Tannhäuser rehabilitated (III) – Eugène d’Harcourt’s concert

In November and December 1894, a few months before the work’s reappearance on the Parisian stage, its very important selection (including especially the entire first and third acts) was presented by the count Eugène d’Harcourt, – by the way member of the elitist Jockey’s Club – during his “eclectic concerts” at the rue Rochechouart’s Salle de Concerts. The author of the article recalls juridical and artistic controversies provoked by these executions of Wagner’s opera. Tannhäuser’s fourth performance at Paris Opera’s stage was preceded, in the spring of 1895, by many publications, books and articles devoted to Wagner’s masterpiece. The most important, Étude sur « Tannhäuser » de Richard Wagner. Analyse et guide thématique, was written by Alfred Ernst and Élie Poirée who tried to show the value of Tannhäuser, considered already as a musical drama and an important stage of the composer’s evolution.