English horn, two clarinets, four horns, two bassoons, two trumpets, three trombones, bass tuba, kettledrums, harp, and strings.

John Runciman once remarked about this music, “It is the atmosphere of the sea that counts; the roar of the billows, the ‘hui!’ of the wind, the dashing and plunging.... The sea, indeed, is the background, foreground, the whole environment of the drama.... The smell and atmosphere of the sea is maintained with extraordinary vividness to the last bar.”

In the construction of the Overture Wagner makes important use of the theme of the Dutchman, which appears in the opening measure by horns and bassoons, and of the up-and-down theme of Senta, the Angel of Mercy, softly and tenderly sung by English horn, horns and bassoons. This is the theme which at the conclusion of the piece rises to a triumphant sonority, indicative of redemption attained.

Overture to “Tannhäuser”

The first concert performance of this well-known Overture took place at Leipzig, on February 12, 1846, under the direction of Mendelssohn. The event was a benefit for the Gewandhaus Orchestra Pension Fund.

Wagner himself furnished a “program” for the Overture when the musicians performing it at a Zurich concert requested an explanation of the music. The “program” in a translation by William Ashton Ellis follows:

“To begin with, the orchestra leads before us the Pilgrim’s Chorus 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 the 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 Pilgrim’s 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 the soul 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 the 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 astonishing kiss of hallowed Love.”

TANNHAUSER
“Wagner, inventor of the bass drum for musical bombardment, applies himself to his favorite exercise” reads the caption for this contemporary French caricature.

The Overture to Tannhäuser 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.

Bacchanale from “Tannhäuser”

The opera was first produced at the Royal Opera House, Dresden, on October 19, 1845. Some sixteen years later, due to the interest and influence of Princess Metternich, wife of the Austrian Ambassador to France, the work was introduced to Paris. For that production Wagner extended his first scene to include a Bacchanale, the reasons for this being as amusing to us as they must have been tragic to Wagner. The Princess revealed, in an article written for the Pall Mall Magazine (London, 1894) some of the reasons for the failure of the opera there, and it was a complete failure. The Princess says:

“The day of the performance drew nigh and in most circles little good will was confessed. It was stated generally that a protest should be made against the abominable futurist music, and it was rumored that stormy scenes might be expected at the Opera. In the clubs men were annoyed because Wagner would not have a regular ballet, but only a few poses of the ballerinas in the Venusberg. The club subscribers to the Opera expected a ballet at nine-thirty sharp, no matter what the opera. This, at least, was the custom of the time. No one who knew anything of art could conceive where a ballet could be introduced into the midst of ‘Tannhäuser.’ Wagner declared that he would not accede to the silly wishes of the subscribers, because he could not. And he was perfectly right, but his refusal was to be paid for dearly.”

Wagner had entertained great hopes for this Parisian production of Tannhäuser. To produce his work at the justly famed Opera was reason enough, what with that organization’s habit of letting expense go hang. He labored industriously at making revisions, which included a complete rewrite of the Bacchanalian scene as well as of the music for Venus and Tannhäuser in Act 1.

When he had completed his revisions he played the music for several friends. Charles Nuitter, one of these, reported on that private hearing as follows:

“When we arrived the composer sat down to the piano. He played with indescribable animation and fury. His hands pounded the keys, and the same time he strove to acquaint me with the action of the scene, crying out the entrance of the various groups. ‘Arrival of the fauns and satyrs; all are put to flight; the confusion mounts to its climax,’ he flung at me, and his hands continued to bang the keys, the musical delirium always augmenting. When he was piling on a succession of quivering chords Wagner suddenly cried, ‘Now a crash of thunder. We are all dead!’ At that moment a wagon of paving stones discharged its load into the street, thus producing a prolonged and terrible noise. Wagner turned round and regarded us with stupefaction, his eyes staring wildly. It took us some moments to recover from this stirring of our feelings. Thus it was that I was initiated into the new music.”

The first Paris performance of Tannhäuser took place on March 13, 1861. That was the first of three fiascos in the French capital. The second occurred on March 18. Napoleon III and the Empress both attended, but their presence had no effect on the rest of the audience, whose cat-calls, howls, and kindred strange noises were even louder, if not funnier, than the first time.

The work was given for the third time on March 24. This was not a regular subscription performance, and it seemed to all and sundry that finally a Parisian audience would be honest and unprejudiced in its attitude toward the opera. However, the composer’s enemies had bought out the house and the result was the same. Whereupon Wagner withdrew his score. Tannhäuser was not given again in Paris until thirty-four years later.

Prelude to “Lohengrin”

In the summer of 1845, while Wagner was at Marienbad, he worked out the plan for Lohengrin. The libretto he wrote during the following winter. Then came a topsy-turvy scheme of creation. In composing the music he began with the hero’s Narrative in the last act, “because the monologue contained the most significant musical germs in the whole score.” He finished the third act on March 25,