| Tristan und Isolde | |
|---|---|
| Music drama byRichard Wagner | |
 Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld and his wifeMalvina starring as Tristan and Isolde in the first performance. | |
| Librettist | Richard Wagner |
| Language | German |
| Based on | Tristan and Iseult byGottfried von Strassburg |
| Premiere | |
Tristan und Isolde (Tristan and Isolde),WWV 90, is amusic drama in three acts byRichard Wagner set to a Germanlibretto by the composer, loosely based on themedieval 12th-century romanceTristan and Iseult byGottfried von Strassburg. First conceived in 1854, the music was composed between 1857 and 1859 and premiered at theKönigliches Hoftheater und Nationaltheater inMunich on 10 June 1865 withHans von Bülow conducting.[1] While performed byopera companies, Wagner preferred the termHandlung (German for "plot" or "action") forTristan to distinguish its structure of continuous narrative flow ("endless melody") as distinct from that of conventional opera at the time which was constructed of mundanerecitatives punctuated by showpiecearias, which Wagner had come to regard withgreat disdain.
Wagner's composition ofTristan und Isolde was inspired in part by the philosophy ofArthur Schopenhauer, as well as by his relationship with hismuseMathilde Wesendonck.[2] The opera, which explores existential themes such as that of mankind'sinsatiable striving and the transcendental nature of a supreme love beyond death, incorporates spirituality fromChristian mysticism as well asVedantic andBuddhist metaphysics, subjects that also interested Schopenhauer.[3] As such, Wagner was one of the earliest Western artists to introduce concepts from theDharmic religions into their works.[4]
Tristan und Isolde is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest achievements of Westernart music, intriguing audiences with philosophical depths not usually associated with opera, and the "terrible and sweet infinity" of its musical-poetic language.[5] Its advanced harmony, immediately announced by the famous openingTristan chord of its prelude, marks a defining moment in the precognition of modern music, characterized by unprecedented use ofchromaticism, tonal ambiguity, orchestral colour, and prolongedharmonic suspension.[6] While these innovations divided audiences initially, the opera grew in popularity and became enormously influential among Western classical composers, providing direct inspiration toAnton Bruckner,Gustav Mahler,Richard Strauss,Alban Berg,Arnold Schoenberg, andBenjamin Britten. Other composers such asClaude Debussy,Maurice Ravel, andIgor Stravinsky formulated their styles in contrast to Wagner's musical legacy.[7]
Wagner was forced to abandon his position as conductor of theDresden Opera in 1849, as there was a warrant posted for his arrest for his participation in the unsuccessfulMay Revolution. He left his wife,Minna, in Dresden, and fled toZurich. There, in 1852, he met the wealthy silk trader Otto Wesendonck. Wesendonck became a supporter of Wagner and bankrolled the composer for several years. Wesendonck's wife,Mathilde, became enamoured of the composer.[8] Though Wagner was working on his epicDer Ring des Nibelungen, he found himself intrigued by the legend ofTristan and Isolde.
The re-discovery ofmedieval Germanic poetry, includingGottfried von Strassburg's version ofTristan [de], theNibelungenlied andWolfram von Eschenbach'sParzival, left a large impact on the GermanRomantic movements during the mid-19th century. The story of Tristan and Isolde is a quintessential romance of the Middle Ages and theRenaissance. Several versions of the story exist, the earliest dating to the middle of the 12th century. Gottfried's version, part of the "courtly" branch of the legend, had a huge influence on later German literature.[9]
According to hisautobiography,Mein Leben, Wagner decided to dramatise the Tristan legend after his friend, Karl Ritter, attempted to do so, writing that:
He had, in fact, made a point of giving prominence to the lighter phases of the romance, whereas it was its all-pervading tragedy that impressed me so deeply that I felt convinced it should stand out in bold relief, regardless of minor details.[10]
This influence, together with his discovery of the philosophy ofArthur Schopenhauer in October 1854, led Wagner to find himself in a "serious mood created by Schopenhauer, which was trying to find ecstatic expression. It was some such mood that inspired the conception of aTristan und Isolde."[11]
Wagner wrote of his preoccupations with Schopenhauer andTristan in a letter toFranz Liszt (16 December 1854):
Never in my life having enjoyed the true happiness of love I shall erect a memorial to this loveliest of all dreams in which, from the first to the last, love shall, for once, find utter repletion. I have devised in my mind aTristan und Isolde, the simplest, yet most full-blooded musical conception imaginable, and with the 'black flag' that waves at the end I shall cover myself over – to die.[12]
By the end of 1854, Wagner had sketched out all three acts of an opera on the Tristan theme, based on Gottfried von Strassburg's telling of the story. While the earliest extant sketches date from December 1856, it was not until August 1857 that Wagner began devoting his attention entirely to the opera, putting aside the composition ofSiegfried to do so. On 20 August he began the prose sketch for the opera, and thelibretto (orpoem, as Wagner preferred to call it) was completed by 18 September.[13] Wagner, at this time, had moved into a cottage built in the grounds of Wesendonck's villa, where, during his work onTristan und Isolde, he became passionately involved with Mathilde Wesendonck. Whether or not this relationship wasplatonic remains uncertain. One evening in September of that year, Wagner read the finished poem of "Tristan" to an audience including his wife, Minna, his currentmuse, Mathilde, and his futuremistress (and later wife),Cosima von Bülow.
