Tristan und Isolde

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Tristan und Isolde

Tristan und Isolde (Tristan and Isolde, or Tristan and Isolda) is an opera

Opera

Opera is an Performing arts in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work which combines a text and a musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition....
, or music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner

Richard Wagner

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, Conducting, theatre director and essayist, primarily known for his operas . Unlike most other great opera composers, Wagner wrote both the scenario and libretto for his works....
to a German

German language

German is a West Germanic languages, thus related to and classified alongside English language and Dutch language. It is one of the world's world language and the most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union....
libretto

Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, sacred or secular oratorio and cantata, Musical theater, and ballet....
by the composer, based largely on the romance by Gottfried von Straßburg. It was composed between 1857 and 1859 and premiered on 10 June 1865 under the baton of Hans von Bülow

Hans von Bülow

Hans Guido Freiherr von B?low was a German Conducting, virtuoso pianist, and composer of the Romantic music. He was one of the most famous conductors of the 19th century, and his activity was critical for establishing the successes of several major composers of the time, including Richard Wagner....
in Munich

Munich

Munich is the capital city of Bavaria, Germany. Munich is located on the River Isar north of the Northern Limestone Alps. Munich is the third largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg....
.

The opera was profoundly influential amongst Western classical composers and provided inspiration to composers such as Gustav Mahler

Gustav Mahler

Gustav Mahler was a Bohemian-born Austrian composer and conducting. He was best known during his own lifetime as one of the leading orchestral and operatic conductors of the day....
, Richard Strauss

Richard Strauss

Richard Georg Strauss was a German composer of the late Romantic music and early modern eras, particularly of operas, Lieder and tone poems. Strauss was also a prominent Conducting....
, Karol Szymanowski

Karol Szymanowski

Karol Maciej Szymanowski was a Poland composer and pianist....
, Alban Berg

Alban Berg

Alban Maria Johannes Berg was an Austrian composer. He was a member of the Second Viennese School with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and produced compositions that combined Gustav Mahler Romantic music with a personal adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique....
and Arnold Schoenberg

Arnold Schoenberg

Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian and later American composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School....
.

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Encyclopedia

Tristan und Isolde (Tristan and Isolde, or Tristan and Isolda) is an opera

Opera

Richard Wagner

German language

Libretto

Hans von Bülow

Munich

Gustav Mahler

Richard Strauss

Karol Szymanowski

Karol Maciej Szymanowski was a Poland composer and pianist....
, Alban Berg

Alban Berg

Arnold Schoenberg

Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian and later American composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School....
. Many see Tristan as the beginning of the move away from conventional harmony

Harmony

In Western music, harmony is the use of different pitches simultaneously, and chord s, actual or implied, in music. The word is related to the word "harmonic" which implies related wavelengths of waves....
and tonality towards, ultimately, the atonal

Atonality

Atonality in its broadest sense describes music that lacks a Tonality, or Key . Atonality in this sense usually describes compositions written from about 1908 to the present day where a hierarchy of pitches focusing on a single, central tone is not used and the notes of the chromatic scale function independently of one another ....
movement in the 20th century.

Wagner's composition of Tristan und Isolde was inspired by his affair with Mathilde Wesendonck

Mathilde Wesendonck

Arthur Schopenhauer

Arthur Schopenhauer was a Germany philosopher known for his atheistic pessimism and philosophical clarity. At age 25, he published his doctoral dissertation, On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason, which examined the fundamental question of whether reason alone can unlock answers about the world....
. Widely acknowledged as one of the peaks of the operatic repertory, Tristan was notable for Wagner's advanced use of chromaticism

Chromaticism

In music, chromaticism is a compositional technique interspersing the primary diatonic pitches and chords with other pitches of the chromatic scale....
, tonality

Tonality

Tonality is a system of music in which specific hierarchy pitch relationships are based on a Key "center" or Tonic . The term tonalit? originated with Alexandre-?tienne Choron and was borrowed by Fran?ois-Joseph F?tis in 1840 ....
, orchestral colour and harmonic suspension.

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. He left his wife, Minna, in Dresden, and fled to Zurich. 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

Mathilde Wesendonck

Mathilde Wesendonck was a minor Germany poet and author. She is best known as the friend and possibly mistress of Richard Wagner, who set five songs to her words, called the Wesendonck Lieder....
, became enamoured of the composer. Though Wagner was working on his epic Der Ring des Nibelungen
Der Ring des Nibelungen

Der Ring des Nibelungen is a literature cycle of four epic poetry music dramas by the Germany composer Richard Wagner. The operas are based loosely on characters from the Sagas and the Nibelungenlied....
, he found himself intrigued by the legend

Legend

A legend is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude ....
of Tristan und Isolde
Tristan and Iseult

The legend of Tristan and Iseult is an influential romance and tragedy, retold in numerous sources with as many variations. The tragic story is of the adulterous love between the Cornwall knight Tristan and the Ireland princess Iseult ....
.

