EMI Classics’ Opera On DVD series proudly adds to the catalog this stunning production by Nikolaus Lehnhoff of Wagner’s masterpiece from the Zurich Opera conducted by Franz Welser-Most. This performance features a superb cast including Jose Van Dan, Matti Salminen, and Peter Seiffert, and received much critical acclaim following the opening. Since its premiere in 1868, Wagner’s Meistersinger has been one of the most performed operas ever. It was adopted as Germany’s “Nationaloper,†given its historical significance with the unification of Germany under Bismark in 1871. Meistersinger is a wonderful romantic comedy – and the only work of Wagner’s whose characters are not artificial heroes, gods, and dwarves, but real human beings – Wagner called it his most perfect masterpiece.
