Number 201: APRIL 2011 - Wagner Society of England

Distractingly during the duet the platform forming the stage-within-a-stage rises
up and down for no easily discernible reason, and when Tannhäuser invokes the Madonna
the inner stage, with Venus and her chaise-longue on it, descends, leaving him on the
forestage. Unfortunately, although she sinks from the view of the stalls, the Amphitheatre
can still see the singer creep away. Albery should have spent less time playing with the
stage machinery and taken greater care with his sightlines.
The descent of the platform leaves a huge void in the centre of the stage, from
which a single green tree arises with the Shepherd Boy sitting beneath it, singing his
song. Unfortunately the sight of one tree in the grey and black abyss is not really enough
to convey the intense contrast between the underground, artificial environment of the
Venusberg which Tannhäuser has just left and the open air, bright sky and fresh, springlike
atmosphere of the world above.
The Pilgrims’ voices are heard issuing from the void. Their chorus sounds
incredibly beautiful but the scene has a curiously ghostly air as they pass by unseen
(apparently underground) leaving Tannhäuser alone on the darkened stage the whole
time. The lights go up to reveal the Landgrave and his party standing on the stage behind
the void which highlights Tannhäuser’s moral, artistic and emotional separation from
them. This makes it hard for the singers to project their opening phrases from such a long
way back, and inevitably some sound was lost in the void.
Far from being the noble hunting party described by Wagner these are present day
soldiers armed to the teeth who instantly aim their guns at the unknown intruder.
Gradually they come down to join him on the forestage, making him one of their group
again even before he decides to return to them. His different relationships with them are
very clearly marked. I particularly noticed his hesitation before clapping Biterolf on the
shoulder. Clearly there has been little love lost between them in times past, and this paves
the way for their clash in Act II.
At the end the group leaves and the inner proscenium and the curtain descends
again. Elisabeth appears from between the curtains, glowing with excitement and
happiness and goes to sit in the chair which Tannhäuser occupied at the beginning of the
Act just as the music ends and the lights go out. The cycle is beginning again, but in the
next Act Tannhäuser will perform and she will be in the audience.
The setting for Act II looks like a war zone. The inner proscenium lies collapsed
and in pieces. The curtain has been reduced to a few torn, discoloured fragments.
Everything is covered in plaster dust and a few misshapen gilt chairs lie scattered about.
The chorus men are all partisans, heavily armed with guns and bullet belts, wearing
overcoats and woolly hats. The women wear dark clothes with long overcoats like
Elisabeth’s with headscarves and they carry candles which they light, passing the flame
from one to another, and set them out in a phalanx at the centre of the stage. It looks like
a memorial, as though each candle is for someone who has died in the conflict.
I presume that all this is inspired by the Landgrave’s lines “Wenn unser Schwert
in blutig ernstern Kämpfen/ stritt für des deutschen Reiches Majestät” (If our swords in
battles grim and bloody did battle for the majesty of the German realm). It is an effective
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