4 Bacchanal : Tannhäuser

This leitmotif is first heard in the overture. This series of motifs forms the music for the ballet in the overture representing the love orgy inside Venus’ cave, even within this short passage of music, many of the motifs are repeated in different orders, and you can start to hear their development through the black sections. The Bacchanal is a festival in celebration of the god Bacchus (or Dionysus), god of the grape, wine, and ritual madness and ecstasy. On stage, Sirens, nymphs, naiads, satyrs, and fauns are all moving about, chasing one another, and doing the sort of things you might expect on the mountain dwelling place of the goddess of love. This is represented in the music by the sprightly dotted rhythms, and the chromaticism gives the whole scene a magical shimmering feel. Progenitor leitmotifs: None Related Leitmotifs: None Subsidiary Leitmotifs: Declaration of Love: Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Co