where, embodied in the figure of Beckmesser, the _Merker_ becomes the type of the pedant who rates the letter higher than the spirit. As religion was foremost in men’s minds at that period, _Meistergesang_ dealt at first mainly with religious topics and turned out prosy biblical paraphrases with numerous historical and allegorical allusions. The versification followed closely the models of the _Minnegesang_, the structure of the masters’ strophes being almost identical with that of their aristocratic compatriots. Even the terms _Weise_ and _Ton_ used by the later Minnesingers to denote metre and melody, were adopted by the master singers. The song itself was in the form of a so-called _Bar_; its parts were _Gesätze_; each _Gesatz_ consisted of two _Stollen_ (strophe and anti-strophe) sung to the same melody; then followed a Stollen in the tune of the last Gesatz. The rules governing the composition of these songs were called _Tabulatur_. The verse-form or _Ton_ was given special names, such as the _lange Ton_ or _graue Ton_, or suggesting the contents, were called _Beerweis_, _Brunnenweis_, _Blutton_, _Lindenschmidtton_, or named after the authors, as _Regenbogenton_, _Schilherton_, etc. Frauenlob was held in such esteem by the greatest of the mastersingers, that Hans Sachs himself wrote some twenty-five songs or more in the _Frauenlobton_. Although the structure of these songs was hidebound in formal restrictions, the spirit reflected a sturdy sincerity which was in keeping with the racial temperament of the singers and not without charm. Few manuscripts of the Meistersingers contain the music of the songs, and their notation is not always reliable. They employed neumes, like the Minnesingers before them, but they limited themselves almost exclusively to semi-breves, reserving the minims only for the ornamental figures. These figures, called _Blumen_[81] (flowers, _fiorituri_) when inserted as an interlude or at the final cadence made a pleasing effect, in contrast to the even movement of the melody which, without any perceptible rhythmic division, was likely to be monotonous. Recent musical authorities, among them Riemann, incline to the opinion that the mastersingers’ melodies were far better than the reputation they enjoy. While some writers claim that they accompanied their songs on the harp, the violin, lute, or zither, others make no mention whatever of instrumental accompaniment, and Genée, in his book on Hans Sachs and his time, distinctly states that they were sung without accompaniment.[82]