The scenario of Tannhäuser based upon a medieval German legend gave Wagner a headache. He found great difficulty in the work often referring to it as ‘Meine schlechteste Oper’ (my worst opera).

But I doubt whether Norwich audiences would agree after witnessing such a riveting and thought-provoking production directed by Eva-Maria Höckmayr who has performed wonders helping to restore and rebuild the Salzburg Festival. The work displayed all the necessary ingredients that make Wagner one of the most romantic of all 19th-century composers.

As it turned out Höckmayr’s direction was somewhat quirky and she was keen (perhaps, too keen) on using the doppelgänger effect which portrayed guilt-ridden and tortured Tannhäuser (sung by Marius Vlad) as a harbinger of bad luck and in mortal danger. But I found the concept confusing and interrupting, and the alter-ego approach too distracting against the overall stage picture. Nevertheless, there were lots of great moments in a production that regularly lit up the stage.

Fabrice Bollon set the scene and mood of the evening conducting a stirring overture - fully staged and full of passion - with the 70-odd members of the Freiburg Philharmonic on top form. Partly based on the pilgrims’ chorus and partly on the orgies in the court of Venus it summarised the entire plot concerning the herculean tug-of-war between the sacred and the profane.

And passion and eroticism was to the fore in the opening scene with erotic video-projected images of party girls jostling with flashing images of Our Lady (of Piety - surely not of Lust!) while drunken revelry was the order of the day with Venus emerging from a double-sided confessional box fired up for action. It all seemed like a dream.

In stark contrast to the worship of Bacchus, the shepherd boy’s song to Holda - the spring goddess of the Thuringian mountains where the court of Venus was rooted - was an antidote to Bacchanalian desire. It was so delicately and innocently sung by a highly-talented soloist from the well-trained Black Forest-based Boys’ Choir of Calw.

The pivotal role of Venus was spikily sung and well acted by Astrid Weber, and Dana Burasová, harbouring a rich, warm soprano voice, sang with ease the role of Elisabeth. As Wolfram Alejandro Lárraga Schleske possessed a full-sounding baritone voice heard to mesmerising effect in a beautiful rendition of "O du mein holder Abendstern". The tenor voice of Roberto Gionfriddo was an equal match and fitted perfectly the role of Walther, while the deep bass voice of Jin Seok Lee (Landgraf, Elisabeth’s uncle) was a performance to remember.

The opera concluded with Elisabeth lying in a state of repose with Tannhäuser redeemed of life’s earthly struggles by her side as pilgrims returning from Rome (traditionally dressed in white knee-length smocks) were seen carrying the latest miracle from the Holy See - the Pope’s staff bursting into bloom. God has truly forgiven the errant Tannhäuser, the profaner of the minstrels’ hall.