By October 1857, Wagner had begun the composition sketch of the first act. During November, however, he set five of Mathilde's poems to music known today as theWesendonck Lieder. This was an unusual move by Wagner, who almost never set to music poetic texts other than his own. Wagner described two of the songs – "Im Treibhaus" and "Träume" – as "Studies for Tristan und Isolde": "Träume" uses a motif that forms the love duet in act 2 ofTristan, while "Im Treibhaus" introduces a theme that later became the prelude to act 3.[14] But Wagner resolved to writeTristan only after he had secured a publishing deal with the Leipzig-based firmBreitkopf & Härtel, in January 1858. From this point on, Wagner finished each act and sent it off for engraving before he started on the next – a remarkable feat given the unprecedented length and complexity of the score.[15]
In April 1858 Wagner's wife Minna intercepted a note from Wagner to Mathilde and, despite Wagner's protests that she was putting a "vulgar interpretation" on the note, she accused first Wagner and then Mathilde of unfaithfulness.[16] After enduring much misery, Wagner persuaded Minna, who had a heart condition, to rest at aspa while Otto Wesendonck took Mathilde to Italy. It was during the absence of the two women that Wagner began the composition sketch of the second act ofTristan. However, Minna's return in July 1858 did not clear the air, and on 17 August, Wagner was forced to leave both Minna and Mathilde and move toVenice.
Wagner would later describe his last days in Zurich as "a veritable Hell". Minna wrote to Mathilde before departing for Dresden:
I must tell you with a bleeding heart that you have succeeded in separating my husband from me after nearly twenty-two years of marriage. May this noble deed contribute to your peace of mind, to your happiness.[17]
Wagner finished the second act ofTristan during his eight-month exile in Venice, where he lived in thePalazzo Giustinian. In March 1859, fearingextradition toSaxony, where he was still considered afugitive, Wagner moved toLucerne where he composed the last act, completing it in August 1859.
Tristan und Isolde proved to be a difficult opera to stage, and Wagner considered various possibilities for the venue. In 1857 he was invited by a representative ofPedro II,Emperor of Brazil, to stage his operas inRio de Janeiro (in Italian, the language of the Imperial Opera); he told Liszt he was considering settling in Rio, and that that city would be given the honour of premieringTristan. Wagner sent the Emperor bound copies of his earlier operas in expression of his interest, but nothing more came of the plan.[18] He then proposed that the premiere take place inStrasbourg, following interest in the project shown by the Grand Duchess of Baden. Again, the project failed to eventuate.[18] His thoughts then turned to Paris, the centre of the operatic world in the middle of the 19th century. However, after a disastrous staging ofTannhäuser at theParis Opéra, Wagner offered the work to theKarlsruhe opera in 1861.
When Wagner visited theVienna Court Opera to rehearse possible singers for this production, the management at Vienna suggested staging the opera there. Originally, the tenorAlois Ander was employed to sing the part of Tristan, but later proved incapable of learning the role. Parallel attempts to stage the opera in Dresden, Weimar and Prague failed. Despite over 70 rehearsals between 1862 and 1864,Tristan und Isolde was unable to be staged in Vienna, winning the opera a reputation as unperformable.
It was only afterKing Ludwig II of Bavaria became a sponsor of Wagner (he granted the composer a generous stipend and supported Wagner's artistic endeavours in other ways) that enough resources could be found to mount the premiere ofTristan und Isolde.Hans von Bülow was chosen to conduct the production at the Nationaltheater in Munich, despite the fact that Wagner was having an affair with his wife,Cosima von Bülow. Even then, the plannedpremiere on 15 May 1865 had to be postponed until the Isolde,Malvina Schnorr von Carolsfeld, had recovered fromhoarseness. The work finally premiered on 10 June 1865, with Malvina's husbandLudwig partnering her as Tristan.
On 21 July 1865, having sung the role only four times, Ludwig died suddenly – prompting speculation that the exertion involved in singing the part of Tristan had killed him. (The stress of performingTristan has also claimed the lives of conductorsFelix Mottl in 1911 andJoseph Keilberth in 1968. Both men died after collapsing while conducting the second act of the opera.) Malvina sank into a deep depression over her husband's death, and never sang again, although she lived for another 38 years.
For some years thereafter, the only performers of the roles were another husband–wife team,Heinrich Vogl andTherese Vogl.[19]
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The next production ofTristan was inWeimar in 1874. Wagner himself supervised another production ofTristan in Berlin in March 1876, but the opera was only performed inhis own theatre at theBayreuth Festival after his death; Cosima Wagner, his widow, oversaw this in 1886, a production that was widely acclaimed.
The first production outside of Germany was given at theTheatre Royal, Drury Lane, London in 1882; Tristan was performed byHermann Winkelmann, who later that year sang the title role ofParsifal at Bayreuth. It was conducted byHans Richter, who also conducted the firstCovent Garden production two years later. Winkelmann was also the first Vienna Tristan, in 1883. The first American performance was held at theMetropolitan Opera in December 1886, conducted byAnton Seidl.
