Tannhäuser
Tannhäuser
(tän`hoizər), 13th cent., German minnesingerminnesinger, a medieval German knight, poet, and singer of Minne, or courtly love. Originally imitators of Provençal troubadours, minnesingers developed their own style in the 13th and 14th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. , whose adventurous wanderings became the subject of legend. Sixteen of his own lyrics are extant, including Buszlied (Song of Repentance). They indicate that he served several noble patrons and probably was a Crusader. In a 16th-century ballad, Tannhäuser escapes the snares of Venus with the help of Our Lady, but is refused papal absolution until the budding of his staff indicates divine grace. This story and that of his participation in a singing contest at the Wartburg are the materials for Wagner's opera Tannhäuser (1843–44). The story also figures in Swinburne's poem "Laus Veneris."
Tannhäuser
(in Middle High German, Tannhuser). Born circa 1205 in Salzburg or near Neumarkt, Bavaria; died 1270. German minnesinger and poet.
Tannhäuser traveled widely, and he took part in the Sixth Crusade (1228–29). He wrote dance songs for the court nobility and for the peasants, parodies of love lyrics, and didactic verse. He influenced the work of medieval German courtly poets and 19th-century German romantic poets, such as Novalis, L. Tieck, and E. T. A. Hoffmann. Tannhäuser is the hero of R. Wagner’s opera Tannhäuser (1845). In the 14th century a legend arose that Tannhäuser resided in the magic grotto of the ancient German goddess Holda near Eisenach.
WORKS
In J. Siebert, Der Dichler Tannhäuser: Leben, Gedichte, Sage. Halle, 1934.REFERENCES
Istoriia zarubezhnoi literatury: Rannee Srednevekov’e i Vozrozhdenie. Moscow, 1959: Pages 123–25.100 oper, 5th ed. [Compiled and edited by M. Druskin.] Leningrad, 1973. Pages 62–67, 79.