Editing Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (section)

===Act 1===
Prelude

''Scene 1: Interior of [[Katharinenkirche, Nuremberg|Katharinenkirche]] (St. Catherine's Church){{efn|1=St Catherine's was destroyed in 1945 during World War II.{{sfn|Lee|2014}}}} in Nuremberg, [[Saint John's Eve]] or [[Midsummer]]'s Eve, June 23''

After the prelude, a church service is just ending with a singing of ''Da zu dir der Heiland kam'' (When the [[Jesus|Saviour]] came to [[John the Baptist|thee]]), an impressive [[pastiche]] of a [[Lutheran chorale]], as Walther von Stolzing, a [[Junker|young knight]] from [[Franconia]], addresses Eva Pogner, whom he had met earlier, and asks her if she is engaged to anyone. Eva and Walther have fallen in love at first sight, but she informs him that her father, the goldsmith and mastersinger Veit Pogner, has arranged to give her hand in marriage to the winner of the guild's song contest on Saint John's Day ([[Midsummer|Midsummer's Day]]), tomorrow. Eva's maid, Magdalena, gets David, Hans Sachs's apprentice, to tell Walther about the mastersingers' art. The hope is for Walther to qualify as a mastersinger during the guild meeting, traditionally held in the church after Mass, and thus earn a place in the song contest despite his utter ignorance of the master-guild's rules and conventions.

''Scene 2''

As the other apprentices set up the church for the meeting, David warns Walther that it is not easy to become a mastersinger; it takes many years of learning and practice. David gives a confusing lecture on the mastersingers' rules for composing and singing. (Many of the tunes he describes were real master-tunes from the period.) Walther is confused by the complicated rules, but is determined to try for a place in the guild anyway.

''Scene 3''

The first mastersingers file into the church, including Eva's wealthy father Veit Pogner and the town clerk Beckmesser. Beckmesser, a clever technical singer who was expecting to win the contest without opposition, is distressed to see that Walther is Pogner's guest and intends to enter the contest. Meanwhile, Pogner introduces Walther to the other mastersingers as they arrive. Fritz Kothner the baker, serving as chairman of this meeting, calls the roll. Pogner, addressing the assembly, announces his offer of his daughter's hand for the winner of the song contest. When Hans Sachs argues that Eva ought to have a say in the matter, Pogner agrees that Eva may refuse the winner of the contest, but she must still marry a mastersinger. Another suggestion by Sachs, that the townspeople, rather than the masters, should be called upon to judge the winner of the contest, is rejected by the other masters. Pogner formally introduces Walther as a candidate for admission into the master guild. Questioned by Kothner about his background, Walther states that his teacher in poetry was [[Walther von der Vogelweide]] whose works he studied in his own private library in Franconia, and his teachers in music were the birds and nature itself. Reluctantly the masters agree to admit him, provided he can perform a master-song of his own composition. Walther chooses love as the topic for his song and therefore is to be judged by Beckmesser alone, the "Marker" of the guild for [[Profanum|worldly]] matters.  At the signal to begin (''Fanget an!''), Walther launches into a novel free-form tune (''So rief der Lenz in den Wald''), breaking all the mastersingers' rules, and his song is constantly interrupted by the scratch of Beckmesser's chalk on his [[chalkboard]], maliciously noting one violation after another. When Beckmesser has completely covered the slate with symbols of Walther's errors, he interrupts the song and argues that there is no point in finishing it. Sachs tries to convince the masters to let Walther continue, but Beckmesser sarcastically tells Sachs to stop trying to set policy and instead, to finish making his (Beckmesser's) new shoes, which are overdue. Raising his voice over the masters' argument, Walther finishes his song, but the masters reject him and he rushes out of the church.