| Wagner：Tannhauser - Overture 瓦格纳：歌剧《汤豪舍》序曲
OVERTURE TO \"TANNHÄUSER\"
RICHARD WAGNER
(1813 - 1883)
Richard Wagner, one of Germany's greatest composers, ranks with Beethoven and Brahms in respect to his innovative musical techniques. He is unique, however, for his brilliant artistic integration of drama and music. It is this single attribute that established him as the Dean of German opera. His father died six months before Richard's birth, so he never came to know a paternal presence. However, a year later, his mother married the actor, Ludwig Geyer, a man very much devoted to the stage, art and literature. Geyer exerted a profound effect on the young Wagner and was probably responsible for his development into the dramatic musician who created the combination of music and literature that led to the Music Drama an its all-pervasive leitmotifs. The operas Rienzi and The Flying Dutchman earned Wagner the post of Kappelmeister of the Dresden Opera and established him as a successful composer. He came to know the von Bülows and fell in love with Hans' wife, Cosima, Liszt's daughter, whom he later married. This was the most productive period of his life in which he completed the fabulous Ring cycle of music dramas and clearly established him as the master of German Opera. He died in Venice of a heart attack with Cosima by his side. Wagner composed Tannhäuser in 1845, but it was revised for a performance in Paris in 1859. Unfortunately the presentation was a failure due to political protests and its triumphal reception came much later when it became firmly established in the operatic repertoire. The music with which we are most familiar, is the overture that we hear tonight and it is soul-stirring. It concerns the medieval minnesinger, Tannhäuser, and his search for purity. The overture opens with the stately pilgrim's chorus followed by the Venu*****erg Music; both spectacular examples of Wagner's ability to arouse our emotions and engulf us in a splendid array of artistic pleasure.
Program Notes by J. Palmer Saunders©
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