Chapter XVI

MINSTRELS, INITIATES OF MIDDLE AGEIS

WHEN Tannhauser emerged from the cave of
Venus one of the first sounds which greeted him
was the chant of a band of pilgrims going to Rome to
obtain forgiveness for their sins, and this awakened
within him an overpowering sense of his own delin-
quency. Therefore he kneels and exclaims in deep
contrition :

" Almighty, praise I give to Thee,
I pray Thee mercy show to me.
By sense of sin I am oppressed,
The load too heavy far for me.
I have no peace, can find no rest
Till pardon I receive from Thee."

While he is thus dejected and feels himself ac-
cursed, doomed to roam alone and unblessed through
the world because of his unhallowed love for Venus,
the minstrels come upon him, and recognizing him,
endeavor to persuade him to accompany them to Wart-
burg, but as said before, it was the passionate love of
Elizabeth that drove him thence, and he feels that he
dare not approach her. As a last argument, Wolfram

136 MYSTERIES OF THE GREAT OPERAS

von Esehenbaeh tells Tannhauser that Elizabeth loves
him. Elizabeth has never been at the contests of song
since Tannhauser left, and Wolfram von Esehenbaeh,
one of the purest and most beautiful characters in
Medieval history, endeavors to secure the happiness of
Elizabeth by bringing Tannhauser back to her though
he himself loves her, and it breaks his own heart to
do so. On hearing this, passion fires Tannhauser 's
soul anew, and he sings :

"Ah, dost thou smile once more upon me!

Thou radiant world that I had lost !

0 sun of heaven thou dost not shun me

By stormy clouds so long o'ercrossed.

'Tis May, sweet May. Its thousand carols tender,

Rejoicing set my sorrow free.

A ray of new, unwonted splendor

Illumes my soul, 0 joy 'tis she ! "

On meeting Elizabeth at the castle, she tells him :

"Now the world to me is darkened.
Repose and joy from me have flown.
Since fondly to thy lays IVe hearkened,
The pangs of bliss and woe I've known;
And when this land thou hadst forsaken,
My peace of heart had also fled.
No minstrel could my joy awaken,
To me their lays seem sad and dead.
In slumber oft near broken-hearted.

MINSTRELS, INITIATES OF MIDDLE AGES 137

Awake, each pang was oft recalled;
All joy has from my life departed.
Oh tell me why I am enthralled!'7

To this Tannhauser replies :

"All praise to love for this sweet token!
Love touched my harp with magic sweet.
Love through my song to thee hath spoken
And captured, leaves me at thy feet."

Elizabeth then confesses :

* ' 0 blessed hour of meeting I
0 blessed power of love !
At last I give thee greeting,
No longer wilt thou rove.
Now life anew awakens,
Within this heart of mine ;
The cloud of sorrow breaketh.
The sun of joy doth shine. ' '

Thus Elizabeth has inspired love in the hearts o±
two of the minstrels, Wolfram and Tannhauser, bat
how different this love is will be seen from the wey
each handles the theme in the contest of song, which
follows in the second act, where the Lord of Wart-
burg opens the contest with the following words :

"As oft in war times, death we braved,

And knightlike battled, honor to maintain,

So, minstrels you have fought and virtue saved.

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Upheld true faith with voice and harp's sweet

strain.

Tune up again; another lay indite.
Describe true love, that we may surely know;
And who so does most nobly this recite
The princess shall reward on him bestow. ' '

In this last verse we gain a true understanding of
the relative scope and mission of knighthood and min-
strelsy. It was the duty of knights to follow war,
to defend with the sword all who were in need thereof,
to fight with a strong arm the battle of the weak. In
so far as a knight followed the code of honor then pre-
vailing, and defended the weak, keeping faith with
friend and foe, he learned the lessons of physical and,
in a certain sense, of moral courage, which are so
necessary for the development of the soul. Anyone
who enters upon the path of spiritual attainment is
also a knight of noble birth, and it behooves him to
realize that he must have the same virtues which were
required of knighthood, for upon the spiritual path
there are also dangers and places where physical
courage is required. The spirit, for instance, cannot
come to liberation without physical inconvenience.
Sickness usually attends soul growth to a greater or a
less extent, and it requires physical courage to endure
the suffering incident to that attainment, after which
we all strive, and thus sacrifice the body for the soul.

