A controversial 1956 production of this opera featured a giant ball of leaves and flowers hanging over the characters’ heads. Three themes from this opera are combined after the climactic fugato of its densely contrapuntal C-major prelude. The original name of this opera’s antagonist was one letter off from that of a critic with whom its composer feuded. That antagonist’s attempts to serenade his love interest are repeatedly interrupted by another character’s hammering, leading to a riot lamented in this opera’s aria “Wahn! Wahn! Überall Wahn!” (“vahn! vahn! EW-bur-all VAHN!”) In this opera, which usually lasts over four-and-a-half hours, the protagonist sings a “prize song” better than Sixtus Beckmesser does, and is helped by the cobbler Hans Sachs in gaining admission to the title guild. For 10 points, Wagner’s only mature comedy is what opera set in Nuremberg? ■END■
ANSWER: Die Meister·singer von Nürnberg [or The Master-Singers of Nuremberg] (The 1956 production was Wieland Wagner’s Bayreuth production, meant to excise his grandfather’s politics. Beckmesser’s last name was originally “Hanslich” after the critic Eduard Hanslick.)
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