At this point, Venus curses his hopes of salvation and she and her world vanish.
Tannhäuser then invokes the Virgin Mary and expresses longing for the simple pleasures and pains of earthly life. He offers effusive praise to Venus, who has loved him for more than a year and she promises him greater revelries to come. We then see Tannhäuser, in the magical home of the goddess Venus, pacing the darkened stage aglow with red lighting and our attention soon focuses on a Bacchanalian ballet of dancers connecting and contorting with each other. The overture to Act One, with it’s free-flowing harmonic changes set us up to evoke spiritual thoughts. The opera is presented in three Acts separated by two intermissions. Together this creative team very effectively transforms each of the scenes and the juxtaposes the feel and contrast between the ethereal and the worldly. The production, originally created by director Ian Judge in 2007, features scenery and costumes designed by Gottfried Pilz and features new staging by director Louisa Muller, with additional new costumes by Misty Ayres, and new lighting by Marcus Doshi and new choreography by Aszure Barton.
With the elegantly designed staging and emotionally driven performances we are transported into a mythic realm and shown people having human inner struggles. The 19th-century German romantic opera is a tale of the philosophical struggle between sacred love and profane lust and hope for spiritual redemption. Yulia Matochkina as Venus and Issachah Savage as Tannhauser in LA Opera’s 2021 production of “Tannhauser” photos by Cory Weaver courtesy of LA Opera
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