Watch Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg from Glyndebourne

Watch Glyndebourne Festival Opera's production for free right here at 5.30pm on Tuesday, July 12 and available on demand for the following seven days.

David McVicar’s lavishly handsome “period’ production sets Wagner’s epic Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in a provincial German town in the early 19th century.

Deploying huge orchestral and choral forces for its six-hour duration, this ranks in many respects as the most ambitious project Glyndebourne has ever attempted. Highly acclaimed and an instant sell-out during this inaugural 2011 outing, it stars the great Canadian baritone Gerald Finley who gives a wonderfully sensitive and moving portrayal of the central role of the cobbler-poet Hans Sachs.

Gerald Finley plays the cobbler Hans Sachs
Gerald Finley plays the cobbler Hans Sachs Credit: Alastair Muir

The setting is the prosperous 16th-century town of Nuremberg (updated to 300 years later here, to reach the time of Wagner’s youth), where excited preparations are being made for the annual singer-songwriter competition, run by a strict guild of Mastersingers. One entrant, the aristocratic Walther, a young outsider with raw talent but no discipline, is obstinately reluctant to accept the rules of the game. However, under the mentorship of the rueful Hans Sachs, he buckles down and hones his song into something truly beautiful that brings him victory over the pompously pedantic town clerk Beckmesser and wins him the hand in marriage of his beloved Eva, daughter of the goldsmith Pogner.

Die Meistersinger at Glyndebourne
Die Meistersinger at Glyndebourne Credit: Alastair Muir

The story’s deeper theme is how art renews itself, creating originality out of tradition, with love as its inspiration. The genuine artist, who must always experience loneliness, will never find this easy - and the foolishness of those who run the world make things even more difficult.

Our next Glyndebourne stream will be Berlioz's Béatrice et Bénédict, live on Tuesday, 9 August. Further details will be on the Telegraph website nearer the time. 

Simon Callow: How my first experience of Die Meistersinger was like going to a Cup Final. 

How do I watch?

The broadcast will be available at telegraph.co.uk/glyndebourne until 11.59pm on Tuesday, July 19.

How do I turn up the volume?

There are two ways to increase the volume: the first is to turn up the volume on your computer.

The second is to turn up the volume on the video itself.

You can do this by clicking on the small speaker symbol found in the bottom right-hand corner of the video.

How do I make the video fill the entire screen?

Easy: you simply click on the double arrow symbol found in the bottom right-hand corner of the video.

We recommend you watch the opera in “full-screen mode”.

  • The Glyndebourne Festival continues until August 28. Details: 01273 815000; Glyndebourne.com
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