Richard Wagner’s opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg premiered in Munich on June 21, 1868. The town clerk Beckmesser holds the guild office of Merker, the marker. In the first act, the young knight Walther sings for admission to the guild. Beckmesser writes each of his faults on a slate with chalk, loudly. Because of the many faults, the masters decide that Walther has versungen, sung himself out. The real Hans Sachs, who lived from 1494 to 1576 and belonged to the Nuremberg guild, once proposed that the judgment of master-songs should not be left to the four markers alone. Several times a year, the audience should judge.