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Operas by Richard Wagner

Die Hochzeit (1832)
Die Feen (1833)
Das Liebesverbot (1836)
Rienzi (1840)
Der fliegende Holländer (1843)
Tannhäuser (1845)
Lohengrin (1848)
Tristan und Isolde (1859)
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1867)
Der Ring des Nibelungen: Das Rheingold (1869)
Der Ring des Nibelungen: Die Walkure (1870)
Der Ring des Nibelungen: Siegfried (1871)
Der Ring des Nibelungen: Götterdämmerung (1874)
Parsifal (1882)
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Tristan und Isolde (Tristan and Isolde, or Tristan and Isolda) is an opera, or music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the romance by Gottfried von Straßburg. Die Hochzeit (The Wedding is an unfinished Opera by Richard Wagner which predates all his completed works in the genre Die Feen ( The Fairies) is an Opera in three acts by Richard Wagner. Das Liebesverbot ( The Ban on Love) is an early Opera in two acts by Richard Wagner, with the Libretto written by the composer after Shakespeare's Rienzi der Letzte der Tribunen (WWV 49 ( Rienzi the Last of the Tribunes) is an early Opera by Richard Wagner in five acts with the Libretto Der fliegende Holländer ( The Flying Dutchman) is an Opera, with Music and Libretto by Richard Wagner. Tannhäuser (full title Tannhäuser und der Sängerkrieg auf der Wartburg / Tannhäuser and the Singers' Contest at Wartburg) is an Opera Lohengrin is a romantic Opera (or music drama in three acts composed and written by Richard Wagner. Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Mastersingers of Nuremberg) is an Opera in three acts written and composed by Richard Wagner Der Ring des Nibelungen ( The Ring of the Nibelung) is a cycle of four epic Music dramas by the German composer Das Rheingold ("The Rhine Gold" is the first of the four operas that comprise Der Ring des Nibelungen ( The Ring of the Nibelung) by Richard Wagner Der Ring des Nibelungen ( The Ring of the Nibelung) is a cycle of four epic Music dramas by the German composer Die Walküre ( The Valkyrie) is the second of the four Operas that comprise Der Ring des Nibelungen ( The Ring of the Nibelung Der Ring des Nibelungen ( The Ring of the Nibelung) is a cycle of four epic Music dramas by the German composer Siegfried is the third of the four Operas that comprise Der Ring des Nibelungen ( The Ring of the Nibelung) by Richard Wagner Der Ring des Nibelungen ( The Ring of the Nibelung) is a cycle of four epic Music dramas by the German composer ("Twilight of the Gods" – see Notes) is the last of the four Operas that comprise Der Ring des Nibelungen ( The Ring of the Nibelung Parsifal is an Opera, or Music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner. Opera is an art form in which Singers and Musicians perform a Dramatic work (called an opera which combines a text (called a Libretto The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. A libretto is the text used in an extended Musical work such as an Opera, Operetta, Masque, sacred or secular Oratorio and Gottfried von Strassburg (died c 1210 is the author of the Middle High German Courtly romance Tristan, which is regarded alongside Wolfram It was composed between 1857 and 1859 and premiered on 10 June 1865 under the baton of Hans von Bülow in Munich. Click here for Indian Rebellion of 1857 Year 1857 ( MDCCCLVII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the Year 1859 ( MDCCCLIX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Events 1190 - Third Crusade: Frederick I Barbarossa drowns in the Sally River while leading an army to Jerusalem Year 1865 ( MDCCCLXV) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year WikipediaWikiProject Classical music#Biographical_infoboxes --> Hans Guido Freiherr von Bülow (January 8 1830 &ndash February 12 1894 Munich (München; Minga is the capital city of Bavaria, Germany.

The opera was profoundly influential amongst Western classical composers and provided inspiration to composers such as Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, Karol Szymanowski, Alban Berg and Arnold Schoenberg. Richard Georg Strauss (11 June 1864 &ndash 8 September 1949 was a German Composer of the late Romantic era and early modern era particularly noted Karol Maciej Szymanowski (3 October 1882 in Tymoszówka (present-day Ukraine) – 28 March 1937 was a Polish Composer and Pianist Alban Maria Johannes Berg (February 9 1885 &ndash December 24 1935 was an Austrian Composer. Arnold Schoenberg ( pronounced ˈʃøːnbɛrk (13 September 1874 &ndash 13 July 1951 was an Austrian and later American Composer, associated with Many see Tristan as the beginning of the move away from conventional harmony and tonality towards, ultimately, the atonal movement in the 20th century. In Western music, harmony is the use of different pitches simultaneously and chords actual or implied in Music. Atonality in its broadest sense describes Music that lacks a tonal center, or key. The twentieth century of the Common Era began on [1]

Wagner's composition of Tristan und Isolde was inspired by his affair with Mathilde Wesendonck and the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer. Mathilde Wesendonck ( 23 December 1828 - 31 August 1902) was a minor German poet who is best known as the friend and possibly mistress Widely acknowledged as one of the peaks of the operatic repertory, Tristan was notable for Wagner's advanced use of chromaticism, tonality, orchestral colour and harmonic suspension. In Music, chromaticism is a Compositional technique interspersing the primary Diatonic pitches and chords with other pitches of the Chromatic Tonality is a system of Music in which specific hierarchical pitch relationships are based on a key "center" or tonic. A nonchord tone, nonharmonic tone, or non-harmony note is a note in a piece of Music which is not a part of the chord that is formed

