Date of composition: 1845-1847
Duration: 14 minutes
“Tannhäuser symbolises the clash between two fundamental principles that have chosen the human heart as their main battlefield – the struggle between flesh and spirit, between hell and heaven, between Satan and God. And this inner conflict is depicted, right from the overture, with unparalleled skill.” In these succinct words, the French writer Charles Baudelaire captured the conflictt that Richard Wagner – forever searching, forever torn – had worked out in his Tannhäuser. Baudelaire spoke of a “voluptuousness” of listening, admitting that he had experienced “a spiritual event, a revelation”. He was keenly aware of how the composer managed to “create space and depth, both in a physical and a spiritual sense”, thus charging the music with significance.
The theatre musician Wagner knew how to pull out all the stops and employ the suggestive power of sound in an almost manipulative manner. Observing in detail how these mechanisms operate remains a source of fascination. Every single phrase of the overture contributes to defining the duality of Tannhäuser; every moment reflects the interplay of its forces. The organ-like instrumentation of the Pilgrims’ Chorus from the third act evokes associations with the sacred sphere just as strongly as the mournful cello timbre of the subsequent “motif of repentance”. With flashing points of light, nervous figurations, and chromatically urgent lines, the sinful Bacchanalian world confronts religious order. Thus, a polarity is established between “old” and “new”, the ritual practice of the group and the sensual needs of the individual – the Freudian conflict between “superego” and “id”, if you will.
The conception of Tannhäuser, which received its first performance in Dresden in 1845, extends back to Wagner’s unhappy first stay in Paris between 1839 and 1842, when he had vainly hoped to establish himself as an artist in the French capital. The plot was outlined in 1842 on long hikes through Bohemia. Wagner developed the libretto on the basis of extensive source studies, which led him to fuse two strands of legend: the story of Tannhäuser in the Venusberg was combined with that of the Song Contest at the Wartburg. And what about the famous Paris Tannhäuser scandal of March 1861? Ultimately, it erupted over Wagner’s disregard for the conventions of French opera. Around twenty years after his first visit to Paris, the composer was given the opportunity to stage his Tannhäuser at the Grand Opéra. The Saxon composer allowed an entire year for rehearsals of the newly revised work. However, his refusal to pay for claqueurs to attend the premiere backfired. The men-about-town of the snobbish Jockey Club, who had come mostly for the dancers, missed the traditional ballet interlude in the second act. Armed with whistles, the young gentlemen ensured lengthy interruptions to the performance – and tumults of a kind the house had never witnessed before.