Hans Sachs (1494-1576), a shoemaker from Nuremberg, learned the art of the Meistersinger [master singers and songwriters] during his travels as a journeyman and became one of the most famous master singers in Germany. He wrote more than 4,000 songs, the best known of which, the Silberweise [Silver Melody], can be heard here. The Meistersinger were bourgeois poets and singers organized in a guild and regularly gathered for performances. Their songs were based on the tradition of medieval minnesong and followed strictly defined rules. To earn the title “master,” a singer-poet had to invent a new melody and perform it flawlessly. Augsburg, Strasbourg, and Frankfurt am Main also emerged as early modern centers of the Meistersinger. Richard Wagner created a musical tribute to the Meistersinger with his opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in 1868.