Contents

Composition

Wagner was forced to abandon his position as Conductor of the Dresden Opera in 1849, as there was a warrant posted for his arrest for his participation in the unsuccessful May Revolution. Year 1849 ( MDCCCXLIX) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The May Uprising took place in Dresden, Germany in 1849; it was one of the last of the series of events known as the Revolutions of 1848. He left his wife, Minna, in Dresden, and fled to Zurich. Zürich (, Zürich German: Züri, Zurich, Zurigo; in English generally Zurich) is the largest city in Switzerland and capital of the There, in 1852, he met the wealthy silk trader Otto Wesendonck. Year 1852 ( MDCCCLII) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year Wesendonck became a supporter of Wagner and bankrolled the composer for several years. Wesendonck's wife, Mathilde, became enamored of the composer. Mathilde Wesendonck ( 23 December 1828 - 31 August 1902) was a minor German poet who is best known as the friend and possibly mistress Though Wagner was working on his epic Der Ring des Nibelungen, he found himself intrigued by the legend of Tristan und Isolde. Der Ring des Nibelungen ( The Ring of the Nibelung) is a cycle of four epic Music dramas by the German composer A legend ( Latin, legenda, "things to be read" is a Narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to The legend of Tristan and Iseult is an influential romance and tragedy retold in numerous sources with as many variations

The re-discovery of medieval Germanic poetry, including Gottfried von Strassburg's version of Tristan, the Nibelunglied and Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, left a large impact on the German Romantic movements during the mid-19th century. Gottfried von Strassburg (died c 1210 is the author of the Middle High German Courtly romance Tristan, which is regarded alongside Wolfram The Nibelungenlied, translated as The Song of the Nibelungs, is an epic poem in Middle High German. Parzival is a major medieval German Epic poem attributed to the poet Wolfram von Eschenbach, written in the Middle High German For the general context see Romanticism. In the Philosophy, Art, and Culture of German -speaking countries German Romanticism The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar The story of Tristan and Isolde is a quintessential romance of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. 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. [2]

According to his autobiography, Mein Leben, Wagner decided to dramatize 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. An autobiography, from the Greek αὐτός autos "self" βίος bios "life" and γράφειν graphein "to write" "[3]

This impact, together with his discovery of the philosophy of Arthur 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 a Tristan und Isolde. "[4] Wagner wrote of his preoccupations with Schopenhauer and Tristan in a letter to Franz Liszt (December 16th 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 a Tristan 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. ”[5]

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. Year 1854 ( MDCCCLIV) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common year Gottfried von Strassburg (died c 1210 is the author of the Middle High German Courtly romance Tristan, which is regarded alongside Wolfram It was not until August 1857, however, that Wagner began devoting his attention entirely to the opera, putting aside the composition of Siegfried to do so. Siegfried is the third of the four Operas that comprise Der Ring des Nibelungen ( The Ring of the Nibelung) by Richard Wagner On 20 August he began the prose sketch for the opera, and the libretto (or poem, as Wagner preferred to call it) was completed by September 18. A libretto is the text used in an extended Musical work such as an Opera, Operetta, Masque, sacred or secular Oratorio and Events 96 - Nerva is proclaimed Roman Emperor after Domitian is assassinated [6] Wagner, at this time, had moved into a cottage built in the grounds of Wesendonck's villa, where, during his work on Tristan und Isolde, became passionately involved with Mathilde Wesendonck. Whether or not this relationship was platonic remains uncertain. Amor Platonicus The term amor platonicus was coined as early as the 15th century by the Florentine scholar Marsilio Ficino One evening in September of that year, Wagner read the finished poem of Tristan to an audience including his wife, Minna, his current muse, Mathilde, and his future mistress (and later wife), Cosima von Bülow. In Greek mythology, the Muses ( Ancient Greek, hai moũsai: perhaps from the Proto-Indo-European root * men- "think" are A mistress is a man's long term female Sexual partner and companion who is not married to him especially used when the man is married to another woman Cosima Francesca Gaetana Wagner ( née de Flavigny, since 1844 Liszt; December 24, 1837 April 1, 1930) was

By October of 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 the "Wesendonck Lieder. The Wesendonck Lieder is a Song-cycle composed by Richard Wagner while he was working on Die Walküre. " In April of 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. [7] After enduring much misery, Wagner persuaded Minna, who had a heart condition, to rest at a spa while Otto Wesendonck took Mathilde to Italy. The term spa is associated with water treatment which is also known as Balneotherapy, Spa towns or Spa resorts offering such treatment or the medication It was during the absence of the two women that Wagner began the composition sketch of the second Act of Tristan. However, Minna's return in July 1858 did not clear the air, and on August 17th, Wagner was forced to leave both Minna and Mathilde and move to Venice. Venice ( Italian: Venezia, Venetian: Venesia or Venexia) is a city in Northern Italy, the capital of the

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. "[8]

