nasally and shrilly
demanding you as their bride,
as Master's mistress
in the Singer's Chair
lifting you trembling and quaking
up on high!
Should I suffer this, should I not dare
doughtily to join in the fight?
(The loud sound of a
night-watchman's horn is heard)
(Walther claps his hand
to his sword and stares

wildly before him)

Ha!

(Eva takes him soothingly by the hand)

EVA
Beloved, spare your anger!
It was only the night-watchman's horn.
Beneath the lime-tree
hide yourself quickly:
the watchman is coming.

MAGDALENA
(at the door, softly)
Eva! It's time! Take your leave!

WALTHER
You'll flee?

EVA

Shouldn't I?

WALTHER
Escape?

EVA

From the Masters' court.
(She disappears with Magdalena into the house)

THE WATCHMAN
(has meanwhile appeared in the alley.
He comes forward singing,
turns the corner of Pogner's house,
and goes off)
Hear, people, what I say,
the clock has struck ten;
guard your fire and also your light
so that no one comes to harm!
Praise God the Lord!

SACHS
(who has listened to the
foregoing from behind his shop door,
now opens it a little wider,
having shaded his lamp)
Wicked goings-on, I see:
an elopement afoot, indeed!
Watch out: that must not be!

WALTHER
(behind the lime-tree)
Will she not return? Oh what torment!
(Eva turns from the house
in Magdalena's dress)

But yes! Is that her? Woe is me, no!
(Eva sees Walther
and hurries towards him)
It's the older one! But it... yes!

EVA
The foolish child: you've got her, there she is!
(She runs happily into his arms)

WALTHER

O heavens! Yes, now I surely know
that I've won the Master-prize.

EVA
But no time for thought now!
Away, away from here!
Oh, if only we were already far away!

WALTHER
This way, through the alley: there
beyond the gate we'll find
servant and horses.

(As they turn towards the alley Sachs places his lamp behind a glass bowl and sends a bright stream of light through the new wide-open door across the street, so that Eva and Walther suddenly find themselves illuminated)

EVA
(hastily pulling Walther back)
Oh dear, the cobbler! If he were to see us!
Hide! Don't go near him!

WALTHER
What other way will lead us hence?

EVA
Through the street there: but it's winding
and I don't know it well; and we would meet
the watchman there.

WALTHER
Well then, through the alley!

EVA
Not till the cobbler leaves his window.

WALTHER
I'll make him leave it.

EVA
Don't show yourself to him: he knows you!

WALTHER
The cobbler?

EVA
It's Sachs!

WALTHER
Hans Sachs? My friend?

EVA
Don't belive it!
Ho could only speak ill of you.

SCENE SIX

WALTHER
What, Sachs? Him too? I'll put out his light!

(Beckmesser has slunk up the alley, some distance behind the watchman, peered up at Pogner's windows and now, leaning against Sachs's house, begins to tune the lute he has brought with him)

EVA
Don't do it! But listen!

WALTHER
The sound of a lute?

EVA
Ah, what trouble!

(On hearing the first sounds of the lute, Sachs has, as if struck by a new idea, withdrawn his light and gently opened the lower half of his shop-door)

WALTHER
What, are you afraid?
The cobbler... look, he's taken in the light:
let's risk it!

EVA
Alas! Don't you see?
Someone else has come and taken up this position.

WALTHER
I hear and see - a musician.
What does he want here so late at night?

EVA

It's Beckmesser here already!

SACHS
(has placed his work-bench
on the threshold. He now hears
Eva's exclamation)
Aha! I thought so!
(He quietly settles down to work)

WALTHER
The marker? Him? In my power?
At him! I'll knock that good-for-nothing cold!

EVA
For God's sake! Will you wake my father?
He'll sing a song and then he'll go.
Let's hide there, in the bushes.
What trouble I have with men!
(She draws Walther behind the bushes
which surround the bench under the lime-tree)

(Beckmesser impatiently tinkles on his lute, waiting for the window to open. As he is about to begin his song Sachs turns his light full on the street again and begins to hammer loudly on his last)

SACHS
Jerum! Jerum!

