Meistersinger

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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).

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