Wagenseil, Johann Christoph

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Wagenseil, Johann Christoph

Wagenseil, Johann Christoph, German scholar; b. Nuremberg, Nov. 26,1633; d. Altdorf, Oct. 9,1708. He traveled throughout Europe in the capacity of a Hofmeister (traveling companion to young patricians). He was made prof, of public and canon law, history, and oriental languages at the Civic Univ. of Nuremberg in Altdorf in 1649, where he later served as rector, dean of law, and librarian; he received a doctor of laws degree from the Univ. of Orléans. He publ. an important book, De Sacri Rom. Imperii Libera Civitate Noribergensi Com-mentatio (Altdorf, 1697), with a 140-page supplement (in German), Buch von der Meister-Singer holdseligen Kunst: Anfang, Fortübung, Nutzbarkeiten und Lehr-Sätz,containing poems and melodies by Frauenlob, Mügling, Marner, and Regenbogen; this section was the main literary source that Wagner used in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.

—NS/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire