Tannhäuser

Shooting star Evgeny Titov has conquered the major opera houses in Berlin, Zurich and Munich, among others, in a very short span of time with his vivid directorial works.  To kick off the anneriversary year, he is staging the opera whose Austrian premiere in Graz in 1854 laid the foundation for Wagner’s reception in this country. Principal conductor Vassilis Christopoulos will take his place on the podium.

‘What I consider to be the most essential aspect of this character is the always directly active, intensified fulfilment of the feeling of the present situation and the most vivid contrast, which is revealed in the expression of this fulfilment through the violent change of the situation. Tannhäuser is never and nowhere just a little, but everything fully and completely.’
With these words, Wagner himself outlined the title character of his opera. In the centre of his work is an artist; eccentric, obsessed, torn between the contradictions of life.
In his uncompromising behaviour, he has completely cut himself off from the outside world and locked himself away in his wild artistic fantasies. The artist’s non-conformity fascinates and harbours conflict at the same time. Due to being so unconditional in his nature, Tannhäuser is simply not socially acceptable. He offends even those who are well inclined in his favour. Ultimately, his path leads yet again to isolation, which can only culminate in madness.

Even Wagner was unable to resolve the irresolvable contradictions of his Tannhäuser. The disparate elements are part of the score from the very beginning, which the composer repeatedly subjected to new revisions over the course of his life without ever reaching a final version, in contrast to his other works. He still owed the world Tannhäuser, Wagner declared just three weeks before his death. In this regard he himself was as obsessed and uncompromising as Tannhäuser, which makes his oeuvre still so captivating to this day.

Age recommendation: 14+