Tannhäuser

After seven years in which he devoted himself to sensual pleasures in the realm of the goddess of love Venus, it forces the minstrel Tannhäuser back into social life, in particular to his earthly lover Elisabeth. But his claim to combine art and life as well as erotic pleasure and religious love fails due to the rigid conventions of the bigoted society in Wartburg and his own radicalism.

For the libretto of the romantic opera, which premiered in Dresden in 1845, Richard Wagner used literary versions of medieval legends by Ludwig Tieck, E. T. A. Hoffmann and Ludwig Bechstein. In doing so, he merged two complex substances: the Singers' War at Wartburg over Heinrich von Ofterdingen at the beginning of the 13th century and the legend of the minstrel and poet Tannhäuser, who is said to have sought forgiveness from the Pope for his sins in Venusberg in vain. The religious-philosophical dualism of pure sensuality and pious transfiguration of love is reflected in Wagner's score in two equally contrasting soundscapes: sensual-seductive sounds for Venus's empire and sacred pilgrim choirs in this world. At the central singing festival, both worlds meet irreconcilably: While the remaining minstrels chaste about the nature of love, there is a scandal when Tannhäuser publicly reveals his stay in Venusberg. Unable to find a lasting synthesis of both worlds, Tannhäuser dies, rejected by the Pope but redeemed by Elizabeth's love.