Wagner
Welten
Explore
Opera archive
Georges Rochegrosse poster for Tannhäuser

Opera world 05 / WWV 70

Tannhäuser

1842–1845Romantic opera in three actsDresden, 1845

The mountain opens. The church answers. The body belongs to both.

No single world can contain desire
Scroll to enter

01 / The dramatic threshold

No single world can
contain desire

Tannhäuser moves between the Venusberg and the Wartburg, between sensual abundance and a society that praises spiritual love. He cannot accept either world on its own terms.

This is not a simple contest between temptation and purity. The opera's voltage comes from incompatibility: experience that cannot be unsung, and judgment that cannot hear the whole human being.

05 / Tannhäuser

Georges Rochegrosse poster, 1891

02 / The action

The world changes
in movements.

This is a dramatic map, not a replacement for the full libretto. Each movement marks a change in what the characters believe is possible.
  1. I

    The rupture

    Pleasure becomes enclosure

    The Venusberg and the valley below the Wartburg

    Tannhäuser leaves Venus despite the endless life she offers. A pilgrim chorus and the return of old companions pull him toward Elisabeth and the world he abandoned.

    Dramatic turnEscape from one paradise creates longing for another.
  2. II

    The song contest

    Private truth becomes public scandal

    The Hall of Song at the Wartburg

    The singers praise ideal love. Tannhäuser answers from lived desire, names Venus and breaks the ceremonial order of the hall.

    Dramatic turnA song intended to win a contest destroys the community listening to it.
  3. III

    The return

    Forgiveness arrives too late to be simple

    The valley beneath the Wartburg

    Rome refuses Tannhäuser absolution. Elisabeth's death and Wolfram's watch reshape the landscape, while Venus opens the mountain once more.

    Dramatic turnThe final sign of grace does not erase suffering, it passes through it.
Georges Rochegrosse poster for Tannhäuser
Archive fragment

Georges Rochegrosse poster, 1891

Image source ↗

03 / The dramatic machine

What moves
beneath the plot.

Objects, musical ideas and theatrical systems carry memory across the work. These are three ways into its deeper construction.

Cave / hall

The two landscapes

The Venusberg and Wartburg organize desire differently. One encloses it without limit, the other regulates it through form.

Art under judgment

The contest

Singing is both expression and evidence. Every answer reveals not just a style, but a way of living.

Distance made audible

The pilgrim path

The chorus returns changed by perspective. What is far away can govern the entire emotional temperature of the stage.

04 / Figures in the world

Six lines of
dramatic pressure.

Each figure occupies a different distance from the work's central conflict. Voice type is included as a practical listening guide.
01

Tannhäuser

Tenor

A singer unable to divide body, memory and faith
02

Elisabeth

Soprano

A woman whose welcome and sacrifice frame his return
03

Venus

Soprano or mezzo-soprano

The sovereign of sensual plenitude
04

Wolfram

Baritone

A singer whose restraint becomes an act of care
05

Hermann

Bass

Landgrave of Thuringia and guardian of the contest
06

The Pilgrims

Chorus

A moving horizon of penitence and return

05 / A line from the stage

Dich, teure Halle, grüß ich wieder.
Dear hall, I greet you once again.

The room becomes alive because memory enters it.

Elisabeth, Act II

06 / The work in time

A stage world
with a physical history.

Dates and categories anchor the experience without reducing the opera to a catalogue entry. The archive remains visible behind the theatre.
Legendary sources
Tannhäuser and the Wartburg song contest
Versions
Dresden and Paris traditions remain in performance
First performance
Dresden, 19 October 1845
Dramatic shape
Three acts between Venusberg and Wartburg
WWV 70

Romantic opera in three acts

07 / The living work

Find the next
Tannhäuser.

The performance world will connect this opera to verified dates, theatres and productions across Europe. The architecture is ready for listings that can be traced directly to presenting institutions.

Open performances ↗