Richard Wagner's was a composer who scored the greatest success of his lifetime with his opera Tannhäuser of 1845. Its far-fetched plot chimed entirely with his audience's mid-Romantic sensibilities, telling the story of a brave knight who falls under the erotic spell of the goddess Venus, and falls into debauchery. Rejected by his community, Tannhäuser repents and travels to Rome to ask the Pope for forgiveness, which is ultimately granted.