Dich, teure Halle (Tannhäuser)

Tannhäuser was first performed at the Dresden court theatre on 19 October 1845, with Wagner conducting and his niece Johanna as Elisabeth; the audience was baffled and the composer began revising almost at once. He was still altering the score in the last year of his life. For Paris in 1861 he expanded the Venusberg music into a ballet and placed it in the first act rather than the third, where the Jockey Club subscribers expected it; they whistled the production down after three performances. Dich, teure Halle opens the second act, in the singers' hall of the Wartburg.