Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg by Richard Wagner San Francisco Opera 31 October 1993 (matinee) At the conclusion of this five-hour Meistersinger, the man sitting at Barbara's left was sobbing openly, his face wet with tears as art (in the person of Hans Sachs) triumphed once again. I was close to joining him. This was another compelling Wagner performance, rich and deep and fully satisfying. As I now find characteristic in Wagner, the power of this piece came from the combination of orchestration, singing, characterization and story line. None in itself was even nearly as compelling as the combination of the whole. One is left, in the end, not with a memory of well sung arias or convincing moments, but with an enveloping sense of having experienced something, having lived through something with Wagner and the performers. The experience lingers far beyond the opera house, lasting and significant beyond most of what we encounter in the theater. Ben Heppner's Walther was powerfully sung in a big clear ringing voice and Karita Mattila's Eva was warm and rich, her singing improving and opening up as the opera progressed. Dominating, not by force of his voice but overall presence, was Bernd Weikl's Sachs. He sang smoothly and effortlessly and brought very strong stage presence to the part. He was very warmly received by the enthusiastic audience for his efforts. I also enjoyed the refreshingly lyrical voice of Jan-Hendrick Rootering as Viet Pogner, the clean youthful tome of Lars Magnusson as David the apprentice; and the well-acted and sung villian of Robert Orth's Sixtus Beckmesser. Cathleen Keen was a lively and likeable Magdalene. The ensemble singing in Scene 1, Act 3 (Hans' workshop) was especially moving, so many strong and interesting voices at work on the rich material. Donald Runnicles steered the orchestra through the long and perhaps demanding score well, but I was disappointed with their somewhat languid and disjointed playing of the beautiful overture. The ovations were long and enthusiastic. Heppner threw one of his boquets to the prompter in his box. We left the opera house emotionally drained, musically enriched.