The pompous old town clerk Sixtus Beckmesser has arrived in the cobbler's shop in a huff. He suspects the cobbler, a widower named Hans Sachs, of trying to sabotage him: first by interrupting his pursuit of the local beauty Eva and then by selling him shoes so thin that he could feel every rock and pebble beneath them.

And now, this: He finds the sheet music for a love song in Hans Sachs's shop. Could Hans Sachs be attempting to woo Eva too? Sixtus Beckmesser has a mind to call him out.

"Oh, Schuster voll von Ränken und pöbelhaften Schwänken! Oh cobbler, full of tricks and vulgar pranks," he cries in this aria. "You have always been my enemy. But now hear that I see you clearly! The girl that I have chosen, who was born just for me, is the shame of all widowers. This is the maid you're stalking!"

Sixtus goes on to accuse Hans Sachs of trying to marry Eva for her money: She is the goldsmith's daughter, after all. But in his fury, Sixtus has made a mistake. The love song is indeed meant for Eva — but it wasn't written by Hans Sachs. Sixtus's real competition, rather, is someone else entirely. And that person is about to teach Sixtus a lesson in art — and love.

Martin Gantner stars as Sixtus Beckmesser in Richard Wagner's "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg," streaming for free the weekend of August 7, 2021: sfopera.com/streaming

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