Tannhäuser

About this book

A knight leaves the enchanted mountain of Venus, carrying a longing he cannot reconcile with the demands of the Christian world. His return to human society leads through song, judgment and a desperate search for forgiveness.

Willy Pogany's illustrations transform Wagner's legend into a sequence of sumptuous medieval visions. T. W. Rolleston's English rendering gives the drama an accessible literary form, while the artwork dwells on robes, forests, architecture and the mysterious Venusberg. Desire and redemption pull the story in opposing directions, giving the beautiful surfaces a genuine sense of danger.