The double title of the opera "Tannhäuser oder der Sängerkrieg auf der Wartburg", which had its grand premiere on 19 October 1845 under Wagner"s direction in the Hoftheater in Dresden, is already an indication of how Wagner"s work unites two circles of material whose tradition stems from separate sources. The figure of the minnesinger is an historical fact and his episodes are documented with the "Tannhäuserlied" as far back as 1520. In a musical sense, the contrast between diatonicism and chromaticism is symbolic of two different worlds. Wagner revised the original work from 1845 in 1847, among other things, by changing the finale and then adapted the opera once again for a Paris production in 1861 (this is the "Parisian version" with additions). David Alden's new production by the Bavarian State Opera at the National Theater in Munich, which premiered at the opera festival on 6 July 1994, was celebrated by audiences and music journals alike as a milestone of contemporary Wagner adoptions. Zubin Mehta conducted this focused yet enchanting musical interpretation.