It was the mission of minstrelsy to foster this cour-
age and to inculcate the finer virtues also. All min-

MINSTRELS, INITIATES OF MIDDLE AGES 139

strels, therefore, had that poetical strain which brings
us in touch with the higher and finer thing? in Namre
not sensed by ordinary humanity ; but more than that,
many among the minstrels in Medieval times vere
Initiates themselves, or perhaps lay brothers. There-
fore their words were often found to be pearls of wis-
dom. They were looked up to as teachers, as wise
men, and were friends of the true nobility.

There were, of course, exceptions, but Tannhauser
was not one of these, however. We shall find that
he was really a noble soul despite his faults, and in
fact we should remember that we are all Taunhausers
before we become Wolframs. We all respond to
Tannhauser 's definition of love before we grow to
Wolfram's spiritual conception as given at the con-
test.

Lots are drawn to see who shall begin the contest,
and the name of Wolfram appears on the slip first
taken from the box. He therefore commences as fol-
lows:

" Gazing around upon this fair assemblage
How does the heart expand to see the scene !
These gallant heroes, valiant, wise, and gentle,
As stately forests growing fresh and green,
And blooming by their side in sweet perfection,
I see a wreath of dames and maidens fair.
Their blended glories dazzle the beholder,
My song is mute before this vision rare.
I raise my eyes to one whose starry splendor

140 MYSTERIES OF THE GREAT OPERAS

In this bright heaven with mild effulgence beams,
And gazing on that radiance, pure and tender
My heart is sunk in prayerful, holy dreams.
And lo, the source of all delight and power
Is then unto my listening soul revealed.
From whose unfathomed depths, all joy doth

shower

The tender balm through which all grief is healed.
Oh ! never may I dim its limpid waters
Nor rashly trouble them with wild desires.
I '11 worship thee, kneeling, with soul devoted.
To live and die for thee my heart aspires.
I know not if these feeble words can render
What I have felt of love both true and tender."

At the end of Wolfram's song Tannhauser starts as
if from a dream. He rises and sings:

' ' I, too, drank from that well of pleasure ;
Its waters, Wolfram, well I know;
Who that has life may dare ignore it?
Hear how its virtues I will show :
But I would not draw near its margin
Unless desire consumed my soul ;
Then only would its wave refresh me,
My life and heart make new and whole.
0 tide of joy, let me possess thee!
All fear and doubt before thee fly :
Let thy unfathomed raptures bless me !
For thee alone my heart beats high,
So that I own thy fiery splendor,

MINSTRELS, INITIATES OF MIDDLE AGES 141

Let me with longing ever burn.
I tell thee, Wolfram, thus I render
What I have known of truest love. ' '

Here we have the true description of the two ex-
tremes of love ; that of Wolfram being the love of soul
for soul, Tannhauser's being the love of sense. One is
the love that seeks to give, the other demands posses-
sion that it may receive. This is only the beginning
of the contest, of which we shall hear fully later, but
these being the definitions first given by the two
chief exponents of love, it is well worth noting that
Wolfram von Eschenbach stands as the exponent of
the new and the more beautiful love which is to super-
sede the primeval conception.

Even to this day, unfortunately, the ancient idea
is entertained that possession is the signature of love.
Those who believe in rebirths in alternate sexes, should
by this fact be sufficiently convinced that, as the soul
is bisexual and our bodies contain rudimentary
organs belonging to the opposite sex, so it is no more
than proper and just that each human being regard-
less of the polarity of the present garb, should have
the same privileges as the other.

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