Meistersinger (Mastersingers). Middle-class Ger. literary and mus. movement of 15th and 16th cents. cultivated by craftsmen's guilds and representing continuation of aristocratic Minnesinger of preceding 2 centuries. Movement declined in 17th cent., the Ulm school being disbanded in 1839 and its last survivor dying in 1876. The conduct of a mastersingers’ guild was very much as depicted by Wagner in his opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. Rigid and pedantic rules governed the weekly meetings (after church on Sunday); competitions were held and prizes awarded; members were promoted into various classes: Schüler (apprentice), Schulfreund (friend), Sänger (singer), Dichter (poet), Meister (master). Title Dichter was awarded for new poem (Lied, Gesang), Meister for new melody (Ton, Weise). Several of the characters in Wagner's opera were historical personages, e.g. Konrad Nachtigall and especially Hans Sachs (1494–1576). Some attractive songs by Sachs survive, but generally Meistersinger melodies are dull and suffer from a surfeit of coloratura.

Meistersinger German poet-musicians of the 15th–16th centuries. They formed guilds, which held competitions and awarded prizes. Generally, the songs were religious and followed strict conventions. Some guilds continued into the 18th century. Richard Wagner immortalized a meistersinger, the cobbler Hans Sachs (1494–1576), in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1868).

Meistersinger a member of one of the guilds of German lyric poets and musicians which flourished from the 12th to 17th century. Their technique was elaborate and they were subject to rigid regulations, as depicted in Wagner's opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1868).