Opera on 3

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Music: Classical: Opera

Programme presenting rare and fascinating operatic performances

Programme presenting rare and fascinating performances and vividly communicating the immediacy of the live experience

Opera on 3: Wagner's Tannhäuser

Wagner's Tannhäuser

BBC Radio 3 - Opera on 3, Wagner's Tannhäuser

Kate Molleson presents Wagner's story of love and passion from the 2021 Bayreuth Festival.

Stephen Gould and Lise Davidsen star in a performance from the 2021 Bayreuth Festival of Wagner's medieval story of love and passion among knights and goddesses.

In typical Wagnerian fashion, themes of love, death and myth combine in a music drama set in 13th-century Germany.  

Stephen Gould plays Tannhäuser, a medieval musician torn between passion and true love, who returns from the domain of the goddess Venus to the earthly land of Wartburg to try to win the affections of the devoutly religious Elisabeth - sung in this production by Lise Davidsen.   Tannhäuser's skill at a singing contest, which gets out of hand, aren't enough to win over her uncle, the local Count.  So Tannhauser offers to seek forgiveness in Rome for his past transgressions - but his absolution is refused...  

This performance of Tannhauser was recorded in July 2021 at the Bayreuth Festival, the annual event founded by and dedicated to Wagner.  It's presented by Kate Molleson with expert commentary from music historian Dr Barbara Eichner.  

Wagner: Tannhäuser  

Tannhäuser ..... Stephen Gould (tenor)
Venus ..... Ekaterina Gubanova (mezzo-soprano)  
Elisabeth ..... Lise Davidsen (soprano)  
Count Hermann, her uncle ..... Günther Groissböck (bass)
Wolfram, Tannhäuser's friend ..... Markus Eiche (baritone)
Biterolf, minstrel ..... Ólafur Kjartan Sigurðarson (bass)  
Heinrich ..... Jorge Rodríguez-Norton (tenor)
Reinmar ..... Wilhelm Schwinghammer, (bass)
Young Shepherd ..... Katharina Konradi (soprano)  
Bayreuth Festival Chorus and Orchestra  
Axel Kober (conductor)

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