The score ofTristan und Isolde has often been cited as a landmark in the development of Western music.[20] Throughout the opera, Wagner uses a remarkable range of orchestral colour, harmony, and polyphony, doing so with a freedom rarely found in his earlier operas. The first chord in the piece, theTristan chord, is of great significance in the move away from traditional tonalharmony as it resolves to anotherdissonant chord:[21]
The opera is noted for its numerous expansions of harmonic practice; for instance, one significant innovation is the frequent use of two consecutive chords containing tritones (diminished fifth or augmented fourth), neither of which is a diminished seventh chord (F–B, bar 2; E–A♯, bar 3).Tristan und Isolde is also notable for its use ofharmonic suspension – a device used by a composer to create musical tension by exposing the listener to a series of prolonged unfinishedcadences, thereby inspiring a desire and expectation on the part of the listener for musical resolution.[22] While suspension is a common compositional device (in use since before the Renaissance), Wagner was one of the first composers to employ harmonic suspension over the course of an entire work. The cadences first introduced in the prelude are not resolved until the finale of act 3, and, on a number of occasions throughout the opera, Wagner primes the audience for a musical climax with a series of chords building in tension – only to deliberately defer the anticipated resolution. One particular example of this technique occurs at the end of the love duet in act 2 ("Wie sie fassen, wie sie lassen...") where Tristan and Isolde gradually build up to a musical climax, only to have the expected resolution destroyed by the dissonant interruption of Kurwenal ("Rette Dich, Tristan!"). Resolution of the music does not occur until the very end of the opera, after Isolde sings the closing excerpt commonly referred to as the "Liebestod" ("Love-Death"), after which she sinks down, "as if transfigured", dead onto Tristan's body.[23]
The tonality ofTristan was to prove immensely influential in western Classical music. Wagner's use of musical colour also influenced the development offilm music.Bernard Herrmann's score forAlfred Hitchcock's classic,Vertigo, is heavily reminiscent of the "Liebestod", most evidently in the resurrection scene. The "Liebestod" was incorporated inLuis Buñuel'ssurrealist filmL'Age d'Or. Not all composers, however, reacted favourably:Claude Debussy's piano piece "Golliwog's Cakewalk" mockingly quotes the opening of the opera in a distorted form, instructing the passage to be played 'avec une grande emotion'. However, Debussy was highly influenced by Wagner and was particularly fond ofTristan. Frequent moments ofTristan-inspired tonality mark Debussy's early compositions.
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast, 10 June 1865 Conductor:Hans von Bülow |
|---|---|---|
| Tristan,aBreton nobleman, adopted heir of Marke | tenor | Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld |
| Isolde,anIrish princess betrothed to Marke | high dramatic soprano | Malvina Schnorr von Carolsfeld |
| Brangäne,Isolde's maid | soprano[24] | Anna Deinet |
| Kurwenal,Tristan's servant | baritone | Anton Mitterwurzer |
| Marke,King ofCornwall | bass | Ludwig Zottmayr |
| Melot,a courtier, Tristan's friend | tenor (or baritone)[25] | Karl Samuel Heinrich |
| A shepherd | tenor | Karl Simons |
| A steersman | baritone | Peter Hartmann |
| A young sailor | tenor | |
| Sailors, knights, and esquires | ||
Tristan und Isolde is scored for the following instruments:
on-stage
Isolde, promised toKing Marke in marriage, and her handmaid,Brangäne, are quartered aboard Tristan's ship being transported to the king's lands inCornwall. The opera opens with the voice of a young sailor singing of a "wild Irish maid" ("Westwärts schweift der Blick"), which Isolde construes to be a mocking reference to herself. In a furious outburst, she wishes the seas to rise up and sink the ship, killing herself and all on board ("Erwache mir wieder, kühne Gewalt"). Her scorn and rage are directed particularly at Tristan, the knight responsible for taking her to Marke, and Isolde sends Brangäne to command Tristan to appear before her ("Befehlen liess' dem Eigenholde"). Tristan, however, refuses Brangäne's request, claiming that his place is at the helm. His henchman, Kurwenal, answers more brusquely, saying that Isolde is in no position to command Tristan and reminds Brangäne that Isolde's previous fiancé,Morold, was killed by Tristan ("Herr Morold zog zu Meere her").
Brangäne returns to Isolde to relate these events, and Isolde, in what is termed the "narrative and curse", sadly tells her of how, following the death of Morold, she happened upon a stranger who called himself Tantris. Tantris was found mortally wounded in abarge ("von einem Kahn, der klein und arm") and Isolde used her healing powers to restore him to health. She discovered during Tantris' recovery, however, that he was actually Tristan, the murderer of her fiancé. Isolde attempted to kill the man with his own sword as he lay helpless before her. However, Tristan looked not at the sword that would kill him or the hand that wielded the sword, but into her eyes ("Er sah' mir in die Augen"). His gaze pierced her heart and she was unable to slay him. Tristan was allowed to leave with the promise never to come back, but he later returned with the intention of marrying Isolde to his uncle, King Marke. Isolde, furious at Tristan's betrayal, insists that he drink atonement to her, and from her medicine chest produces a vial to make the drink. Brangäne is shocked to see that it is a lethal poison.
