Tannhaeuser: Difference between revisions

Wagner based the plot of his opera on a conflation of two originally unconnected legends. The first tells of a minnesinger (or "minstrel of love") and knight, called ''the'' Tannhäuser (literally, "man from the fir-tree-home"), who descended into a subterranean kingdom under a mountain (the so-called "Mountain of Venus" or ''Venusberg'', identified by Wagner with the real [http://www.grosserhoerselberg.de/garbage/31/318277/1222017.jpg Hörselberg] near the town of [[wikipedia:Eisenach|Eisenach]]) and won the favors of the goddess of love (called alternately Venus or Holda, her Latin or German names, by Wagner); after a period of some years, the knight repented and fled the Venusberg to seek penance from [[The Pope|Pope Urban IV]]; the pope rejects his penitence, telling him that sooner will his staff grow new leaves than forgiveness be possible for such as he, and Tannhäuser, despairing, returns to Venus -- threeVenus—three days later the staff does indeed burst into leaf, but the pope's messengers cannot find the knight. The second tells of the "War of Song" conducted by the legendary minnesinger Heinrich von Ofterdingen (and his sorcerous companion Clinschor (=Klingsor (!)) of Hungary) against the most famous minstrels of mediæval Germany at the court of ''Landgraf'' (or "territorial count") Hermann von [[The Sixteen Lands of Deutschland|Thüringen]]; in the course of which Clinschor prophecies the birth of Elizabeth of Hungary, later to be the wife of the Landgrave's son and a canonized saint. Wagner radically reshaped these legends, identifying the [[Historical Domain Character|historical]] (though pseudonymous) Tannhäuser with the (probably) mythical Ofterdingen, and transporting the former from his own time (''fl. c''. 1250 A.D.) to that of Landgrave Hermann I of Thuringia, some 50 years before, and transforming the Landgrave's daughter-in-law into his niece and Tannhäuser's true love

Wagner's opera drew from many sources: a popular ballad reprinted in the famous folk-song collection, ''Des Knaben Wunderhorn''; [[Dichter and Denker|Heinrich Heine]]'s poem „''Der Tannhäuser: Eine Legende''"; [[E. T. A. Hoffmann|ETA Hoffmann]]'s ''Der Kampf der Sänger'' (included in his ''Die Serapions-Brüder''); and possibly from Carl Maria von Weber's ''[[Der Freischütz]]'', an opera which Wagner greatly admired and with which ''Tannhäuser'' shows some structural similarities (Weber himself had considered writing a Venusberg opera). It proved highly popular in Germany, but the première of the revised version at the Paris ''Opéra'' was a notorious failure -- thoughfailure—though more for political and personal reasons than artistic ones. (The gentlemen of the royalist Jockey Club resented both Wagner's patron, the Bonapartist Princess Metternich, and his refusal to put the then-obligatory ballet sequence in the second rather than the first act of the opera, requiring the ''prime donne'' of the ''Opéra'' to forgo either the ballet or their suppers -- withsuppers—with the gentlemen of the royalist Jockey Club. At the first three performances they interrupted the opera with cabman's whistles, and the disgruntled Wagner withdrew the work. (To the anti-Semitic composer's even greater disgust, the settings and costumes were immediately re-used for a new production of [[Ambiguously Jewish|Meyerbeer]]'s ever-popular ''Robert le Diable''.)) However, the new version quickly established itself, and the opera, in both versions, has proven to be one of the composer's most popular works, both in the opera-house and in the concert-hall.

* [[Fanfare]]: Several of Wagner's [[Leitmotif|Leitmotifs]]s (''e.g.'', the "Rome" motif) have the character of fanfares; a more conventional example introduces the Festival March. At Bayreuth, certain motifs are played as fanfares from the balcony of the ''Festspielhaus'' to announce the beginning of an act.

* [[Historical Domain Character]]: Quite a few: ''der Tannhäuser'' (''c''. 1205 - ''c''. 1270) himself (though, as far we know, he was not named Heinrich -- heHeinrich—he ''may'' have been named Liutpolt), a mid-thirteenth century minnesinger, some of whose songs have survived; Herman, Landgrave of [[The Sixteen Lands of Deutschland|Thuringia]] (''c''. 1160 - 1217); Wolfram von Eschenbach (''c.'' 1170 - ''c.'' 1220), possibly the greatest of mediæval Germany's narrative poets (whose ''Parzival'' inspired Wagner's ''Parsifal''); Walther von der Vogelweide (''c''. 1175-''c.'' 1230), certainly mediæval Germany's greatest lyric poet; ; Heinrich der Schreiber (''c''. 1180 - ''c''. 1230); and Reinmar von Zweter (''c''. 1200 - ''c''. 1250.

* [[Opening Ballet]]: When Wagner was revising ''Tannhäuser'' in preparation for the 1861 Paris production, he had to accomodate the ''Opéra'''s demands that every opera should have a ballet, preferably in the middle of the evening. Wagner objected to placing the ballet in the second act, instead providing a ballet at the very beginning -- thusbeginning—thus provoking noisy demonstrations by the gentlemen of the royalist Jockey Club.

[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}Tannhaeuser]]