Richard Wagner's opera Lohengrin was first performed in Weimar in 1850 under the direction of Liszt, who had helped Wagner in his flight from Dresden. The work opens with King Henry the Fowler hearing the accusation of fratricide brought by Telramund against Elsa of Brabant, to whom he had served as guardian after the death of her father, suggesting that she had killed her brother Gottfried in order to assume control over the land with a secret lover. The King decrees mortal combat to discover her guilt or innocence, and she declares that her champion will be a knight that she has seen in a dream. As the herald summons the combatants and Elsa prays for help, a swan is seen drawing a boat, from which steps an unknown knight. Telramund is defeated but the knight spares his victim, while the heathen Ortrud, Telramund's wife and fellow conspirator, wonders if her powers are waning. Reproached by Telramund, now condemned to banishment, she tells him that the knight's power can only be broken if he is made to reveal his name. She arouses the pity of Elsa and at the same time casts doubt on the origin of the mysterious knight. A herald announces Telramund's banishment and the appointment of the knight to rule Brabant, as husband to Elsa. Telramund seeks to learn the knight's name and rank but is denied an answer by the knight, who seeks Elsa's assurance of trust in him as they proceed to their wedding.

The Prelude to the third act depicts the wedding celebration. The King and his men escort Lohengrin, and the ladies of the court Elsa to the bridal chamber, before leaving them alone together. They exchange avowals of love. Lohengrin explains the feelings that had brought him to become her champion, but she returns to the mystery of her husband's name. He urges her to accept the mystery, like the scents wafted to them from the garden. Elsa would prove her worth by risking danger for him, seeking to share knowledge of his name that must conceal some danger.

Lohengrin reminds her of her promise not to seek his name and tries to reassure her, hinting at his own noble origin. Elsa is further disturbed by this confession, now imagining that he will leave her to return to the high state from which he came; she seems to see the swan that brought him, ready to take him away again. At last she asks the question, seeking openly to know his name. Telramund and four companions burst in with drawn swords, but Lohengrin, with a sword that Elsa hands him, strikes Telramund dead, while the other knights yield. Lohengrin leads Elsa, fainting, to a couch, and tells the knights to take Telramund's body to the King's court. He calls to Elsa's maids to take her before the King, where he will answer her question about his identity.

In the final scene Lohengrin, before the King, rejects the commission to lead the royal troops in war, and, revealing the body of Telramund, seeks and finds justification for his action. He accuses Elsa of breaking her word and explains his own origin, as a Knight of the Grail. As he takes his final leave, he tells Elsa that her brother Gottfried is alive, transformed by her magic, as Ortrud claims, into a swan. Gottfried reappears, as Lohengrin sadly sails away, his boat now drawn by a dove, and Elsa sinks lifeless into her brother's arms.

Writer: Keith Anderson