Wagner finished the second Act of Tristan during his eight-month exile in Venice. In March 1859, fearing extradition to Saxony, where he was still considered a fugitive, Wagner moved to Lucerne where he composed the last Act, completing it in August 1859. Extradition is the official process by which one nation or state requests and obtains from another nation or state the surrender of a suspected or convicted criminal The Free State of Saxony (Freistaat Sachsen ˈzaksən Swobodny Stat Sakska is the easternmost federal state of Germany. A fugitive is a person who is fleeing from Custody, whether it be from private Slavery, a government Arrest, government or non-government questioning Lucerne ( Italian Lucerna) is a city in Switzerland. It is the capital of the Canton of Lucerne

Instrumentation

The score calls for:

Premiere

Ludwig and Malvina Schnorr von Carolsfied as Tristan and Isolde
Ludwig and Malvina Schnorr von Carolsfied as Tristan and Isolde

Tristan und Isolde proved to be a difficult opera to stage. The piccolo is a small Flute. Like the flute the piccolo is normally pitched in the key of C one octave above the concert flute (making it effectively a sopranino "Hautbois" redirects here for the strawberry variety see Hautbois strawberry. The cor anglais, or English horn, is a Double reed Woodwind Musical instrument in the Oboe family The clarinet is a Musical instrument in the Woodwind family The name derives from adding the suffix -et meaning little to the Italian word The bass clarinet is a Musical instrument of the Clarinet family The bassoon is a Woodwind instrument in the Double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and Tenor registers and occasionally The contrabassoon is a larger version of the Bassoon sounding an octave lower The trombone is a Musical instrument in the brass family Like all brass instruments it is a lip-reed Aerophone: sound is produced when the player’s Mediatubaogg -->The tuba is the largest and lowest pitched Brass instrument. Timpani (also known colloquially as kettledrums or kettle drums) are Musical instruments in the percussion family Cymbals are a modern percussion instrument Cymbals consist of thin normally round plates of various Cymbal alloys; see Cymbal making for a discussion of their A triangle is one of the basic Shapes of Geometry: a Polygon with three corners or vertices and three sides or edges which are Line The harp is a Stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicular to the soundboard. A string instrument (or stringed instrument) is a Musical instrument that produces Sound by means of Vibrating strings In the Hornbostel-Sachs The cor anglais, or English horn, is a Double reed Woodwind Musical instrument in the Oboe family The trombone is a Musical instrument in the brass family Like all brass instruments it is a lip-reed Aerophone: sound is produced when the player’s Paris, the centre of the operatic world in the middle of the 19th century, was an obvious choice, however, after a disastrous staging of Tannhäuser at the Paris Opéra, Wagner offered the opera to the Karlsruhe opera in 1861. Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city Tannhäuser (full title Tannhäuser und der Sängerkrieg auf der Wartburg / Tannhäuser and the Singers' Contest at Wartburg) is an Opera Théâtre de l’Académie Royale de Musique (aka the Salle de la rue Le Peletier, or casually as the Paris Opéra, or simply as the Opéra) was Karlsruhe (ˈkaɐ̯lsʁuːə population 285812 in 2006 is a city in the south west of Germany, in the Bundesland Baden-Württemberg, located near Year 1861 ( MDCCCLXI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common When he visited the Vienna Court Opera to rehearse possible singers for this production, the management at Vienna suggested staging the opera in Vienna. The Vienna State Opera ( Wiener Staatsoper) located in Vienna, Austria, is one of the most important Opera houses - and opera companies - in Vienna ( in Wien; see also other names) is the Capital of Austria, and is also one of the nine States of Austria. Originally, the tenor Alois Ander was employed to sing the part of Tristan, but later proved incapable of learning the role. 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 after Wagner's adoption by Ludwig II of Bavaria that resources enough could be found to mount the premiere of Tristan und Isolde. Ludwig Friedrich Wilhelm II King of Bavaria ( August 25, 1845 &ndash June 13, 1886) was king of Bavaria from 1864 until shortly Hans von Bülow was chosen to conduct the production at the Munich Opera, despite the fact that Wagner was having an affair with his wife, Cosima von Bülow. WikipediaWikiProject Classical music#Biographical_infoboxes --> Hans Guido Freiherr von Bülow (January 8 1830 &ndash February 12 1894 Cosima Francesca Gaetana Wagner ( née de Flavigny, since 1844 Liszt; December 24, 1837 April 1, 1930) was Despite all of this, the planned premiere on May 15th 1865 had to be postponed because Isolde, Malvina Schnorr, had gone hoarse. The word premiere (or première, from the French première, "first" generally means "a first performance" It was only on June 10th 1865 that the work finally premiered. Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld sang the role of Tristan and Malvina, his wife, sang Isolde. Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld (July 2 1836 &ndash July 21 1865 was a German Heldentenor and the first singer of the role of Tristan Three weeks after the fourth performance, Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld died suddenly -- prompting speculation that the exertion involved in singing the part of Tristan had killed him. The stress of performing Tristan has also claimed the lives of conductors Felix Mottl in 1911 and Joseph Keilberth in 1968. Conducting is the act of directing a Musical performance by way of visible gestures WikipediaWikiProject Classical music#Biographical_infoboxes --> Felix Josef von Mottl ( 24 August 1856 &ndash Joseph Keilberth ( April 19, 1908 &ndash July 20, 1968) was a German conductor. Both men died after collapsing while conducting the second Act of the opera.