Hallo allohe!
Oho! Tralalei! Ohe!

BECKMESSER
(jumps up angrily from the stone bench
and sees Sachs at work)
What's all this
damned yelling?

SACHS
When Eva was driven from Paradise
by God the Lord,
the hard gravel caused pain
to her bare foot.

BECKMESSER
What's the boorish cobbler thinking of?

SACHS
The Lord took pity,
he liked her little foot
and he called to his angel:
Make shoes for the poor sinner!...

WALTHER
(whispering to Eva)
What's this song? How come he names you?

EVA
I've heard it before: it's not about me.
But there's mischief behind it.

SACHS
... and as Adam, as I see,
bangs his toe against the stones -
so that in future
he can walk properly:
measure him for boots as well!

WALTHER
What a delay! Time is passing!

BECKMESSER
(to Sachs)
What, Master? Up? So late at night?

SACHS
Mister town clerk! What, you're keeping watch?
The shoes are causing you much worry?
You see, I'm at it; you'll have them tomorrow.
(He continues his work)

BECKMESSER

The devil take the shoes!

SACHS
Jerum!

BECKMESSER
I want some peace here!

SACHS
Hallo hallohe!
Oho! Tralalei! Ohe!
O Eva! Eva! wicked woman,
thou hast it on thy conscience
that, by reason of the feet of the human body
angel must now cobble!

WALTHER

Us or the Marker -
on whom is he playing tricks?

EVA
I'm afraid it's meant for all three of us.

Alas, what torment!
I fear some ill.

SACHS
When thou went in Paradise

WALTHER
My sweet angel, be of good cheer!

SACHS
there was no gravel:

EVA
The song is making me sad.

WALTHER
I scarcely hear it;
you are at my side:
what a lovely dream!

SACHS
because of thy recent misdeed
I now busy myself with awl and thread,
and because of Adam's wretched weakness
I sole shoes and apply pitch!

If I were not
a pure angel -
the devil could be a cobbler!
Je-...

BECKMESSER
(coming threateningly towards him)
Stop this minute!
Are you playing tricks on me?
Are you day
and night the same?

SACHS
If I sing here,
what's that to you?
The shoes must
be finished, eh?

BECKMESSER
Then shut yourself in
and keep quiet!

SACHS
To work at night
is irksome.
If I'm to
keep awake
I need air
and lively song;
so hear how the third

verse goes:

Jerum! Jerum!

BECKMESSER
He's driving me mad!

SACHS
Hallo hallohe!

BECKMESSER
What a hideous yelling!

SACHS
O ho! Tralalei! O he!

BECKMESSER
She'll end up by thinking it's me!

SACHS
O Eva, hear my lamentation,
my trouble and heavy vexation!
The works of art which a cobbler created,
the world treads underfoot!
If an angel did not bring comfort
who has drawn the lot of similar work
and did not often call me into Paradise,
how gladly I'd leave shoes and boots behind!
But when he has me in heaven
the world lies at my feet,
and I am at peace -
Hans Sachs, a shoemaker
and a poet too!
BECKMESSER
(Magdalena opens the window
and shows herself cautiously,
dressed in Eva's clothes)

The window is opening! Good heavens! It's her.

EVA

The song grieves me, I don't know why!
Away, let us flee!

WALTHER

All right then: with the sword!

EVA
No, no! Ah, stop!

WALTHER
(taking his hand from his sword)
He's scarcely worth it!

EVA
Yes, patience is better! Oh dearest man!
That I can cause you such distress!

BECKMESSER
Now I'm lost if he carries on singing!
(He goes to Sachs's shop-door
and during the following, with his
back turned to the alley, he strums
on the lute to attract the attention
of Magdalena and keep her at the window)
Friend Sachs! Hear just one word!

WALTHER

(to Eva)
Who's at the window?

EVA

It's Magdalena.

BECKMESSER
How keen you are about the shoes!
I had honestly forgotten them.
I certainly esteem you as a cobbler,
and as an artist I venerate you more highly still.

