_Tannhäuser und der Sängerkrieg auf Wartburg_, Romantic Opera in three
acts, book and music by Wagner, was produced at the Royal Opera House in
Dresden, under the direction of the composer, on October 19, 1845.
The overture was written in Dresden, probably in March-April, 1845. The
first performance of it as a concert piece was at a concert at Leipsic
for the benefit of the Gewandhaus Orchestra Pension Fund, February 12,
1846. Mendelssohn conducted it from manuscript.
Wagner’s own programme of the overture was published in the _Neue
Zeitschrift_ of January 14, 1853. It was written at the request of
orchestral players who were rehearsing the overture for performance at
Zurich. The translation into English is by William Ashton Ellis.
“To begin with, the orchestra leads before us the Pilgrims’ Chant alone;
it draws near, then swells into a mighty outpour, and passes finally
away.—Evenfall; last echo of the chant. As night breaks, magic sights
and sounds appear, a rosy mist floats up, exultant shouts assail our
ears, the whirlings of a fearsomely voluptuous dance are seen. These are
the Venusberg’s seductive spells, that show themselves at dead of night
to those whose breast is fired by daring of the senses. Attracted by the
tempting show, a shapely human form draws nigh; ’tis Tannhäuser, Love’s
minstrel.... Venus, herself, appears to him.... As the Pilgrims’ Chant
draws closer, yet closer, as the day drives farther back the night, that
whir and soughing of the air—which had erewhile sounded like the eerie
cries of souls condemned—now rises, too, to ever gladder waves; so that
when the sun ascends at last in splendor, and the Pilgrims’ Chant
proclaims in ecstasy to all the world, to all that lives and moves
thereon, Salvation won, this wave itself swells out the tidings of
sublimest joy. ’Tis the carol of the Venusberg itself, redeemed from
curse of impiousness, this cry we hear amid the hymn of God. So wells
and leaps each pulse of Life in chorus of Redemption; and both
dissevered elements, both soul and senses, God and Nature, unite in the
atoning kiss of hallowed Love.”
The overture is scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two
clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones,
bass tuba, kettledrums, cymbals, triangle, tambourine, and strings.