The title character in Tannhäuser is a broken, flawed individual who can’t quite decide whether love or lust will be best for him. And although many call this one of if not the most accessible Wagner opera, it is rarely performed in the United States.
This will be the first time Houston Grand Opera mounts a production since the 2001-02 season. Despite being frequently described as the perfect starter opera for an introduction to Wagner, it is not seen as often as most of Wagner’s other works. Asked why, tenor Russell Thomas who plays the title role, says it’s because it’s so very difficult to sing.
“Vocally it’s very challenging,” says Russell (last seen with HGO in the title role of Wagner’s Parsifal in January 2024). This entails both the range of singing required on his part and the sheer length of the role. The three-act is 3 hours and 42 minutes long including two intermissions. It is a co-production with Washington National Opera, Canadian Opera Company and Seattle Opera.
Director Francesca Zambello (artistic director at Washington National Opera) has updated the opera, moving it from 13th-century Germany to turn-of-the-century America, where Tannhäuser is part of a strict religious community. He leaves this sheltered group to travel to Venusberg, a place that bears resemblance to Gilded Age New York City, where he spends time with Venus (mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke).
Tannhäuser has spent a year with Venus and now he’s decided he wants to find redemption. He rejects Venus and heads back home hoping for a reunion with Elisabeth (soprano Tamara Wilson). He meets a group of men from his community and together they decide to reinstate a song contest.
Everyone in turn sings their own song about the true nature of love but when it comes to Tannhäuser, he presents a different kind of more sensual love and makes fun of his fellow contestants, particularly Wolfram von Eschenbach (Baritone Luke Sutliff). Outraged by Tannhäuser’s words, the men rise up against him and he is cast into exile.
With the intervention of Elisabeth, the leader of the men, Landgraf Hermann (bass Alexandros Stavrakakisa making his HGO debut) offers Tannhäuser a compromise. He is given a chance for redemption by joining other pilgrims traveling to Rome where he’ll ask the Pope’s forgiveness. This doesn’t go well; the Pope tells him there will be no redemption for him — at least not until his papal staff grows leaves. Near the end of the opera, Tannhäuser starts to go back to Venus, but ultimately rejects her again.
“This a great opera. For me it’s one of my favorites,” Thomas says. “It’s a complete opera with conflict [between ideas of what love should be], redemption and a broken hero. All those things we want to have in an opera.”
Tannhäuser has a talent. Whether he uses it in praise of God or for himself or for money is common to most artists, Thomas says. “Artists have always dealt with that.”
Venusberg is where Tannhäuser goes to explore artistically and Thomas sees this as more about art rather than sex. But as far as the conservative community he comes from, Venusberg is like hell, Thomas says.
Audience members who have seen Tannhäuser before may see a slightly different take in the final moments of this production. Thomas says he has several discussions with director Zambello about what happens to Tannhäuser. “Why would he die? Is his death salvation? All he did was go to Venusberg. Wagner said he died. But why?”
It is, as Thomas puts it, a fantastical story. But one, with all its mythological elements, that can still speak to people today.
“How do we sell opera to a modern audience when we have these fantastical stories? But this is just life. There is not one opera that there is not some real life equivalent to.
“Venus represents a woman who’s given her all and he says that’s not enough,” Thomas says. “Then you have the woman [Elisabeth] who saved herself her entire life. That man has already given himself to another woman. Wolfram is friends with Tannhäuser but he’s in love with the girl who’s waiting for Tannhäuser. She’s waiting for the the day he comes back.
“These are real stories.”
Performances are scheduled for April 25 through May 11 at 7 p.m. April 25 and 29 and May 3, 8. Also at 2 p.m. May 11. at Wortham Theater Center, 501 Texas. Sung in German with projected English translations. For more information, call 713-228-6737 or visit houstongrandopera.org. $25-$210.