WALTHER
That serves him right. I can scarcely help laughing.

EVA
How I long for an end to this, and escape!

WALTHER
I wish he'd make a start.

(Walther and Eva from their bench now watch Sachs and Beckmesser with growing interest)

BECKMESSER
Your judgement, believe me, I value highly;
(Again, he repeatedly sturm on his lute,
anxiously turning towards the window)
so I beg you: listen to this little song
with which I would like to win tomorrow,
and say whether it seems all right to you.

SACHS
Ah! So you want to dupe me?
I don't want to be abused again.
Since the cobbler fancies himself as a poet,
things look bad for your footwear;
I can see how sloppy they are.
They flap everywhere:
so I'll now sensibly
leave verse and rhymes at home,
reason and wit and knowledge too,
and make your new shoes for tomorrow.

BECKMESSER

Let that be! That was only a joke;
better you should hear what's on my mind!
You are honoured by the people,
and Pogner's daughter esteems you:
if before everybody

I wish to woo her tomorrow,
say, might it not ruin me
if my song is not pleasing to her?
So listen to me quietly:
and when I've sung, you can tell me
what you like about it, and what you don't,
so that I may change it accordingly.

SACHS
Oh, leave me in peace!
Why should such honour come to me?
I've mainly written only street-songs;
so I'll sing to the street and hammer at my last.

Jerum! Jerum!
Hallo, hallohe!
Oho! Tralalei! Ohe!

BECKMESSER
Curse the fellow! I'm going out of my mind
with his song full of pitch and grease!
Shut up! Do you want to wake the neighbours?

SACHS
They're used to it: no one pays attention.
O Eva, Eva!...

BECKMESSER

Oh, you spiteful fellow!
You're playing your last trick on me today!
If you don't shut up at once
you'll pay for it, I swear to you.
(strumming angrily on his lute)
You're jealous, nothing else,
even if you think you're cleverer:
that others count for something too vexes you dreadfully;
belive me, I know you inside out!
That you weren't yet chosen as Marker -
that's what tormenting this embittered cobbler.
All right then! So long as Beckmesser lives,
and there's a rhyme still on his lips,
so long as I still count for something with the Masters,
whether or not Nuremberg blooms and flourishes,
I swear to Mister Hans Sachs
that he will never ever be appointed Marker!

SACHS
(who has listened
with grave attention)
Was that your song?

BECKMESSER
The devil take it!

SACHS
Few rules, it's true, but it rang out proudly!

BECKMESSER
Will you listen to me?

SACHS
In God's name.
sing:I'll be welting the soles.

BECKMESSER
But you'll be quiet?

SACHS
Oh, sing away,
you'll see, it will advance my work too.
(He hammers away on his last)

BECKMESSER
But won't you stop that damned knocking?

SACHS
How should I fix your soles properly?

BECKMESSER
What, you want to hammer, and I'm to sing?

SACHS
You must finish the song, and I the shoe.

BECKMESSER
I don't want any shoes!

SACHS
You say that now,
in the song-school you'll hold it against me again.
But listen! Perhaps we can come to an arrangement:
Man gets on best in consort.
Though I may not put aside my work
I should like to learn the Marker's art:
you have no equal in it;
I'll never learn it if not from you.
So if you sing, I'll note and mark,
and further my work at the same time.

BECKMESSER
Mark away then; and what went wrong,

take your chalk and set it against me.

SACHS
No, sir! The shoes would make up no progress:
with the hammer on the last I'll judge you.

BECKMESSER
Damned malice! God, it's getting late:
the maid will end up by leaving the window!
(He strums zealously)

SACHS
Begin! Hurry up! Or I'll sing to myself!

BECKMESSER
Stop! anything but that (The devil, how provoking!)
If you want to make bold as Marker,
very well, mark with the hammer on the last:
with one condition; keep strictly to the rules;
mark nothing which is according to the rules.

SACHS
According to the rules, as known to the cobbler,
whose fingers are itching to get down to work.

