Tannhäuser << TAN hoy zuhr >> is an opera by the German composer Richard Wagner. He also wrote the libretto (text). The opera was inspired by the life of a German minnesinger (minstrel) of the 1200’s named Tannhäuser and the popular ballads written about him. Tannhäuser was first performed on Oct. 19, 1845, in Dresden, Germany. Wagner revised the opera frequently. Today, Tannhäuser is performed in the version first performed in Vienna, Austria, in 1875.
Tannhäuser is a tragic love story about the conflict between pure and worldly love. Tannhäuser is a knight who has been living with Venus, the goddess of love, in a magic grotto called Venusberg in the German mountains. The knight has tired of the pleasures of Venusberg and returns to Wartburg castle in Thuringia, a state in central Germany. There Elisabeth, the niece of the landgrave (ruler), has been waiting faithfully for Tannhäuser to come back. The knight enters a singing contest, with the winner to receive Elisabeth as his wife. Tannhäuser sings a wild song that praises Venus. The song angers the other knights, who threaten to kill him. Elisabeth pleads for his life. Suddenly, Tannhäuser is filled with shame. The landgrave convinces him to go to Rome on a pilgrimage to seek forgiveness from the pope.
The pope rejects Tannhäuser, saying the knight could no more expect divine forgiveness than he could expect the pope’s staff to blossom. Tannhäuser returns to Wartburg in despair. He arrives in time to see the funeral of Elisabeth. She died of grief, believing Tannhäuser would never return. The knight falls on Elisabeth’s coffin and dies. At that moment, pilgrims from Rome arrive carrying the pope’s blossoming staff, which symbolizes the redemption of Tannhäuser’s soul.
See also Wagner, Richard.
