It occurs to me that I ought to be putting up more Wagner music, as he is one of my favorites. So how about the Entrance of the Guests into the Wartburg from the opera Tannhäuser.
It’s a rousing piece, sure to get your juices flowing.
The situation is simple. There’s going to be a singing contest so the guests are assembling in the hall and as they do they sing, over and over:
| Freudig begrüssen wir die edle Halle, wo Kunst und Frieden immer nur verweil, wo lange noch der Ruf erschalle, Thüringens Fürsten, Landgraf Hermann, Heil! |
Joyfully we greet the noble hall, where may art and peace alone linger ever, and the joyous cry long ring out: To the Prince of Thuringia, Count Hermann, hail! |
This performance is from the Metropolitan Opera, a beautiful production originally unveiled in the 1970s. I saw it twice. And when those trumpets on the stage began to play, the sound in the theater was magnificent.