Roles

Role Voice type Premiere cast, June 10, 1865
(Conductor: Hans von Bülow)
Tristan tenor Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld
Isolde soprano Malvina Schnorr von Carolsfeld
Brangäne, Isolde's maid mezzo-soprano Anna Possart-Deinet
Kurwenal, Tristan's servant baritone Anton Mitterwurzer
Mark, King of Cornwall bass Ludwig Zottmayer
Melot, a courtier, Tristan's friend tenor Karl Samuel Heinrich
A Shepherd tenor Karl Simons
A Steersman baritone Peter Hartmann
A Young Sailor tenor
Sailors, knights, and esquires

Synopsis

"Isolde" by Aubrey Beardsley, 1895 illustration for The Studio magazine of the tragic opera heroine drinking the love potion
"Isolde" by Aubrey Beardsley, 1895 illustration for The Studio magazine of the tragic opera heroine drinking the love potion

Act 1

Isolde, promised to King Marke in marriage, and her handmaid, Brangaene, are quartered aboard Tristan’s ship being transported to the king's lands in Cornwall. WikipediaWikiProject Classical music#Biographical_infoboxes --> Hans Guido Freiherr von Bülow (January 8 1830 &ndash February 12 1894 The tenor is the highest male voice within the Modal register, just above the Baritone voice Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld (July 2 1836 &ndash July 21 1865 was a German Heldentenor and the first singer of the role of Tristan This article is related to a series of articles under the main article Voice type. This article is related to a series of articles under the main article Voice type. Aubrey Vincent Beardsley ( August 21, 1872 &ndash March 16, 1898) was an influential English Brangaine (also spelled Brangaene, Brangwane, Brangien, and other variants is the handmaid and confidant of Iseult of Ireland Cornwall ( Kernow ˈkɛɹnɔʊ is the most southwesterly county of England, on the Peninsula that lies to the west of the River Tamar The opera opens with the voice of a young sailor singing of a “wild Irish maid,” 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 all on board. Her scorn and rage are directed particularly at Tristan, the knight responsible for taking her to Marke, and Isolde sends Brangaene to command Tristan to appear before her. Scorn is a Feeling of Contempt or Disdain for something or somebody to Despise. Knight is the English term for a social position originating in the Middle Ages. Tristan, however, refuses Brangaene'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 Brangaene that Isolde’s previous fiancé, Morold, was killed by Tristan. The word henchman (Germanic irregular plural hench men) referred originally to one who attended on a horse that is a Horse groom. In Arthurian legend, Morholt (also called Marhalt, Morold, Marhaus and other variations is an Irish warrior who demands tribute from

Brangaene returns to Isolde to relate these events, and Isolde sadly tells her of how, following the death of Morold, a stranger called Tantris was brought to her. Tantris was found mortally wounded in a boat, and Isolde used her healing powers to restore him to health. Health is a state of complete physical mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity She discovered during Tantris' recovery, however, that he was actually Tristan, the murderer of her fiance. Murder is the unlawful killing of another human person with Malice aforethought, as defined in Common Law countries Isolde attempted to kill the man with his own sword as he lay helpless before her but, Tristan had looked not at the sword that would kill him, but into her eyes. His action pierced her heart and she was unable to slay him. Tristan was allowed to leave, but 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. The atonement is a doctrine found within both Christianity and Judaism. A chest (also called coffer or kist) is one of the oldest forms of Furniture. A vial (also phial) is a relatively small Glass vessel or Bottle, especially used to store Medication as liquids powders or in other forms like Brangaene is shocked to see that it is a lethal poison. In the context of Biology, poisons are substances that can cause damage, Illness, or Death to Organisms usually by

Kurwenal appears in the women’s quarters and announces that Tristan has agreed to see Isolde after all. When Tristan arrives, Isolde tells him that she now knows that he was Tantris, and that he owes her his life. Tristan agrees to drink the potion, now prepared by Brangaene, even though he knows it may kill him. As he drinks, Isolde tears the remainder of the potion from him and drinks it herself. At this moment, each believing that their lives are about to end, the two declare their love for each other. Kurwenal, who announces the imminent arrival on board of King Marke, interrupts their rapture. Isolde asks Brangaene which potion she prepared and Brangaene replies, as the sailors hail the arrival of King Marke, that it was not a poisonous drink, but rather a love-potion.

Tristan und Isolde by Ferdinand Leeke
Tristan und Isolde by Ferdinand Leeke

Act 2

King Marke leads a hunting party out into the night, leaving the castle empty save for Isolde and Brangaene, who stand beside a burning brazier. Hunting is the practice of pursuing Animals for Food, Recreation, or Trade. A brazier is a container for fire generally taking the form of an upright standing or hanging metal bowl or box Isolde, listening to the hunting horns, believes several times that the hunting party is far enough away to warrant the extinguishing of the brazier -- the prearranged signal for Tristan to join her. Brangaene warns Isolde that Melot, one of King Marke’s knights, has seen the amorous looks exchanged between Tristan and Isolde and suspects their passion. Isolde, however, believes Melot to be Tristan’s most loyal friend, and, in a frenzy of desire, extinguishes the flames. Brangaene retires to the ramparts to keep watch as Tristan arrives. See also List of cities with defensive walls A defensive wall is a Fortification used to defend a city or settlement from potential aggressors

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. Death is the termination of the biological functions that define living Organisms It refers both to a specific During their long tryst, Brangaene calls a warning several times that the night is ending, 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 heart-broken, not only because of his adopted son Tristan's betrayal but also because Marke, too, has come to love Isolde.

