The pious chant of
pilgrims, passing on their way to Rome, wakens his slumbering
conscience, and bids him expiate his guilt by a life of abstinence and
humiliation. His meditations are interrupted by the appearance of the
Landgrave of Thuringia, his liege lord, who is hunting with Wolfram von
Eschinbach, Walther von der Vogelweide, and other minstrel-knights of
the Wartburg; but his newly awakened sense of remorse forbids him to
return with them to the castle, until Wolfram breathes the name of the
Landgrave's niece Elisabeth, the saintly maiden who has drooped and
pined since Tannhaeuser disappeared from the singing contests at the
Wartburg. The thought of human love touches his heart with warm
sympathy, and he gladly hastens to the castle with his newly found
friends.
In the second act we are at the Wartburg, in the Hall of Song in which
those tournaments of minstrelsy were held, for which the castle was
celebrated in the middle ages. Elisabeth enters, bringing a greeting to
the hall, whose threshold she has not crossed since Tannhaeuser's
mysterious departure. Her joyous tones have scarcely ceased when
Tannhaeuser, led by Wolfram, appears and falls at the feet of the
youthful Princess. Her pure spirit cannot conceive aught of dishonour in
his absence, and she welcomes him back to her heart with girlish trust.
Now the guests assemble and, marshalled in order, take their places for
the singers' tourney.
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