Kurwenal appears in the women's quarters ("Auf auf! Ihr Frauen!") and announces that the voyage is coming to an end. Isolde warns Kurwenal that she will not appear before the King if Tristan does not come before her as she had previously ordered and drink atonement to her. When Tristan arrives, Isolde reproaches him about his conduct and tells him that he owes her his life and how his actions have undermined her honour, since she blessed Morold's weapons before battle and therefore she swore revenge. Tristan first offers his sword but Isolde refuses; they must drink atonement. Brangäne brings in the potion that will seal their pardon; Tristan knows that it may kill him, since he knows Isolde's magic powers ("Wohl kenn' ich Irlands Königin"). The journey almost at its end, Tristan drinks and Isolde takes half the potion for herself. The potion seems to work, but instead of death, it brings relentless love ("Tristan!" "Isolde!"). Kurwenal, who announces the imminent arrival on board of King Marke, interrupts their rapture. Isolde asks Brangäne which potion she prepared and Brangäne replies, as the sailors hail the arrival of King Marke, that it was notpoison; rather, she has substituted alove potion in order to save Isolde from herself.
King Marke leads a hunting party out into the night, leaving Isolde and Brangäne alone in the castle. A torch is burning at the open door of Isolde's apartments. Isolde, listening to the hunting horns, believes several times that the hunting party is far enough away to warrant extinguishing the torch – the prearranged signal for Tristan to join her ("Nicht Hörnerschall tönt so hold"). Brangäne warns Isolde that Melot, one of King Marke's knights, has seen the amorous looks exchanged between Tristan and Isolde and suspects their passion ("Ein Einz'ger war's, ich achtet' es wohl"). Isolde, however, believes Melot to be Tristan's most loyal friend, and, in a frenzy of desire, extinguishes the flame. Brangäne retires to the ramparts to keep watch as Tristan arrives.
The lovers, at last alone and freed from the constraints of courtly life, declare their passion for each other. Tristan decries the realm of daylight which is false, unreal, and keeps them apart. It is only in night, he claims, that they can truly be together and only in the long night of death can they be eternally united ("O sink' hernieder, Nacht der Liebe"). During their long tryst, Brangäne calls a warning several times that the night is ending ("Einsam wachend in der Nacht"), but her cries fall upon deaf ears. The day breaks in on the lovers as Melot leads King Marke and his men to find Tristan and Isolde in each other's arms. Marke is heartbroken, not only because of his nephew's betrayal but also because Melot chose to betray his friend Tristan to Marke and because of Isolde's betrayal as well ("Mir – dies? Dies, Tristan – mir?").
When questioned, Tristan explains that he cannot reveal the reason for his betrayal to the King, as he believes the King wouldn't understand. He then turns to Isolde, who agrees to accompany him once again into the realm of night. Tristan further reveals that Melot has also fallen in love with Isolde. A fight ensues between Melot and Tristan, but at a critical moment, Tristan deliberately throws his sword aside, allowing Melot to stab him.
Kurwenal has brought Tristan home to his castle at Kareol inBrittany. A shepherd pipes a mournful tune and asks if Tristan is awake. Kurwenal replies that only Isolde's arrival can save Tristan, and the shepherd offers to keep watch and claims that he will pipe a joyful tune to mark the arrival of any ship. Tristan awakes ("Die alte Weise – was weckt sie mich?") and laments his fate – to be, once again, in the false realm of daylight, once more driven by unceasing unquenchable yearning ("Wo ich erwacht' weilt ich nicht"). Tristan's sorrow ends when Kurwenal tells him that Isolde is on her way. Tristan, overjoyed, asks if her ship is in sight, but only a sorrowful tune from the shepherd's pipe is heard.
Tristan relapses and recalls that the shepherd's mournful tune is the same as was played when he was told of the deaths of his father and mother ("Muss ich dich so versteh'n, du alte, ernst Weise"). He rails once again against his desires and against the fateful love potion ("verflucht sei, furchtbarer Trank!") until, exhausted, he collapses indelirium. After his collapse, the shepherd is heard piping the arrival of Isolde's ship, and, as Kurwenal rushes to meet her, Tristan tears the bandages from his wounds in his excitement ("Hahei! Mein Blut, lustig nun fliesse!"). As Isolde arrives at his side, Tristan dies with her name on his lips.
Isolde collapses beside her deceased lover just as the appearance of another ship is announced. Kurwenal spies Melot, Marke and Brangäne arriving ("Tod und Hölle! Alles zur Hand!"). He believes they have come to kill Tristan and, in an attempt to avenge him, furiously attacks Melot. Marke tries to stop the fight to no avail. Both Melot and Kurwenal are killed in the fight. Marke and Brangäne finally reach Tristan and Isolde. Marke, grieving over the body of his "truest friend" ("Tot denn alles!"), explains that Brangäne revealed the secret of the love potion and that he had come not to part the lovers, but to unite them ("Warum Isolde, warum mir das?"). Isolde appears to wake at this and in a finalaria describing her vision of Tristan risen again (the "Liebestod", "love death"), dies ("Mild und leise wie er lächelt").