BECKMESSER
Master's honour?

SACHS
And cobbler's humour!

BECKMESSER
Not one mistake: smooth and good!

SACHS
Then you'd go barefoot tomorrow.

(The watchman's horn-call in the distance)

WALTHER
(softly to Eva)
What a crazy business! It's like a dream:
I scarcely seem to have left the Song-chair

SACHS
Sit down here, then!

BECKMESSER
(moving to the corner
of the house)
Let me stand here.

SACHS
Why so far off?

BECKMESSER
In order not to see you,
as in the School custom before the Marker's box.

EVA
(leaning on Walther's breast)
My brow is troubled, as if by some mad delusion:
is it good or evil that I sense?

SACHS
I shan't hear you well there.

BECKMESSER
The volume of my voice
I can very charmingly modulate.

(He places himself at the corner,
facing the window, re-tunes
his lute)

SACHS
(That's fine!) - All right then! Begin!

(Beckmesser plays a short prelude)

BECKMESSER
"The day I see appear,
which pleases me well;
(Sachs knocks;
Beckmesser shivers)
then my heart takes to itself a...
(he starts violently, but continues)
...good and fresh..."
(Sachs knocks once more.
Beckmesser looks
round the corner)
Are you joking?
What was wrong?

SACHS
Better to sing:
"then my heart
takes to itself a good, fresh..."

BECKMESSER
How's that to rhyme
with "I see appear"?

SACHS
Don't you care about the melody?
Methinks tone and word should fit.

BECKMESSER
Who would quarrel with you? Leave the banging
or you'll have cause to remember me!

SACHS
Now continue!

BECKMESSER
I'm quite confused!

SACHS
Then begin again:
I can now rest for three taps.

BECKMESSER
(aside)
I'd best pay no attention to him:
if only it doesn't confuse the maiden!
"The day I see appear,
which pleases me well;
then my heart takes to itself a
good and fresh courage.
I don't think of dying
but rather of wooing
for a young maiden's hand.
Why of all days
the most beautiful should this one be?

To all here I say it:
because a beautiful maiden
by her dear father
as vowed he has
is destined for matrimony.

Come and see
standing there,
the good, dear young lady,
on whom I set all my hope:
that is why the day is so beautifully blue,
as I at the beginning found."

Sachs! Look! You're ruining me!
Won't you be silent now?

SACHS
Indeed I'm dumb!
I was marking the faults: then we'll talk;
meanwhile the soles are coming on.

BECKMESSER
(seeing that Magdalena is about
to leave the window)
Is she going? Pst, pst! Oh God! I must!
(shaking his fist at Sachs
round the corner)
Sachs! I'll remember you for this vexation!

SACHS
(already lifting his hammer for a knock on the last)
Marker in position!
Continue!

BECKMESSER
(even louder and more hurriedly)
"Today my heart will jump for joy
to woo a young lady,
but her father tied
a condition to it
for him who will inherit him
and also woo
his fine little child.
A worthy Master of the Guild,
he loves his daughter well,
but at the same time he shows
what store he sets by Art:
he must win the prize
in the Master-singing
who will his son-in-law be.

Now Art is needed
so that, by your leave,
and without all harmful, common deception,
the winning of the prize may succeed to him
who desires with true ardour...
(Sachs who, shaking his head,

gives up the marking of the faults
one by one, continues his hammering
and knocks out the key of the last)
...the maiden to woo"

SACHS
(leaning out over the shop-door)
Have you finished yet?

BECKMESSER
(in great trepidation)
Why do you ask?

SACHS
(triumphantly holding out the shoes)
I've quite finished the shoes.

I'd call them real Marker's shoes:
hear my Marker's verse too!

With long and short strokes
it is written upon the soles:
read it clearly there
and perceive it
and note it for ever more.
A good song needs rhythm;
whoever distorts it,
be it the clerk with his pen,
the cobbler will hammer it on the leather.
Now run away in peace,
you have good shoes;
your foot won't crack them:
the soles will keep it in step!

