The story centres on the struggle between sacred and profane love, [ 1 ] as well as redemption through love, a theme running through most of Wagner's work. Wagner wove a variety of sources into the opera narrative. According to his autobiography, he was inspired by finding the story in "a Volksbuch popular book about the Venusberg", which he said "fell into his hands", although he admits knowing of the story from the Phantasus of Ludwig Tieck and E.
The sources used by Wagner therefore reflected a nineteenth century romantic view of the medieval period, with concerns about artistic freedom and the constraints of organised religion typical of the period of Romanticism. Wagner began composing the music during a vacation in Teplitz in the summer of and completed the full score on 13 April ; the opera's famous overture , often played separately as a concert piece, was written last.
Meanwhile, I was very much troubled by excitability and rushes of blood to the brain. I imagined I was ill and lay for whole days in bed The score includes parts for on-stage brass; however, rather than using French brass instruments, Wagner uses 12 German waldhorns. Wagner also makes use of the harp , another commonplace of French opera. Wagner made a number of revisions of the opera throughout his life and was still dissatisfied with its format when he died.
The composer Ferdinand Hiller , at that time a friend of Wagner, assisted in the musical preparations for the production. The part of Elisabeth was sung by Wagner's niece Johanna Wagner.
Wagner had intended to premiere the opera on 13 October, Johanna's 19th birthday, but she was ill, so it was postponed by six days. The performance was conducted by the composer.
