Art and Commerce and Unity

When Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg was first performed in 1868, the reality of a unified German state was still three years away; yet Wagner’s impassioned case for the importance of a national art – that is, an artistic lineage in which a unified nation might take some pride – was arguably more concerned with universal poetics than current events. Although it is almost impossible for a modern audience not to view the opera through the lens of twentieth century history, Meistersinger’s appeal to a higher aesthetic principle has also allowed it to transcend the associations that have gathered around it. It is not a work of nationalist art, or political art, or ‘holy German art’ … it is simply a work of art. And like the best works of art, it continues to reflect the times even after the times have changed. Thus, nearly a century and a…