Tannhauser Overture - Music

Wilhelm Richard Wagner 22 May 1813 – 13 February 1883 Was A German Composer Theatre Director Polemicist And Conductor Who Is Chiefly Known For His Operas Or As Some Of His Later Works Were Later Known "music Dramas" . Unlike Most Opera Composers Wagner Wrote Both The Libretto And The Music For Each Of His Stage Works. Initially Establishing His Reputation As A Composer Of Works In The Romantic Vein Of Carl Maria Von Weber And Giacomo Meyerbeer Wagner Revolutionised Opera Through His Concept Of The Gesamtkunstwerk "total Work Of Art" By Which He Sought To Synthesise The Poetic Visual Musical And Dramatic Arts With Music Subsidiary To Drama. He Described This Vision In A Series Of Essays Published Between 1849 And 1852. Wagner Realised These Ideas Most Fully In The First Half Of The Four-Opera Cycle Der Ring Des Nibelungen The Ring Of The Nibelung . His Compositions Particularly Those Of His Later Period Are Notable For Their Complex Textures Rich Harmonies And Orchestration And The Elaborate Use Of Leitmotifs—musical Phrases Associated With Individual Characters Places Ideas Or Plot Elements. His Advances In Musical Language Such As Extreme Chromaticism And Quickly Shifting Tonal Centres Greatly Influenced The Development Of Classical Music. His Tristan Und Isolde Is Sometimes Described As Marking The Start Of Modern Music. Wagner Had His Own Opera House Built The Bayreuth Festspielhaus Which Embodied Many Novel Design Features. The Ring And Parsifal Were Premiered Here And His Most Important Stage Works Continue To Be Performed At The Annual Bayreuth Festival Run By His Descendants. His Thoughts On The Relative Contributions Of Music And Drama In Opera Were To Change Again And He Reintroduced Some Traditional Forms Into His Last Few Stage Works Including Die Meistersinger Von Nürnberg The Mastersingers Of Nuremberg . Until His Final Years Wagner's Life Was Characterised By Political Exile Turbulent Love Affairs Poverty And Repeated Flight From His Creditors. His Controversial Writings On Music Drama And Politics Have Attracted Extensive Comment Notably Since The Late 20th Century Where They Express Antisemitic Sentiments. The Effect Of His Ideas Can Be Traced In Many Of The Arts Throughout The 20th Century His Influence Spread Beyond Composition Into Conducting Philosophy Literature The Visual Arts And Theatre. read less

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The overture is one of the great masterpieces in that class of musical composition and is here described in Wagner’s own words: "At its commencement the orchestra rehearses the song of pilgrims, which, as it approaches, grows louder and louder, and at length recedes. It is twilight; the last strain of the pilgrims’ song is heard. As night comes on, magical phenomena present themselves; a roseate-hued and fragrant mist arises, wafting voluptuous shouts of joy to our ears. We are made aware of the dizzy motion of a horribly wanton dance. These are the seductive magic spells of the Venusberg, which at the hour of night reveal themselves to those whose breasts are inflamed with unholy desire. Attracted by these enticing phenomena, a tall and manly figure approaches; it is Tannhäuser, the Minnesinger. Proudly exulting, he trolls forth his jubilant love song as if to challenge the wanton magic crew to turn their attention to himself. Wild shouts respond to his call; the roseate cloud surrounds him more closely; its enrapturing fragrance overwhelms him and intoxicates his brain. Endowed now with supernatural powers of vision, he perceives, in the dim seductive light spread out before him, an unspeakably lovely female figure; he hears a voice which, with its tremulous sweetness, sounds like the call of sirens, promising to the brave the fulfillment of his wildest wishes. It is Venus herself whom he sees before him. Heart and soul he burns with desire; hot, consuming longing inflames the blood in his veins; by an irresistible power he is drawn into the presence of the goddess and with the highest rapture raises his song in her praise. As if in response to his magic call, the wonder of the Venusberg is revealed to him in its fullest brightness; boisterous shouts of wild delight re-echo on every side; Bacchantes rush hither and thither in their drunken revels, and, dragging Tannhäuser into their giddy dance, deliver him over to the love-warm arms of the goddess, who, passionately embracing him, carries him off, drunken with joy, to the unapproachable depths of her invisible kingdom. The wild throng then disperses and their commotion ceases. A voluptuous, plaintive whirring alone now stirs the air, and a horrible murmur pervades the spot where the enrapturing profane magic spell had shown itself, and which now again is overshadowed by darkness. Day at length begins to dawn, and the song of the returning pilgrims is heard in the distance. As their song draws nearer, and day succeeds to night, that whirring and murmuring in the air, which but just now sounded to us like the horrible wail of the damned, gives way to more joyful strains, till at last, when the sun has risen in all its splendor, and the pilgrims’ song with mighty inspiration proclaims to the world and to all that is and lives salvation won, its surging sound swells into a rapturous torrent of sublime ecstasy. This divine song represent to us the shout of joy at his release from the curse of the unholiness of the Venusberg. Thus all the pulses of life palpitate and leap for joy in this sing of deliverance; and the two divided elements, spirit and mind, God and nature, embrace each other in the holy uniting Kiss of Love." Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.