BECKMESSER
(who has retired into the alley
again and leaned againt the wall,
continues to sing, shouting
breathlessly with violent efforts
to drown out Sachs's voice)

"I may call myself a master,
I'll gladly prove it today,
because I must burn to have the prize,
and thirst and hunger.
Now I call the nine Muses
that they may inspire
my poetic mind.
I well know all the rules,
keep good time and count;
but leaps and superfluities

may sometimes occur
when the head, quite full of hesitation,
makes bold to woo
for a young maiden's hand.
(He stops for breath)
A bachelor,
I brought my skin,
my honour, office, dignity and livelihood here
so that my singing may please you well
and the young maiden may choose me
if she found my song good."

NEIGHBOURS
(first a few, then more, opening
their windows in the alley during
Beckmesser's song and peeping out)
Who's that yelling? Who's screeching so loud?
Is that allowed so late at night?
Let's have some peace here! It's bed-time!
My, just listen to that ass braying!
You there! Be quiet, and be off with you!
Yell and screech somewhere else!

DAVID
(who has opened his
shutter close to Beckmesser,
looking out)
(He perceives Magdalena)
Who the devil's here? And over there of all places?
It's Lena - I can see it clearly!
Goodness! It's the man she's made a date with;
that's the man she prefers to me!
Just wait! You're in for it! I'll tan your hide!
(He withdraws and goes inside)

(David has armed himself with a cudgel and returned to the window, springing out and throwing himself upon Beckmesser)

DAVID
The devil take you, damned churl!

(Sachs who, for a while, has watched the growing tumult, extinguishes his light and sets his door ajar so that, remaining unseen himself, he can still watch the place under the lime-tree. Walther and Eva observe the riot with increasing anxiety; he has put his cloak around her and hides close to the lime-tree in the bushes so that both are nearly invisible)

SCENE SEVEN

MAGDALENA
(crying aloud, at the window)
Ah heavens! David! O God, what a mess!
Help. help! They'll kill each other!

BECKMESSER
Accursed boy! Let me go!

DAVID
Of course! I'll break your bones for you!

(Beckmesser and David continue to struggle and fight.)

NEIGHBOURS
Look! Join in! They're throttling each other!
Ho there! This way! There's a fight!
You there! Let go! Clear the way!
If you don't stop, we'll join in!

A NEIGHBOUR
Ah look! You're here too? What's that to you?

SECOND ONE
What do you want here? What's that to you?

FIRST NEIGHBOUR
We know you sort.

SECOND NEIGHBOUR
And yours even better.

FIRST NEIGHBOUR
What d'you mean?

SECOND NEIGHBOUR

Just that!

SOMEONE
It's the cobblers!

SOMEONE ELSE
No, it's the tailors!

THE FIRST GROUP
The drunkards!

THE SECOND GROUP
The starvelings!

NEIGHBOURS

Ass! stupid oaf!
I've owed you this for a long time!
Are you afraid?
Take that for your pains!
Look out when I strike!
Has your wife egged you on?
Watch out for the blows.
Haven't you learned your lesson?
Well hit back! Got him!
Take that, scoundrel!
Wait you rascals!
Swindlers!

Stupid fellow!
Get off home!
Clear off!
Shut up!

APPRENTICES

Don't we know those locksmiths?
They're sure to have started it!
I think it'll have been the smiths.
No, it's the locksmiths, I bet!
I know those joiners!
I'm sure it's the butchers!
Hey! Look at the coopers joining in the dance.
I can see the barbers over there.
Come along! Now there'll be dancing!
On and on! There's great scuffle going on!
Grocers turn up
with barley sugar and candy sticks,
with pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg,
they smell lovely,
but they disgust us.
they smell lovely,
and stay out of harm's way.
Just look, that creature's
got his nose into everything.
Do you mean me?
Do I mean you?
There's more of them coming! Now it's really getting underway!
Hey, off they go! Biff!
Did you see that?
Take that on your nose!
Ha, off they go: Crack!
It makes a mark where it falls;
nothing will grow there for a while!

