Act 2 of Wagner's opera
• DIE MEISTERSINGER VON
NURNBERG' from the Festspielhaus,
Salzburg
The Vienna
Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor, ARTURO TOSCANINI
The first act has witnessed the rejection of Walther as a candidate for admission to the Guild of the Mastersingers. The second act is a street in Nuremberg. The apprentices are putting up the shutters of the shops. Eva enters accompanied by her father. He leaves her and Eva's nurse enters and tells her of Walther's ill-success. Sachs now appears at the door of his shop and sings musingly of the events of the day. Eva comes across to him and urges him to compete for the prize next day. Sachs, deeply in love with Eva himself, but realising his chances are hopeless, assumes an anger he is far from feeling, and Eva leaves him in a huff.
The ensuing scene between
Walther and Eva is interrupted by the entrance of Beckmesser, the most pedantic of the Mastersingers, who has come to serenade Eva. The noises he makes rouse the neighbours and result in a clamour that ends almost in a riot. It ends as suddenly as it began, on the approach of the night watchman, who, from the now silent streets, calls the hour and departs.