Tristan turns to Isolde, who agrees to follow him again into the realm of night. Melot and Tristan fight, but, at the crucial moment, Tristan throws his sword aside and Melot mortally wounds him.

Act 3

Kurwenal has brought Tristan home to his castle at Kareol in Brittany. Brittany (Breizh bʁejs Bretagne; Gallo: Bertaèyn) is a former independent Celtic kingdom and Duchy, now incorporated into A shepherd pipes a mournful tune and asks if Tristan is awake. A shepherd is a person who tends to feeds or guards Sheep, especially in flocks 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 and mourns his fate -- to be, once again, in the false realm of daylight, once more driven by unceasing unquenchable yearning. Tristan's mourning 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 that was played at the deaths of his father and mother. He rails once again against his desires and against the fateful love-potion until, exhausted, he collapses in delirium. Delirium is an acute and relatively sudden (developing over hours to days decline in attention-focus perception and Cognition. 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. A bandage is a piece of material used either to support a medical device such as a dressing or splint, or on its own to provide support to the body In Medicine, a wound is a type of Injury in which the Skin is torn cut or punctured (an open wound or where blunt force trauma 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 Brangaene arriving and, in an attempt to avenge Tristan, furiously attacks Melot. Both Melot and Kurwenal, however, are killed in the fight. Marke and Brangaene finally reach Tristan and Isolde. Marke, grieving over the body of his “truest friend,” explains that he learned of the love-potion from Brangaene and has come not to part the lovers, but to unite them. Grief is a multi-faceted response to loss Although conventionally focused on the emotional response to loss it also has physical cognitive behavioral social and philosophical Isolde appears to wake at this, but instead, in a final aria describing her vision of Tristan risen again (the “Liebestod”), dies of grief. This article is about the musical term "aria" For other meanings or uses of the word see Aria (disambiguation. Precognition (from the Latin præ- “prior to” + cognitio “a getting to know” denotes a form of Extrasensory perception where in a person is said to perceive

Significance in the development of classical music

The score of Tristan und Isolde has often been cited as a landmark in the development of Western music. [9] Wagner uses throughout Tristan a remarkable range of orchestral colour, harmony and polyphony and does so with a freedom rarely found in his earlier operas. The very first chord in the piece, the Tristan chord, is of great significance in the move away from traditional tonal harmony as it resolves to another dissonant chord:[10]

Sound sample

Tristan und Isolde is also notable for its use of harmonic suspension -- a device used by a composer to create musical tension by exposing the listener to a series of prolonged unfinished cadences, thereby inspiring a desire and expectation on the part of the listener for musical resolution. MIDI ( Musical Instrument Digital Interface, ˈmɪdi is an industry-standard protocol that enables Electronic musical instruments Computers A nonchord tone, nonharmonic tone, or non-harmony note is a note in a piece of Music which is not a part of the chord that is formed In Western Musical theory, a harmonic cadence (Latin cadentia, "a falling" is a formula of two chords that conclude [11] 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 (perhaps sexual) climax, only to have the expected resolution destroyed by the dissonant interruption of Kurwenal ("Rette Dich, Tristan!"). The long-awaited completion of this cadence series arrives only in the final Liebestod, during which the musical resolution (at "In des Welt-Atems wehendem All") coincides with the moment of Isolde's death. [12]

The tonality of Tristan was to prove immensely influential in western Classical music. Giacomo Puccini, in the sketches of the final duet in Turandot (which he never completed), made a strange personal note: "then Tristan". WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini ( December 22, 1858 Turandot is an Opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, set to a Libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni Wagner's use of musical colour also influenced the development of film music. A film score is a broad term referring to the music in a film which is generally categorically separated from songs used within a film Bernard Herrmann's score for Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece, Vertigo, is heavily reminiscent of the Liebestod, most evident concerning the resurrection scene. Bernard Herrmann ( June 29, 1911 &ndash December 24, 1975) was an American composer noted for his work in Motion pictures. Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE (13 Vertigo ( is a Psychological thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring James Stewart and Kim Novak and featuring Barbara The opening of Tristan und Isolde was added to Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí's Surrealist film Un chien andalou. Luis Buñuel Portolés (22 February 1900 &ndash 29 July 1983 was a Spanish -born Filmmaker and naturalized Mexican who worked mainly in Mexico Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech 1st Marquis of Púbol (May 11 1904 &ndash January 23 1989 was a Spanish Catalan Surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early-1920s and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members Un chien andalou ( An Andalusian Dog) is a 1928 short Surrealist film made in France by two Spanish auteurs the Aragonian Not all composers, however, reacted favourably: Claude Debussy's piano piece "Golliwog's Cakewalk" mockingly quotes the gloomy "Tristan Chord" in the middle of a lighthearted piece. Achille-Claude Debussy (aʃil klod dəbysi (August 22 1862 &ndash March 25 1918 was a French Composer. Children's Corner is a Suite for solo Piano by Claude Debussy, completed in 1908 (L 113