JOURNEYMEN
(arriving from all sides,
armed with coudgels)
Come on, journeymen, at 'em!
There's quarrelling and fighting going on.
There's bound to be more fighting.
Journeymen, be in it!
If there's a fight we'll be there too!
It's the weavers! It's the tanners!
Cheapjecks!
I thought so:
they're always playing tricks!
Thump them well!
Give it to them properly!
The fight gets fiercer and fiercer!

I can see Klaus
the butcher there!
Tomorrow's the fifth.
Many have it too hot at home!
Come here!
Hey! See how the cudgels fly!
Tailors with their irons!
Come on guilds!
Soon it will be fifth!
Go to it smartly,
we're pitching in!
You there! Clear off!
We're right there!
Are you trying to bar our way?
Get out of the way, we're pitching in!
You clear off yourselves!
Girdlers!
Tinsmiths!
Glueboilers!
Pewterers!
Candlemakers!
Clear off yourselves!
We're right there!
Don't budge!
Beat them!
Don't give in!
Cloth-cutters!
Flax weavers!
Beat them!

THE MASTERS

What's all this quarrelling and brawling?
It's raging far and wide!
Calm down and clear off at once, all of you!
Or it'll hail thunder-blows!
Clear off and go home!
Hey, there'll be the devil to pay, it'll hail thunder-blows
if you don't all clear off home!

(The women have opened the windows and are peeping out)

WOMEN
What's all this brawling and quarrelling?
Hi! You there, go away!
If only father weren't in it!
Ah, how dreadful! Oh my, just look here!
Shrieking, fighting! It's enough to frighten anyone properly!
Hi! You down there,
do be sensible!
Are you then all at once

ready for quarrelling and brawling?
My! That's
my husband fighting!
Do my eyes deceive me?
Are you all mad?
Are your heads heavy with wine?
Help! Father! Father!
Ah, they'll club him to death!
Peter, just listen!
God, what a hell of a mess!
Nobody can hear himself speak!
Heads and pigtails
are bobbing about all over!
What a row!
What a noise!
Just listen!
Come on, bring some water!
Pour it on their heads!
Come on, cry for help:
murder, come here!
Come on, cry for help more loudly:
murder, come here!

MAGDALENA

Just listen, David!
Do let then man go,
he's done nothing to me!
Ah! How dreadful!

Ah! How dreadful!
My! David! He is mad!
David, listen!
It's Master Beckmesser!

POGNER
(coming to the window
in his nightgrown)
For heaven's sake! Eva! Close the window!
I'll see if all is quiet downstairs.

(He pulls Magdalena in and closes the window)

WALTHER
(who has been hiding with Eva
behind the bushes, now clasps her
with his left arm and with hir right hand
draws his sword)
Now we must be bold
and fight our way through!

(Brandishing his sword, Walther forces a way to the middle of the stage, in order to clear a path for Eva and himself through the alley, Sachs rushes with one bound out of his shop and grasps Walther's arm)

(Loud call from the Nightwatchman's horn. The crowd disappears in all directions, and in a moment the street becomes totally deserted)

POGNER
(on the steps)
He! Lena, where are you?

SACHS
(pushing the half-fainting
Eva up the steps)
Get indoors, Mistress Lena!

(Pogner catches Eva and pulls her into the house. Sachs, still brandishing his knee-strap, now belts David one and after kicking him into the shop, drags Walther, whom he still holds firmly by his other hand, indoors with him, closing and barring the door behind them. Beckmesser, released from David's attentions by Sachs, seeks hasty flight through the crowd.)

(When the street and the alley are empty and all houses are closed, the watchman re-enters. He rubs his eyes, stares about him in surprise, and shakes his head)

THE WATCHMAN
Hear, people, what I say:
the clock has struck eleven,
beware of ghosts and spooks,
that no evil spirit ensnare your soul!
Praise God, the Lord!

(The full moon comes out and brightly illumines the new peaceful alley. The watchman walks slowly up the alley.)

Contents: Roles; Act One; Act Two; Act Three