Monthly Regular Meeting December 2023 (The 215th Meeting of Opera Research Group)
Waseda Institute for Research in Opera and Music Theatre (WIROM), Comprehensive Research Organization,Waseda University
- Time and Date: December 2nd (Sat.) 2023, 16:30 – 18:00 (JST)
- Format: Online meeting (Zoom)
- Presenter: ISHII, Michiko
- Affiliation: Waseda University
- Title: “The Three Figures of Tannhäuser in Wagner’s Opera”
- Language: Japanese
- Abstract: In this report, I will deal with three sorts of figures of “Tannhauser”: a minnesinger, a pagan, and a penitent. The story of the hero in Wagner’s “Tannhäuser” originated in a German “Volksbuch” (“people’s book,” a kind of chapbook) of the 18th century. In the legend, a minnesinger was tempted to a life of pleasure in the Venus Grotto because of the beautiful goddess. Originally this title-hero could have been a medieval minnesinger (ca. 1245-1265). In this report, I will analyze the love songs he performed at court and search for the reason why the character was later obsessed with the goddess Venus. Moreover, I would like to consider the same character in Hans Sachs’s carnival play “The Court of Venus” (1517). In this play, we can see that the character of Tannhäuser is a hedonist. On the other hand, the title hero of the Wagner opera seeks the salvation of God. Through the interpretation of three sorts of characters of Tannhäuser, I intend to reveal a more accurate intention of Wagner.
- Profile of Presenter: Michiko Ishii studies German literature with a research focus on medieval Germany and its influence on future generations. Besides this, she focuses on the phenomenon of the influence of Europe on the religions and literatures of modern Asia. She published a translation and commentary of German love songs of the Middle Ages as a joint work with other specialists, “Minnesang” (2001, Daigakushorin). Lately, she published “A Study of the Influence of Steinhöwel’s Aesop on Matteo Ricci’s ‘Jiren Shipian’ (畸人十篇)” (Annual Bulletin of Northeast Asian Studies, No. 27, Mar. 2022) and “The Translation of Grimms’ Fairy Tales in Japanese and Chinese” (ibid., No. 28, University of Niigata, Mar. 2023).
- Moderator: MORIMOTO, Yoriko
＊Comment: There were 20 participants.
