Tannhäuser

In medieval Germany, the knight and minstrel Tannhäuser has stumbled into a world of pagan pleasure—a realm of unbridled sensuality, where the goddess Venus reigns. But his soul yearns for the Christian world above, where his gifts as a singer bring him a welcome from the Landgrave of Thuringia, and the love of the lady Elisabeth. His victory in the forthcoming song contest at the Landgrave’s castle seems assured. But, knowing passion as he does, how can he sing chaste songs of courtly love? Wagner was fascinated by the struggle between a visionary artist and a society that isn’t ready for his message, and there were some who found 1845’s Tannhäuser scandalous. They hadn’t heard the half of it: when, in 1861, Wagner revised Tannhäuser for the Paris Opera he added a “Venusberg” ballet containing some of the most erotic music of the 19th century. But in either form, Tannhäuser is both an allegory of art and society, and an exuberant pageant of love, sin and forgiveness, filled with stirring choruses (such as the “Pilgrims’ Chorus”, which also appears in the Overture—a popular concert showpiece) and showstopping arias such as Elizabeth’s “Dich, teure halle”, and “O du, mein holder Abendstern”— sung by Wolfram von Eschenbach, one of the many historical characters whom Wagner wove into this most colourful of his early operas.