Influence of Schopenhauer on Tristan und Isolde

Wagner's friend, Georg Herwegh, introduced him in late 1854 to the work of the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. Georg Friedrich Rudolph Theodor Herwegh (1817 - 1875 son of an innkeeper was born in Stuttgart. [13] The composer was immediately struck by the philosophical ideas to be found in “Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung” (The World as Will and Representation), and the similarities between the two men's world-views became clear. Published in 1819 The World as Will and Representation is the central work of Arthur Schopenhauer.

Man, according to Schopenhauer, is driven by continued, unachievable desires, and the gulf between our desires and the possibility of achieving them leads to misery while the world is a representation of an unknowable reality. Our representation of the world (which is false) is Phenomenon, while the unknowable reality is Noumenon: concepts originally ideas posited by Kant. A phenomenon (from Greek φαινόμενoν, pl φαινόμενα - phenomena) is any observable occurrence "Noumena" redirects here For the band see Noumena (band. Immanuel Kant (ɪmanuəl kant 22 April 1724 12 February 1804 was an 18th-century German Philosopher from the Prussian city of Königsberg Schopenhauer’s influence on Tristan und Isolde is most evident in the second and third acts. The second act, in which the lovers meet, and the third act, during which Tristan longs for release from the passions that torment him, have often proved puzzling to opera-goers unfamiliar with Schopenhauer’s work. Wagner uses the metaphor of day and night in the second act to designate the realms inhabited by Tristan and Isolde. [14] The world of Day is one in which the lovers are bound by the dictates of King Marke’s court and in which the lovers must smother their mutual love and pretend as if they do not care for each other: it is a realm of falsehood and unreality. Under the dictates of the realm of Day, Tristan was forced to remove Isolde from Ireland and to marry her to his Uncle Marke -- actions against Tristan's secret desires. The realm of Night, in contrast, is the representation of intrinsic reality, in which the lovers can be together and their desires can be openly expressed and reach fulfillment: it is the realm of oneness, truth and reality and can only be achieved fully upon the deaths of the lovers. The realm of Night, therefore, becomes also the realm of death: the only world in which Tristan and Isolde can be as one forever, and it is this realm that Tristan speaks of at the end of Act Two (“Dem Land das Tristan meint, der Sonne Licht nicht scheint”). [15] In Act Three, Tristan rages against the daylight and frequently cries out for release from his desires (Sehnen). In this way, Wagner implicitly equates the realm of Day with Schopenhauer’s concept of Phenomenon and the realm of Night with Schopenhauer’s concept of Noumenon. A phenomenon (from Greek φαινόμενoν, pl φαινόμενα - phenomena) is any observable occurrence "Noumena" redirects here For the band see Noumena (band. [16] While none of this is explicitly stated in the libretto, Tristan’s comments on Day and Night in Acts 2 and 3 make it very clear that this was, in fact, Wagner’s intention.

The world-view of Schopenhauer dictates that the only way for man to achieve inner peace is to renounce his desires: a theme that Wagner explored fully in his last opera, Parsifal. Parsifal is an Opera, or Music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner. In fact Wagner even considered having the character of Parsifal meet Tristan during his sufferings in Act 3, but later rejected the idea. Parsifal is an Opera, or Music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner. [17]

Reactions to Tristan und Isolde

Although Tristan und Isolde is performed in major opera houses around the world presently, critical opinion of the opera was initially unfavourable. The July 5th, 1865 edition of the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung even claimed that Tristan und Isolde was: "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 odors, 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. . . he makes sensuality itself the true subject of his drama. . . . We think that the stage presentation of the poem Tristan 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. "

Eduard Hanslick's reaction in 1868 to the Prelude to Tristan was that it "remind[ed] [him] of the old Italian painting of a martyr whose intestines are slowly unwound from his body on a reel. Eduard Hanslick ( September 11, 1825 – August 6, 1904) was a Bohemian Austrian writer on music " The first performance in London's Drury Lane Theatre drew the following response from The 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. The Theatre Royal Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. We grant there is nothing so repulsive in Tristan as in Die Walküre, but the system is the same. Die Walküre ( The Valkyrie) is the second of the four Operas that comprise Der Ring des Nibelungen ( The Ring of the Nibelung 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. "

Mark Twain, on a visit to Germany, heard Tristan at Bayreuth and commented: "I know of some, and have heard of many, who could not sleep after it, but cried the night away. Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30 1835 – April 21 1910 better known by the Pen name Mark Twain, was an American Humorist, satirist I feel strongly out of place here. Sometimes I feel like the one sane person in the community of the mad. "[18]