ReadingThe World as Will and Representation by German philosopherArthur Schopenhauer in 1854 profoundly impacted Wagner and triggered in him a spiritual and artistic reassessment. Schopenhauer'spessimistic worldview, his emphasis on the primacy of "Will" as the fundamental force of existence, and his notion that music is the highest of the arts because it directly expresses the Will resonated deeply with Wagner. In response, Wagner composed works such asTristan and Isolde andParsifal whose libretti are pervaded with Schopenhauer's ideas and whose music dominates the opera.[27] This is in contrast to Wagner's earlier theorizing inThe Artwork of the Future (1849) that music, poetry, and drama should be balanced and serve as equal partners in theGesamtkunstwerk.
Wagner gives heightened importance to music inTristan und Isolde, often regarded as his most symphonically rich work. Unlike his other operas, Wagner wrote some music material forTristan prior to completing the libretto.[28] The music itself embodies Schopenhauer's concept of the Will, a force that is inherently restless and never fully satisfied that drives all human urges and desires, leading to a cycle of longing and suffering. Wagner captures this in the musical structure of the opera through his use of unresolved harmonic tension and extreme chromaticism, creating a sense of perpetual yearning and lack of resolution. Only at the very end of the opera, when Isolde undergoes transfiguration and "Love-Death", does the musical tension finally resolve. The passion of the music is often referred to as being "sensual" and "erotic",[29] this not only reflects the desires of the illicit lovers but is consistent with Schopenhauer's position that the sexual urge is the most powerful manifestation of the Will.[30]
Wagner uses the metaphors of "Day" and "Night" in the second act to designate the realms inhabited by Tristan and Isolde.[31] The Day represents the external world of social obligations, duties, and constraints—embodied by King Marke's court, where Tristan and Isolde must suppress their love and live according to the norms and expectations of society. This is a world of falsehood and deception because it requires them to deny their true feelings. The Night, by contrast, represents the inner world of truth, love, and authentic existence, where Tristan and Isolde can express their love freely and fully. It is a realm where the constraints of the external world are suspended, and their deepest desires can be realized. However, this realm is also linked to death, as true fulfillment and unity can only be achieved beyond the physical world.[32]
Schopenhauer's philosophy distinguishes between the world as "Phenomenon"—the world of appearances shaped by our perceptions and intellect—and the "Noumenon", which refers to the underlying reality that is not directly accessible to us but is the true essence of existence. Wagner implicitly equates the realm of Day with Schopenhauer's concept of Phenomenon and the realm of Night with the concept of Noumenon.[33]
In the years leading up to 1857, when Wagner would set aside his work onThe Ring to instead focus onTristan und Isolde, Wagner's interests were dominated by spiritual matters. In 1855 his attention turned toIndian religion, readingEugène Burnouf'sIntroduction to the History of Indian Buddhism, andHindu texts published inAdolf Holtzmann'sIndian Sagas.[35] In addition toTristan, this culminated in the conception of two additional operas at this time,Die Sieger, based on the life of theBuddhist monkĀnanda, andParsifal, aHoly Grail quest based on the medieval poemParzival byWolfram von Eschenbach.
Wagner was interested in theOrient and already acquainted withIslamic mysticism prior to reading Schopenhauer in 1854, having written to his friendAugust Röckel in September 1852 declaring thePersian Sufi poetHafez to be the "greatest of all poets".[36] Schopenhauer's discussion of GermanChristian mystics, such asMeister Eckhart, further piqued Wagner's interest inmysticism.
When Tristan and Isolde willingly drink the potion at the end of act 1 but do not die, their eyes are opened to the illusions of material Day and to the higher spiritual insight of Night. Tristan celebrates the enlightenment brought about by the potion in act 2:
Oh hail the potion! Hail to the draft!
Hail to its magic's magnificent craft!
Through the gates of Death, to me it flowed,
wide and open, for me it showed,
that which I've only dreamed to have sight,
the wondrous realm of Night!
MythologistJoseph Campbell described this moment of drinking the potion as follows:
...as [Tristan and Isolde] have already renounced psychologically both love as lust and the fear of death, when they drink, and live, and again look upon each other, the veil of māyā has fallen.[37]
Māyā is a concept in the Indian religions that refers to the appearance of the material world, connoting a "magic show, an illusion where things appear to be present but are not what they seem", and "conceals the true character of spiritual reality"; it finds its parallel in Schopenhauer's "Phenomenon". Tristan denounces the lying "disguise" of Day and resolves to yearn for and seek out only the "Holy Night":
Oh, now we are with Night anointed!
The treacherous Day, with envy pointed,
could part us with its disguise,
but no longer cheat us with lies!
Amid the Day's deluded churning,
remains one single yearning—
the yearning for the Holy Night,
where all-eternal's solely true
Love does laugh with delight!
After expressing this sentiment, the famous act 2 love duet, the "Liebesnacht" ("O sink hernieder, Nacht der Liebe"), begins. Here, Tristan and Isolde dedicate themselves to eternal Night and wish that Day would never come again, instead dying a transcendental "Love-Death" together as the ultimate consummation of their love. The music builds to ecstatic, mystically-elated climaxes, where they imagine the dissolution of their individual egos and merging into unity with each other and "supreme love":
Tristan you, I Isolde, no longer Tristan!
You Isolde, Tristan I, no longer Isolde!
Without naming, without separating,
newly perceiving, newly igniting;
endless, eternal, one-consciousness:
a heart fervently burning with supreme love's joy!
