No other composer of his time stands for the creation of a total work of art like Richard Wagner. Wagner not only composed the music for his operas, but wrote his own librettos, designed and sketched the stage decorations as well as the equipment and clothes of the protagonists themselves. The main features in Wagnerian music are the use of guiding themes. These are often assigned to individual important figures or locations and are a musical theme in Wagner's operas. The Meistersinger were artisans of the urban bourgeoisie organized in singing schools in the late Middle Ages, sometimes with strong hierarchical structures, and subjected the art of singing and writing to rigid rules. The focus of Wagner's opera is a musical competition in which the battle is for nothing less than the hand of the rich goldsmith's daughter. (Edition Symphonic Works)