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's Tristan. In The Perfect Wagnerite, writer and satirist George Bernard Shaw writes that Tristan 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". The Perfect Wagnerite A Commentary on the Niblung's Ring is a philosophical commentary on Der Ring des Nibelungen, Richard Wagner 's chief work George Bernard Shaw ( (26 July 1856 &ndash 2 November 1950 was an Irish Playwright. Richard Strauss, initially dismissive of Tristan, claimed that Wagner's music "would kill a cat and would turn rocks into scrambled eggs from fear of [its] hideous dischords. " Later, however, Strauss became part of the Bayreuth coterie and writing to Cosima Wagner in 1892 declared: "I have conducted my first Tristan. Bayreuthfestjpg|thumb|350px|right|Bayreuth Festspielhaus as seen in 1882 Cosima Francesca Gaetana Wagner ( née de Flavigny, since 1844 Liszt; December 24, 1837 April 1, 1930) was It was the most wonderful day of my life. " He later wrote that "Tristan und Isolde marked the end of all romanticism. Here the yearning of the entire 19th century is gathered in one focal point. "

The conductor Bruno Walter heard his first Tristan 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. WikipediaWikiProject Classical music#Biographical_infoboxes --> Bruno Walter ( September 15, 1876 &ndash February . . 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. " Arnold Schoenberg referred to Wagner's technique of shifting chords in Tristan 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”.

Friedrich Nietzsche, one of Wagner's staunchest allies in his younger years, wrote that, for him, “Tristan and Isolde is the real opus metaphysicum of all art. Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15 1844 August 25 1900 ( was a nineteenth-century German philosopher and classical philologist . . insatiable and sweet craving for the secrets of night and death. . . it is overpowering in its simple grandeur”. In a letter to his friend Erwin Rohde in October 1868, Nietzsche described his reaction to Tristan'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 consider Tristan 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 as Tristan — I have sought in vain, in every art. ”

Recordings of Tristan und Isolde

Tristan und Isolde has a long recorded history. In the years before World War II, Kirsten Flagstad and Lauritz 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 under the famed batons of conductors such as Thomas Beecham, Fritz Reiner, Artur Bodanzky and Erich Leinsdorf. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Kirsten Malfrid Flagstad ( 12 July 1895 &ndash 7 December 1962) was a Norwegian Opera singer one of the greatest WikipediaWikiProject Opera#Infoboxes --> Lauritz Melchior ( March 20, 1890 – March 18, 1973 Sir Thomas Beecham 2nd Baronet, CH (29 April 1879 &ndash 8 March 1961 was a British conductor and Impresario. WikipediaWikiProject Classical music#Biographical_infoboxes --> Frederick Martin “Fritz” Reiner ( December 19, 1888 Artur Bodanzky (also written as Artur Bodzansky) ( December 16 1877 in Vienna – 23 November 1939 in New York WikipediaWikiProject Classical music#Biographical_infoboxes --> Erich Leinsdorf ( Erich Landauer) ( February 4, Flagstad recorded the part commercially only near the end of her career in 1952, under Wilhelm Furtwängler for EMI, producing a set which is considered a classic recording. WikipediaWikiProject Classical music#Biographical_infoboxes --> Wilhelm Furtwängler (January 25 1886 &ndash November 30 1954 was a The EMI Group is a British music company comprising the major record company EMI Music – which operates several labels and is based in Kensington in [19] Following the war, the performances at Bayreuth with Martha Mödl and Ramon Vinay under Herbert von Karajan (1952) were highly regarded, and these performances are now available as a live recording. The Bayreuth Festival is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of Operas by the 19th century German composer Martha Mödl (born March 22 1912, in Nuremberg - died December 17 2001, in Stuttgart) was a German Soprano Ramón Vinay ( August 31, 1911 &ndash January 4, 1996) was a famous Chilean Operatic Tenor. WikipediaWikiProject Classical music#Biographical_infoboxes --> Herbert von Karajan ( April 5 In the 1960s, the soprano Birgit Nilsson was considered the major Isolde interpreter, and she was often partnered with the Tristan of Wolfgang Windgassen. Birgit Nilsson ( May 17, 1918 &ndash December 25, 2005) was a Swedish Dramatic soprano who specialized in operatic Their performance at Bayreuth in 1966 under the baton of Karl Böhm was captured by Deutsche Grammophon -- a performance often hailed as one of the best Tristan recordings. WikipediaWikiProject Classical music#Biographical_infoboxes --> Karl August Leopold Böhm ( August 28, 1894 &ndash [20] Some collectors prefer the pairing of Nilsson with the Canadian tenor Jon Vickers, available in “unofficial” recordings from performances in Vienna or Orange. See also John Vickers, a British economist Jon S Vickers CC, D

