Hans Sachs (1494-1576)

## About

Hans Sachs (1494-1576) was a German burgher, Meistersinger, poet, and dramatist who was born and died in Nuremberg. He was the son of a tailor and was apprenticed to a shoemaker in 1509 after studying at a Latin school. Sachs became a master cobbler in about 1519 and was one of the most prolific and versatile poets of the 16th century. He wrote over 4,000 master-sch. poems and nearly 2,000 narrative and dramatic poems. Sachs was outstanding for his popularity, output, and aesthetic and religious influence. Sachs was a Meistersinger, which was a type of singing based on elaborate rules, and to become a Meistersinger, one had to prove themselves in a contest. Sachs became a master in the Nürnberg Singschule in about 1520, conducted a school of meistersingers at Munich, and headed the Nürnberg group in 1554. Sachs was an active Meistersinger up to the 1560s, and he produced the greatest proportion of his carnival plays, some of which are still performed today, between 1550 and 1560. Sachs put his literary work in the service of the Reformation. He is idealized in Richard Wagner’s opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, which is partly a tribute to the common people, and Sachs was one of them. Sachs was immortalized by Wagner in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1862–7). Some of Sachs’s plays, such as Der farent Schüler im Paradeis (1550), were later adapted by J.W. von Goethe.

## Early Life and Education

Hans Sachs was born on November 5, 1494, in Nuremberg, Germany. His father was a tailor, and he himself was trained to the calling of a shoemaker. Sachs attended a Latin school in Nuremberg until he was fifteen years old. After that, he became a shoemaker's apprentice for two years, before completing his journeyman training by travelling around Bavaria and along the Rhine. During this period, he studied Meistergesang in the Singschulen, his principal teacher being the famous Conrad Paumann. Sachs married, had seven children, and eventually became a staunch supporter of the Reformation.

## Career

Hans Sachs (1494-1576) was a German Meistersinger, poet, playwright, and shoemaker. He was born in Nuremberg and attended a singing school as a child, which helped to develop his interest in poetry and music. Sachs became a master cobbler and meistersinger, and wrote over 4,000 master-sch. poems and nearly 2,000 plays. He is known for his aesthetic and religious influence, and is idealized in Richard Wagner's opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. Sachs was also a supporter of the Reformation. Sachs was an active Meistersinger up to the 1560s, and he produced the greatest proportion of his carnival plays, some of which are still performed today, between 1550 and 1560.

## Personal life

Hans Sachs was born in Nuremberg on November 5, 1494, to a tailor father. He attended a Latin school in Nuremberg and became a shoemaker's apprentice at the age of 1534. Sachs married Kunigunde Creutzer in 1519 and had seven children. After the death of his first wife in 1560, he married again in 1561. Sachs continued to write poetry and plays until 1573. He suffered the loss of his seven children and his wife, which caused him grief. Sachs remained a cobbler while pursuing his literary work.