Act One
A great feast is being celebrated in the Venusberg. The singer Tannhäuser, who has escaped there from the confines of the Wartburg and the Landgrave Hermann’s circle, which is governed by rigid conventions, abandons himself entirely to the exhilaration of sensual love. However, he soon yearns to return to the real world, the changeable feelings and life of a mortal. Venus, who accuses him of faithlessness, attempts in vain to calm his troubled spirit; Tannhäuser invokes the Virgin Mary and thus wards off the goddess’s charms.
A shepherd boy extols the spring; his melody is drowned out by the song of pilgrims passing by on their journey of penance to Rome. Tannhäuser is moved. Landgrave Hermann and his retinue come across him. Since they parted in conflict, they approach him with suspicion. Wolfram, however, recognises the desolate state of his former friend and invites him to return to the circle of minstrels. Although the others join Wolfram in his request, Tannhäuser refuses. Only when Wolfram reminds him of Elisabeth, the Landgrave’s niece, and candidly describes how very much she has suffered from his absence – although in love with her himself – does Tannhäuser reflect on the past and insist on returning to the Wartburg.

Act Two
Elisabeth and Tannhäuser see each other again for the first time after a lengthy period of separation. Elisabeth reveals her deepest feelings to Tannhäuser: his songs have aroused a hitherto unknown longing within her. Declaring their mutual love, Elisabeth and Tannhäuser forget the world around them.
Knowing of his niece’s feelings for Tannhäuser, the Landgrave Hermann has announced a special singing competition; the prospect of obtaining Elisabeth’s hand in marriage is the prize. As a theme, he sets the minstrels the task of fathoming the essence of love. Wolfram opens the competition with a hymn that exalts love as a purely spiritual value. Challenged by such a concept, which denies all sensuality, Tannhäuser, disregarding the ceremonial procedure, opposes this unrealistic ideal with a provocative song about love involving sensual pleasures. Walther von der Vogelweide calms the unsettled audience, but his defence of lofty love garners nothing but ridicule from Tannhäuser. When the last performer, Biterolf, attempts to impose the idea of moral decency on Tannhäuser, the latter feels provoked and extols the sensual delights of Venus. Furthermore, he even confesses to having lingered in her realm. The men throw themselves on Tannhäuser in order to kill him. At that moment, Elisabeth, although deeply hurt by Tannhäuser’s outburst, rises in his defence and asks for mercy: God alone is entitled to pass judgement over him.
The Landgrave pronounces sentence: Tannhäuser will be banished from society. However, he is permitted to join the pilgrims about to set off for Rome to beg for absolution from the Pope.

Act Three
Elisabeth’s life revolves around waiting for Tannhäuser’s return. Wolfram observes her anxiously.
The pilgrims who have obtained absolution return from Rome. Tannhäuser is not among them. Elisabeth asks the Virgin Mary to atone for him in his stead, and renounces life. Powerless to dissuade her, Wolfram stays behind. Only in his singing does he find comfort.
Another pilgrim approaches: it is Tannhäuser. At Wolfram’s request he relates his harsh journey of penance to Rome and the devastating judgement of the Pope, who declared that just as the staff in his hand would never again be adorned with fresh greenery, Tannhäuser would never be able to attain redemption. Now Tannhäuser again wants to escape to Venus. To no avail does Wolfram assure Tannhäuser that an angel has atoned on his behalf. Only when he mentions her name – Elisabeth – is Tannhäuser liberated from his delirium, but collapses, dead. The Wartburg circle celebrates the miracle of the verdant staff over his corpse.