Hans Sachs
Hans Sachs was a prominent figure in the German Renaissance, renowned as both a master singer and a playwright. Born and died in Nuremberg, he began his career as a shoemaker before becoming a wandering troubadour, which was highly esteemed during his time. Sachs emerged as a master singer in 1520 and later led a school for master singers in Munich, significantly influencing the arts in his era. Over his prolific career, he produced a vast body of work, including over 4,000 songs, 2,000 verse tales, and 208 plays, many of which are celebrated as exemplary Fastnachtsspiel, a form of humorous play. His writing not only entertained but also engaged with contemporary issues, notably through works like "The Wittenberg Nightingale," which supported Martin Luther and the Reformation. Despite the challenges of the Reformation era, which left little room for light-hearted entertainment, Sachs's contributions helped sustain German theater during a turbulent period. His legacy endures, partly due to his influence on later artists, including composer Richard Wagner, who featured him as a character in his opera "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg."
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Subject Terms
Hans Sachs
German playwright, poet, and composer
- Born: November 5, 1494
- Birthplace: Nuremberg (now in Germany)
- Died: January 19, 1576
- Place of death: Nuremberg (now in Germany)
Biography
Lovers of composer Richard Wagner will recognize Hans Sachs (saks), the greatest master singer of his time, as one of the principal characters in the opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1862; The Master-Singers of Nuremberg, 1892). Surprisingly, Sachs’s continuing fame does not rest on his songs and poems but on his 208 dramas, which helped keep the German theater alive in the sixteenth century.
Sachs was born and died in Nuremberg, a contemporary and disciple of Martin Luther. He apprenticed as a shoemaker and became a master cobbler about 1518, but he forsook his craft to become a wandering troubadour, the highest calling in a day when the arts were revered. Sachs became a master singer in 1520 and went on to conduct a school for master singers in Munich. He became leader of the Nürnberg singers in 1554. During about fifty years of composing, he is said to have produced more than four thousand songs, two thousand tales in verse, and 208 plays. His plays are considered the finest examples of the Fastnachtsspiel, the humorous plays for Shrovetide, a form paralleling the development of drama in England at the same time. Germany was torn by strife over the Reformation, however, and consequently had little patience with delightful trifles. When Sachs wrote The Wittenberg Nightingale to honor Luther, its immediate popularity rapidly advanced the cause of the Reformation.
The enthusiasm with which Sachs wrote, the advantageous times in which he lived, and the care with which his works were preserved all contribute to the information that is available about this man and his work. Wagner in The Master-Singers of Nuremberg was justly paying tribute to one of the great creators who had preceded him.
Bibliography
Aylett, Robert, and Peter Skrine, eds. Hans Sachs and Folk Theatre in the Late Middle Ages: Studies in the History of Popular Culture. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 1995. A study of Sachs and the popular theater of Germany that contains information on the staging of his works. Provides the most complete examination of both the stage history and critical analysis of the Fastnachtsspiel.
Beare, Mary, ed. Hans Sachs: Selections. Durham: University of Durham, 1983. The preface and introduction to this collection of poetic works by Sachs provide details of Sachs’s life and critical analysis of his works. Bibliography.
Bernstein, Eckhard. “Hans Sachs.” In German Writers of the Renaissance and Reformation, 1280-1580, edited by James Hardin and Max Reinhart. Vol. 179 in Dictionary of Literary Biography. Detroit: Gale Research, 1997. A detailed overview.