TANNHAUSER

Radio Record, Volume VI, Issue 14, 14 October 1932, Page 1

TANNHAUSER

Wagner’s Romantic Opera To be performed by the Royal Christchurch Musical Society Thursday, October 20 and Broadcast .-by 3YAThe performance of "T'annhauser" will be under the conductorship of Mr. W. H. Dixon, L.R.A.M,, A.R.C.M., and will be given with full chorus and orchestra, The cast of soloists will be as follows :- HERMAN, Landgrave of Thuringia (DaSS) ws eee scccesccece sescoeel. D. Williams. TANNHAUSER (tenor) ...ceeeeeeees Hubert Carter. WOLFRAM yon ESCHINBACH (bariTONE) vance e eee tere ester erence R. J. Laurenson. WALTHER yon der VOGELWHEIDE. (tenor) ....ee- oceccucces seevesceed. G. Rogers. BITEROLE. (bass) ..ceeeeeeeeveres J. Y. Wilson. HEINRICH der SCHREIBER .......Hrnest Rogers. REIMAR von AWETER (bass) ....d. Filer. | ELIZABHTH (niece of the Landgrayve | (SOPTANO) ..sseeoeveces eenetoenas Madame W. Froser. VENUS (soprano) .esecceeeeesss--. Madame W. Frasers

T° many persons "Tannhauser," which will be performed by the Royal Christchurch Musical Society on Thursday, October 20, and broadcast on relay by 3YA is the greatest of all operas. It represents a period in Wagner’s life before he had abandoned the opera-form for the -music-drama. Its music is of noble character throughout. It does not, like the "Ring of the Niebelungen," deal chiefly with the sins and the weaknesses of pagan gods, but with those of aspiring, suffering self-defeated humanity. To those who look for the ‘moral lesson" in a work of art, there is no disappointment; for the whole opera, with its magnificence of structure and its richness of detail, at bottom only typifies the struggle between the good and the baser elements in the human soul. "Tannhauser," a knight and minstrel, in an evil moment, succumbs to the wiles of Venus and dwells for a year in the Venusberg. Tiring of these monotonous delights, he leaves the goddess and returns to his home, where he is warmly received and told that the fair Elizabeth, niece of the Landgrave, still mourns for him. He is urged to compete in thé Tournament of Song not far distant, the prize being the hand of Elizabeth. . The theme of the contest is the Nature of Love, and when Tannhauser’s turn arrives the evil influence of the Venusberg is apparent he delivers a wild and profané eulogy of passion. Outraged by this insult the minstrels draw their swords to slay him. Coming to his senses, too late, he repents, and when a company of Pilgrims pass on their way to Rome, he joins them to seek pardon for his sin. In the last act we see Elizabeth, weary and worn, supported by the noble Wolfram, who also loves her, watching for the Pilgrims to ° return, but Tannhauser is not among them. Elizabeth is overcome with disappointment and feebly returns to her home. Tannhauser now appears, in a wretched plight, on his way to reenter the Hill of Venus. He tells Wolfram that he appealed to the Pope for pardon, but was told that his redemption was: as impossible as that the Pope’s staff should put forth leaves. Wolfram’s remonstrances are in vain, and Tannhauser is about to invoke the goddess, when a chant is heard and the Pilgrims appear, announcing that the Pope’s staff had blossomed as a sign that the sinner was forgiven, __ Tannhauser kneels in prayer as the mourners pass with the body of Elizabeth, who, overcome by her bitter disappointment, had suddenly passed away. ‘ ,

The characters in this great opera are not wholly imaginary. There was a Landgrave of Thuringia, named Hermann, who held court in the Wartburg. Wolfram von Eschenbach was a minstrel knight whe wrote the "Quest of the Holy Grail" from which Wagner took the story of "Parsifal." Tannhauser himself derives, in part, from a knight-minstrel of that name who served at the court of Duke Frederick II of Austria, early in the thirteenth century, dying a penitent after a somewhat too hilarious life. He has been the subject of many folk-ballads of Ger-

many and of a carnival play by Hans Sachs (of Meistersinger fame), T ann hauser was a Minnesinger (or knight mine strel), while the bourgeois Hans Sachs was a Meister singer (or burgher minstrel and many find 4. connection be tween Wag~ ner’s two operas owing to this circum stance, co m-« bined with a song ~ contest with a maiden’s (Continued ot page 24.)

‘The story of " Tannhauser " tells of conflict between two kinds of love: true love of the highest human kind as distinguished from mere sensuous passion, and relates how the higher and purer love triumphed in the end.

‘Tannhauser ¢ (Continued from page 1.) hand in marriage as the prize. The Blizabeth in the present opera seems to be a Wagnerian adaptation of the original St. Blizabeth, of Austria, estimable lady who is also the heroine of Liszt’s oratoria of the same name, which was unsuccessfully presented as an opera a few years ago, The contest of song in which participated most of the knightly minstrels mentioned in the above cast, also is historical, and one Heinrich von Ofterdinger (whom some writers identify with Tannhauser) was saved from 2. violent death by the Landgravine Sophia, who threw her cloak over him. This provides Wagner with the chief incident in his second act. Many popular ballads recount the story of Tannhauser and the Venus of the Wartburg, also that of the Pope’s refusal to give absolution to the pentinent sinner and the subsequent flowering of the papal staff, as a mark of divine pardon.