ly reached the second period,
under the title of _Der Venusberg_ ("The Mountain of Venus"), and in
this earlier version the purely sexual occupied a far more prominent
place, probably in closer conformity with the old legend. For here
Tannhaeuser returns to Venus unsaved and defying the eternal values,
determined to renounce a higher life and give himself up to the pleasure
of the senses for all eternity. This idea was retained in a later
version up to the decisive final turn; the purely spiritual love for
Elizabeth eventually overcomes the unrestrained instinct.

As the despairing monk of mediaeval times, apparently abandoned by the
love of God, turned to Satan and worshipped him, so Tannhaeuser, cast out
of the Kingdom of Heaven by the words of the Pope, and renounced by
Elizabeth, again gives himself up to sensuality, which is here
contrasted with spiritual love, and represented as demoniacal.
Tannhaeuser is not vacillating between the love of two women--a
spiritualised and a sensual love; he is wavering between the purely
spiritual love of Elizabeth and promiscuous sexuality represented by
Venus, not centring on her as an individual, but diffused, as it were,
through her whole kingdom. The dualism which rends the whole universe is
strongly and uncompromisingly emphasised in text and music, and Wagner
himself explained to the opera singer, Schnorr von Carolsfeld, that the
main characteristic of the principal part was "the intensest expression
of delight and remorse without any intermediate stage of feeling,
changing abruptly and decisively." The closing words of the first scene:
"My salvation lies in Mary!" are the real turning point of the drama. As
abrupt as his desertion of Venus for Mary, is his return to her in the
third act. By the side of Mary is placed the more human, the more
earthly but yet idealised form of Elizabeth, a figure closely resembling
Beatrice and Margaret.

The music of _Tannhaeuser_ (more especially the overture) expresses the
contrast between the two erotic world-elements with striking
abruptness. The harmonious and musically perfect motive of religious
yearning (the chorus of the pilgrims) which forms the beginning and the
end of the overture, is assailed by the briefer motives of sensuous
seduction and ecstasy of the middle; the quivering, tickling passages of
the violins play round the sacred music of the chorale like so many
seductive elves. The Venusberg music is probably the most perfe