The themes of spiritual yearning inTristan resonate with the introspective and passionate elements found in Christian mysticism, particularly the concept of "unio mystica"—the soul's union with thedivine. The character's relentless pursuit of an idealized love that transcends earthly bounds and the notion of love leading to a metaphysical union can be seen as parallel to the Sufi pursuit of "fana", theannihilation of the self in the universal presence of the divine.
The closing "Liebestod", Isolde's "transfiguration" sung before she dies, invokes Hindu and Buddhist sentiments. The German word for breath, Atem, is related etymologically to theSanskrit wordĀtman, meaning soul or eternal Self. Isolde sinking "unconscious" into a state of bliss is associated with the Buddhist concept ofNirvana, although Schopenhauer and Wagner at the time misunderstood this concept to imply a state of non-being:
In the unbounded swell,
in the resounding call,
in the world's breath, flowing in all!
To drown...
to sink...
unconscious...
supreme bliss!
Wagner scholar John Pohanka has written on the spiritual influences in Wagner's works, commenting that they not only contribute material to the libretto but how the power of the Wagnerian music and drama can itself invoke a transformative, ineffable experience in some audience members comparable to a mystical experience.[38]
Given the influence of Schopenhauer and the apparent framing ofTristan und Isolde as a tragedy, many have remarked on the opera's "pessimism". On this, British scholar George Ainslie Hight wrote in 1912:
Such is Wagner's pessimism: it is the pessimism of the Vedânta philosophy; that is to say, it is most clearly formulated in that system, and in the Upanishads upon which it rests, but really it is the common basis of all religions. It breathes in the poems of Hafiz, in the philosophy of Parmenides, Plato, and the Stoics, in the profound wisdom of Ecclesiastes, in mediaeval mysticism, and the faith of the early Christian Church. Buddhism and Christianity are both pessimist in their origin.[39]
AlthoughTristan und Isolde is now widely performed in major opera houses around the world, critical opinion of the opera was initially unfavourable. The 5 July 1865 edition of theAllgemeine musikalische Zeitung reported:
Not to mince words, it is the glorification of sensual pleasure, tricked out with every titillating device, it is unremitting materialism, according to which human beings have no higher destiny than, after living the life of turtle doves, 'to vanish in sweet odours, like a breath'. In the service of this end, music has been enslaved to the word; the most ideal of the Muses has been made to grind the colours for indecent paintings... (Wagner) makes sensuality itself the true subject of his drama.... We think that the stage presentation of the poemTristan und Isolde amounts to an act of indecency. Wagner does not show us the life of heroes of Nordic sagas which would edify and strengthen the spirit of his German audiences. What he does present is the ruination of the life of heroes through sensuality.[40]
Eduard Hanslick's reaction in 1868 to the prelude toTristan was that it "reminds one of the old Italian painting of a martyr [Erasmus of Formia] whose intestines are slowly unwound from his body on a reel".[41][42] The first performance in London'sDrury Lane Theatre drew the following response fromThe Era in 1882:
We cannot refrain from making a protest against the worship of animal passion which is so striking a feature in the late works of Wagner. We grant there is nothing so repulsive inTristan as inDie Walküre, but the system is the same. The passion is unholy in itself and its representation is impure, and for those reasons we rejoice in believing that such works will not become popular. If they did we are certain their tendency would be mischievous, and there is, therefore, some cause for congratulation in the fact that Wagner's music, in spite of all its wondrous skill and power, repels a greater number than it fascinates.[43]
Mark Twain, on a visit to Germany, heardTristan at Bayreuth and commented: "I know of some, and have heard of many, who could not sleep after it, but cried the night away. I feel strongly out of place here. Sometimes I feel like the one sane person in the community of the mad; sometimes I feel like the one blind man where all others see; the one groping savage in the college of the learned, and always, during service, I feel like a heretic in heaven."[44]
Clara Schumann wrote thatTristan und Isolde was "the most repugnant thing I have ever seen or heard in all my life".[45]
With the passage of time,Tristan became more favourably regarded. In an interview shortly before his death,Giuseppe Verdi said that he "stood in wonder and terror" before Wagner'sTristan.[46] InThe Perfect Wagnerite, the writer and satiristGeorge Bernard Shaw writes thatTristan was "an astonishingly intense and faithful translation into music of the emotions which accompany the union of a pair of lovers" and described it as "a poem of destruction and death".Richard Strauss, initially dismissive ofTristan, claimed that Wagner's music "would kill a cat and would turn rocks into scrambled eggs from fear of [its] hideous discords". Later, however, Strauss became part of theBayreuth coterie and writing toCosima Wagner in 1892 declared: "I have conducted my firstTristan. It was the most wonderful day of my life." In 1935 he wrote to Joseph Gregor, one of his librettists, thatTristan und Isolde was "the end of all romanticism, as it brings into focus the longing of the entire 19th century."[47]
The conductorBruno Walter heard his firstTristan und Isolde in 1889 as a student:
So there I sat in the topmost gallery of the Berlin Opera House, and from the first sound of the cellos my heart contracted spasmodically.... Never before has my soul been deluged with such floods of sound and passion, never had my heart been consumed by such yearning and sublime bliss... A new epoch had begun: Wagner was my god, and I wanted to become his prophet.[48]
