TOULOUSE
When King Heinrich orders a trial by combat, an unknown knight appears in a gondola drawn by a swan. He defeats Telramund and asks for Elsa’s hand in marriage – but imposes one absolute condition: she must never ask him his name or where he comes from. Elsa swears to this. Yet Ortrud, the defeated man’s wife, watches from the shadows. She knows that doubt is a weapon, and that the forbidden question will eventually burn on the young bride’s lips.
