Tannhäuser, Der
Tannhäuser, Der
Tannhäuser, Der, German Minnesinger; b. c. 1205; d. c. 1270. He was of noble lineage. He was active in the 5th Crusade to the Holy Land (1228-33) and the Cypriot war, and later was at the court of Friedrich II “der Streitfare” in Vienna and at the court of Otto II of Bavaria in Landshut, among others. His name became legendary through the tale of the Venusberg, pagan intimacy with Venus, penitence, pilgrimage to Rome, and the miracle of the flowering of his pilgrim’s staff. Wagner’s Tannhäuser is based on this legend, which is unconnected with the life of the real Tannhäuser. A complete ed. of his works has been edited by H. Lomnitzer and U. Müller, Tannhäuser (Göppingen, 1973).
Bibliography
F. Zander, Die T.sage und der Minnesinger T.(1858); J. Siebert, Der Dichter T: Leben-Gedichte-Sage (Hall, 1934).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire