Tannhäuser

Tannhäuser (c. 1200–70), German poet and legendary character who wrote poems that were sung. A number of dance songs, love songs, and lyric songs of his still exist. He supposedly participated in the Crusades (1228–29) and traveled widely throughout Europe. The composer Richard Wagner based his opera Tannhäuser on the poet's life. As legend has it, Tannhäuser lived in a mountain with the goddess Venus for 7 years. During a visit to Rome, Tannhäuser asked the pope to forgive his sins, but the pope responded that just as his staff could never blossom, never could Tannhäuser's sins be forgiven. Dejected, Tannhäuser returned to Venus. Three days later the pope's staff blossomed into flowers.