Metropolitan Opera broadcasts continue on Classical 90.5 at 11:00 a.m. this Saturday, January 23, with a performance of Tannhäuser by Richard Wagner. The libretto is by the composer. The performance will run approximately four hours.
History, myth, and invention come together in Tannhäuser to create a unique and powerful drama. The title character was a real 13th-century Minnesinger who inspired a legend that Wagner used as the basis for the opera. He notably added the character of Elisabeth, based on the historical Saint Elisabeth of Hungary, wife of the Landgrave of Thuringia. The opera’s score went through several revisions after the original performances, most importantly when Wagner added the Venusberg ballet for the 1861 French premiere.
James Levine conducts Wagner’s early masterpiece in its first return to the Met stage in more than a decade. Today’s leading Wagnerian tenor, Johan Botha, takes on the daunting title role of the young knight caught between true love and passion.
THE CAST
Elisabeth: Eva Maria Westbroek
Venus: Michelle DeYoung
Tannhäuser: Johan Botha
Wolfram: Peter Mattei
Landgraf Herman: Günther Groissböck
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