Karajan did not record the opera officially until 1971. It was during that recording that Karajan's selection of a lighter soprano voice (Helga Dernesch) as Isolde, paired with an extremely intense Vickers and the unusual balance between orchestra (the Berlin Philharmonic) and singers favoured by Karajan sparked a controversy. In the 1990s, the Berlin Philharmonic recorded the opera with conductor Daniel Barenboim and featured Waltraud Meier's as an intense Isolde and Siegfried Jerusalem as Tristan. Earlier recorded sets by conductors such as Carlos Kleiber, Reginald Goodall and Leonard Bernstein were mostly considered to be important for the interpretation of the conductor, rather than that of the lead performers. Carlos Kleiber ( July 3, 1930 - July 13, 2004) was an Austrian-Argentine conductor. Sir Reginald Goodall (born Lincoln, England, 13 July, 1901; died 5 May 1990) was an English conductor, noted WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> WikipediaWikiProject Classical music#Biographical_infoboxes The set by Kleiber is notable as Isolde was sung by the famous Mozartian soprano Margaret Price, who never sang the role of Isolde on stage. Dame Margaret Price DBE (born April 13, 1941 in Blackwood, Monmouthshire) is a Welsh Soprano. The same is true for Plácido Domingo, who sang the role of Tristan to critical acclaim in the 2005 EMI release under the baton of Antonio Pappano despite never having sung the role on stage. WikipediaWikiProject Opera#Infoboxes --> José Plácido Domingo Embil KBE (born January 21, 1941) better WikipediaWikiProject Classical music#Biographical_infoboxes --> Antonio Pappano (born 30 December 1959) is a

There are several DVD productions of the opera including Götz Friedrich's production at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin featuring the seasoned Wagnerians René Kollo and Dame Gwyneth Jones in the title roles. Götz Friedrich ( August 4, 1930 in Naumburg, Germany – December 12, 2000 in Berlin, Germany was a German René Kollo (born November 20, 1937) is a German Tenor. He was born René Kollodzieyski in Berlin and grew up in Wyk auf Dame Gwyneth Jones DBE (born November 7, 1936 in Pontnewynydd, Wales) is a Welsh Soprano. Deutsche Grammophone released a DVD of a Metropolitan Opera performance featuring Jane Eaglen and Ben Heppner, conducted by James Levine, in a production staged by Jurgen Rose.

Audio

There are many recordings of the opera. The following list of CD releases is selective: for a more exhaustive list, see Discography of Tristan und Isolde

Video

Prelude and Liebestod

The Prelude and Liebestod is a concert version of the overture and Isolde's Act 3 aria, "Mild und leise". Daniel Barenboim (born November 15, 1942) is a pianist and conductor. Jean-Pierre Ponnelle ( 19 February 1932 - 11 August 1988) was a French Opera director who was born in Paris. The Laserdisc (LD is an obsolete Home video disc format and was the first commercial Optical disc storage medium Mild und Leise, which means "fair and gentle" in German, is the opening line of the Liebestod, the final aria from Richard Wagner's opera 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. Confusingly, Wagner himself preferred to call the Prelude the "Liebestod" while Isolde's final aria he called the "Verklarung" (Transfiguration).

Franz Liszt made a number of piano transcriptions of the opera, including the Liebestod. [25]

Media

Bibliography

Notes

  1. ^ Millington, Barry (Ed. ) (1992). The Wagner Compendium: A Guide to Wagner's Life and Music. Thames and Hudson Ltd. , London. ISBN 0-02-871359-1 page 301
  2. ^ Literary Encyclopedia: Tristan and Isolde (also known as Tristan and Iseult, Tristan and Isolt, Tristram)
  3. ^ Wagner, Richard "Mein Leben". English translation at Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext04/wglf210.txt.
  4. ^ Wagner, Richard "Mein Leben" ibid
  5. ^ Gutman, Robert W. (1990), Wagner - The Man, His Mind and His Music, Harvest Books. ISBN 978-0156776158 page 163.
  6. ^ Millington, Barry (Ed. ) (1992) ibid page 300.
  7. ^ Gutman, Robert W. (1990) ibid pages 180-182.
  8. ^ Gutman, Robert W. (1990) ibid page 182.
  9. ^ Rose, John Luke in Tristan und Isolde (1981)(Cambridge Opera Handbooks) Cambridge University Press ISBN 0-7145-3849-3, page 15.
  10. ^ Magee, Bryan (2001), The Tristan Chord: Wagner and Philosophy, Metropolitan Books. ISBN 978-0805071894 page 208.
  11. ^ Magee, Bryan (1983) The Philosophy of Schopenhauer. Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-824673-0 page 356.
  12. ^ Millington, Barry (Ed. ) (1992)ibid page 252.
  13. ^ Gregor-Dellin, Martin (1983)"Richard Wagner: his life, his work, his Century. " William Collins, ISBN 0-00-216669-0 page 256.
  14. ^ Magee, Bryan (2001), ibid pages 217 - 221.
  15. ^ Magee, Bryan (2001), ibid page 221.
  16. ^ Magee, Bryan (2001), ibid page 218.
  17. ^ Gregor-Dellin, Martin (1983) ibid page 258.
  18. ^ Twain, Mark (1891) Chicago Daily Tribune, December 6. Available online at: http://www.twainquotes.com/Travel1891/Dec1891.html
  19. ^ Holloway, Robin (1982) in "Opera on Record", Harper and Row ISBN 0-06-090910-2, page 367.
  20. ^ Blyth, Alan (1992), "Opera on CD" Kyle Cathie Ltd, ISBN 1-85626-056-9 page 65.
  21. ^ Brown, p. 36
  22. ^ Brown, p. 13
  23. ^ Brown, p. 16
  24. ^ Brown, pp. 14-15
  25. ^ http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebestod_de_Tristan_et_Isolde_(Franz_Liszt)

External links

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