This remarkable piece is a transcription from Richard Wagner's opera Tannhäuser. The original title in German is "O du mein holder Abendstern", which translates to "Song to the Evening Star". In the opera, Tannhäuser is a knight and minnesinger (German name for a medieval poet and singer of courtly love) who spent a year in the magical underground realm of Venus, the goddess of love. Upon his return to the human world, he reunites with Elizabeth, the daughter of one of his old friends. She is deeply in love with Tannhäuser, but quickly realizes that he cannot forget his attraction to Venus or understand what true love really means. This betrayal lays heavily on Elizabeth, who eventually dies of grief. This is when Wolfram (baritone), a knight and also in love with Elizabeth, sings this song as a prayer to the Evening Star. He asks the star to greet her soul on her way up to the heavens: “O you, my fair evening star, Gladly have I always greeted you: Greet her, from the depths of this heart, Which has never betrayed her, Greet her, when she passes, When she soars above this mortal vale To become a holy angel there!”