Arnold Schoenberg referred to Wagner's technique of shifting chords inTristan as "phenomena of incredible adaptability and nonindependence roaming, homeless, among the spheres of keys; spies reconnoitering weaknesses; to exploit them in order to create confusion, deserters for whom surrender of their own personality is an end in itself".[49]
Friedrich Nietzsche, who in his younger years was one of Wagner's staunchest allies, wrote that, for him, "Tristan and Isolde is the realopus metaphysicum of all art ... insatiable and sweet craving for the secrets of night and death ... it is overpowering in its simple grandeur". In a letter to his friendErwin Rohde in October 1868, Nietzsche described his reaction toTristan's prelude: "I simply cannot bring myself to remain critically aloof from this music; every nerve in me is atwitch, and it has been a long time since I had such a lasting sense of ecstasy as with this overture". Even after his break with Wagner, Nietzsche continued to considerTristan a masterpiece: "Even now I am still in search of a work which exercises such a dangerous fascination, such a spine-tingling and blissful infinity asTristan – I have sought in vain, in every art."[50]
Marcel Proust, greatly influenced by Wagner, refers toTristan und Isolde and its "inexhaustible repetitions" throughout his novelIn Search of Lost Time. He describes the prelude theme as "linked to the future, to the reality of the human soul, of which it was one of the most special and distinctive ornaments".[51][52]
Tristan und Isolde has a long recorded history and most of the major Wagnerconductors since the end of the First World War have had their interpretations captured on disc. The limitations of recording technology meant that until the 1930s it was difficult to record the entire opera, however recordings of excerpts or single acts exist going back to 1901, when excerpts of Tristan were captured on theMapleson Cylinders recorded during performances at theMetropolitan Opera.[53]
In the years before World War II,Kirsten Flagstad andLauritz Melchior were considered to be the prime interpreters of the lead roles, and mono recordings exist of this pair in a number of live performances led by conductors such asThomas Beecham,Fritz Reiner,Artur Bodanzky andErich Leinsdorf. Flagstad recorded the part commercially only near the end of her career in 1952, underWilhelm Furtwängler forEMI, producing a set which is considered a classic recording.[54]
Following the war, another classic recording is the 1952 performance at theBayreuth Festival withMartha Mödl andRamón Vinay underHerbert von Karajan, which is noted for its strong, vivid characterizations and is now available as a live recording. In the 1960s, the sopranoBirgit Nilsson was considered the major Isolde interpreter, and she was often partnered with the Tristan ofWolfgang Windgassen. Their performance at Bayreuth in 1966 under the baton ofKarl Böhm was captured byDeutsche Grammophon – a performance often hailed as one of the bestTristan recordings.[55]
Karajan did not record the opera officially until 1971–72. Karajan's selection of a lighter soprano voice (Helga Dernesch) as Isolde, paired with an extremely intenseJon Vickers and the unusual balance between orchestra and singers favoured by Karajan was controversial. In the 1980s recordings by conductors such asCarlos Kleiber,Reginald Goodall, andLeonard Bernstein were mostly considered to be important for the interpretation of the conductor, rather than that of the lead performers. The set by Kleiber is notable as Isolde was sung by the famous Mozartian sopranoMargaret Price, who never sang the role of Isolde on stage. The same is true forPlácido Domingo, who sang the role of Tristan to critical acclaim in the 2005 EMI release under the baton ofAntonio Pappano despite never having sung the role on stage. In the last ten years acclaimed sets include a studio recording with the Berlin Philharmonic byDaniel Barenboim and a live set from theVienna Staatsoper led byChristian Thielemann.
There are several DVD productions of the opera includingGötz Friedrich's production at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin featuring the seasoned WagneriansRené Kollo and DameGwyneth Jones in the title roles. Deutsche Grammophon released a DVD of a Metropolitan Opera performance featuringJane Eaglen andBen Heppner, conducted byJames Levine, in a production staged byDieter Dorn[56] and a DVD of the 1993 Bayreuth Festival production with conductor Daniel Barenboim and featuringWaltraud Meier as Isolde andSiegfried Jerusalem as Tristan, staged byHeiner Müller. More recently Barenboim's production atLa Scala, Milan, in the production byPatrice Chéreau has also been issued on DVD. There is also a technically flawed, but historically important video recording withBirgit Nilsson andJon Vickers from a 1973 live performance at theThéâtre antique d'Orange, conducted byKarl Böhm.
In a world first, the British opera houseGlyndebourne made a full digital video download of the opera available for purchase online in 2009. The performance starsRobert Gambill as Tristan,Nina Stemme as Isolde,Katarina Karnéus as Brangäne,Bo Skovhus as Kurwenal,René Pape as King Marke, andStephen Gadd as Melot, withJiří Bělohlávek as the conductor, and was recorded on 1 and 6 August 2007.[57]
A performance typically lasts approximately 3 hours and 50 minutes.
ThePrelude and Liebestod is a concert version of the overture and Isolde's act 3 aria, "Mild und leise". The arrangement was by Wagner himself, and it was first performed in 1862, several years before the premiere of the complete opera in 1865. The "Liebestod" can be performed either in a purely orchestral version, or with a soprano singing Isolde's vision of Tristan resurrected.
However, the first time the prelude and its opening "Tristan chord" was heard publicly was on 12 March 1859, when it was performed at the Sophieninselsaal inPrague, in a charity concert in aid of poor medical students, conducted byHans von Bülow, who provided his own concert ending for the occasion. Wagner had authorised such an ending, but did not like what Bülow had done with it and later wrote his own.[58][59] Wagner then included the prelude in his own three concerts at the ParisThéâtre-Italien in January–February 1860.[60]
Wagner called the prelude the "Liebestod" (Love-death) while Isolde's final aria "Mild und leise" he called the "Verklärung" (Transfiguration). In 1867 his father-in-lawFranz Liszt madea piano transcription of "Mild und leise", which he called "Liebestod" (S.447); he prefaced his score with a four-bar motto from the love duet from act 2, which in the opera is sung to the words "sehnend verlangter Liebestod". Liszt's transcription became well known throughout Europe well before Wagner's opera reached most places, and it is Liszt's title for the final scene that persists. The transcription was revised in 1875.[61]
Wagner wrote a concert ending for the act 2 love duet for a planned 1862 concert performance that did not eventuate. The music was lost until 1950, then passed into private hands, before coming to the attention ofDaniel Barenboim, who passed it on to SirAntonio Pappano. The first recording of the Love Duet with the concert ending was made in 2000, withPlácido Domingo,Deborah Voigt and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House under Pappano.[62]
Another composer to rework material fromTristan wasEmmanuel Chabrier in his humorousSouvenirs de Munich – quadrilles on themes from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde.[63] These were augmented and orchestrated by Markus Lehmann in 1988.[64]Leopold Stokowski made a series of purely orchestral "Symphonic Syntheses" of Wagner's operas during his time as conductor of thePhiladelphia Orchestra, bringing to concert audiences of the 1920s and '30s music they might not otherwise have heard. He made a 'long version' of music fromTristan and Isolde which consisted mainly of the act 1 prelude, theLiebesnacht from act 2 and theLiebestod from act 3. A shorter version of music from the 2nd and 3rd acts was called "Love Music fromTristan and Isolde". He made recordings of both versions on 78s and again on LP.
The British composerRonald Stevenson has made two arrangements based on the opera. The first isThe Fugue on the Shepherd's Air from Tristan und Isolde from 1999. Its composition was inspired by a lecture given by the Wagner biographer and chair of the Wagner Society of Scotland,Derek Watson, to whom the piece is dedicated. In acontrapuntal climax, Stevenson combines both the Shepherd's Air and Isolde's "Liebestod".[65] The second is a setting, for voices and organ, of lines fromTom Hubbard's 1998 narrative poem in Scots, "Isolde's Luve-Daith",[66] the premiere of which took place in Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh in March 2003.[67]
In 2022, the music publisherEdition Peters published an arrangement of Prelude und Liebestod from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde for chamber ensemble (12 or 13 musicians).[68]
Other works based on the opera include:
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Aubrey Beardsley's pen and ink drawingThe Wagnerites shows highly coiffured men and women attending a performance ofTristan und Isolde. The drawing was first published in the Yellow Book, vol III [October 1894]. According to Stephen Calloway, "Beardsley had an obsessive interest in Wagner, and avidly attended the London performances of the works. This depiction of the Wagnerian audience rather than the action of the opera identified by the fallen programme asTristan and Isolde, is one of the greatest masterpieces of Beardsley's manière noire.Sickert claimed to have warned him that the drawings in which the area of black exceeded that of white paper were bound to fail artistically, and to have 'convinced him' of the truth of this aesthetic rule. Fortunately Beardsley seems to have ignored the advice."[71] The drawing is in the collection of theVictoria and Albert Museum.[72]
The following year Beardsley produced a print depicting a stylised image of a woman, standing in front of a half length yellow curtain, wearing an ornate flowered hat and holding a large drinking vessel to her mouth. In the bottom right-hand corner is the word 'ISOLDE'.Isolde was first reproduced in colour lithography (red, green, grey and black) as a supplement to The Studio, October 1895. The drawing (in yellow, black and white) is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.[73]
The opera forms the backdrop ofHoracio Quiroga's tale of love lost,"La muerte de Isolda" [es] (The Death of Isolde) from his collectionCuentos de amor de locura y de muerte [es] (1917).[74]
InAlfred Hitchcock's 1963 filmThe Birds, a recording ofTristan is prominently displayed in the scene in which Annie (Suzanne Pleshette) resignedly reveals to Melanie (Tippi Hedren) her unrequited love for Mitch. ForCamille Paglia, the visual inclusion of the LP cover, with the opera's 'theme of self-immolation through doomed love' signifies that Annie is a forlorn romantic.[75]
Dalit Warshaw's concerto for piano and orchestra,Conjuring Tristan, draws on the opera's leitmotifs to recast the narrative and dramatic events ofThomas Mann'sTristan through Wagner's music.[76] Warshaw was inspired by developments in Mann's mediation of the Tristan legend which see a former pianist's love for music rekindled by the opera's score.
Lars von Trier's 2011 filmMelancholia prominently features music from the prelude.[77]
The famous "Liebestod" is used in the soundtrack of the third episode of the first season ofThe Crown.[citation needed]
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