The re-discovery of medieval Germanic poetry, including Gottfried von Strassburg

Gottfried von Strassburg

Wolfram von Eschenbach

Wolfram von Eschenbach was a Germany knight and poet, regarded as one of the greatest epic poetry poets of his time. As a Minnesang, he also wrote lyric poetry....
's Parzival
Parzival

Parzival is a major medieval Germany epic poem attributed to the poet Wolfram von Eschenbach, written in the Middle High German language. The poem is commonly dated circa the first quarter of the 13th century....
, left a large impact on the German Romantic

German Romanticism

For the general context, see Romanticism.In the philosophy, art, and culture of German language-speaking countries, German Romanticism was the dominant movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries....
movements during the mid-19th century. 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.

According to his autobiography

Autobiography

An autobiography is a biography written by its subject . The term was first used by the poet Robert Southey in 1809 in the English language Periodical publication Quarterly Review, but the form goes back to antiquity....
, 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."

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."

Wagner wrote of his preoccupations with Schopenhauer and Tristan in a letter to Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt was a Kingdom of Hungary composer, virtuoso pianist and teacher.Liszt became renowned throughout Europe for his great skill as a performer during the 19th century....
(December 16^th 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.”

By the end of 1854, Wagner had sketched out all three acts of an opera on the Tristan theme, based on Gottfried von Strassburg

Gottfried von Strassburg

Gottfried von Strassburg is the author of the Middle High German courtly romance Tristan and Iseult, which is regarded, alongside Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival and the Nibelungenlied, as one of the great narrative masterpieces of the German Middle Ages....
's telling of the story. It was not until August 1857, however, that Wagner began devoting his attention entirely to the opera, putting aside the composition of Siegfried
Siegfried (opera)

Siegfried is the third of the four operas that comprise Der Ring des Nibelungen , by Richard Wagner. It received its premiere at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus on 16 August 1876, as part of the first complete performance of The Ring....
to do so. On 20 August he began the prose sketch for the opera, and the libretto

Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, sacred or secular oratorio and cantata, Musical theater, and ballet....
(or poem, as Wagner preferred to call it) was completed by September 18. 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, he became passionately involved with Mathilde Wesendonck. Whether or not this relationship was platonic

Platonic love

Platonic love is a deep and spiritual connection between two individuals: within such a relationship there does not exist any form of sexual connection or sexual elements....
remains uncertain. One evening in September of that year, Wagner read the finished poem of Tristan to an audience including his wife, Minna, his current muse

Muse

File:Muse reading Louvre CA2220.jpgThe Muses in Greek mythology, poetry, and literature are the goddesses or spirits who inspire the creation of literature and the arts....
, Mathilde, and his future mistress

Mistress (lover)

A mistress is a man's long-term female sexual partner and companion who is not marriage to him, especially used when the man is married to another woman....
(and later wife), Cosima von Bülow

Cosima Wagner

Cosima Francesca Gaetana Wagner was the daughter of composer Franz Liszt. She became famous as the second wife of the German composer Richard Wagner and, after his death, as director of the Bayreuth Festival for 31 years....
.

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 the "Wesendonck Lieder
Wesendonck Lieder

The Wesendonck Lieder is a song-cycle composed by Richard Wagner while he was working on Die Walk?re. This, and the Siegfried Idyll, are his only two non-operatic works that are still regularly performed....
." 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. After enduring much misery, Wagner persuaded Minna, who had a heart condition, to rest at a spa

SPA

selfref|On Wikipedia, SPA may refer to...
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 of Tristan. However, Minna's return in July 1858 did not clear the air, and on August 17^th, Wagner was forced to leave both Minna and Mathilde and move to Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy, the capital city of the Italian regions Veneto, a population of 271,251 . Together with Padua, Italy, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area ....
.

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."

Wagner finished the second Act of Tristan during his eight-month exile in Venice. In March 1859, fearing extradition

Extradition

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....
to Saxony

Saxony

The Free State of Saxony is a States of Germany of Germany. Located in the southeastern part of present-day Germany. It is the tenth-largest German state in area and the sixth largest in population , of Germany's sixteen states....
, where he was still considered a fugitive

Fugitive

A fugitive is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from private slavery, a government arrest, government or non-government interrogation, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals....
, Wagner moved to Lucerne

Lucerne

Lucerne is a city in Switzerland. It is the capital of the Canton of Lucerne and seat of the Lucerne with the same name. With a population of 57,890, Lucerne is the most populous city in Central Switzerland and focal point of the region....
where he composed the last Act, completing it in August 1859.

Premiere

Tristan und Isolde proved to be a difficult opera to stage. Paris

Paris

Paris is the Capital of France and the country's largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the ?le-de-France Regions of France ....
, the centre of the operatic world in the middle of the 19^th century, was an obvious choice. However, after a disastrous staging of Tannhäuser

Tannhäuser (opera)

Tannh?user is an opera in three acts, music and text by Richard Wagner, based on the two Germany legends of Tannh?user and the S?ngerkrieg at Wartburg Castle....
at the Paris Opéra, Wagner offered the work to the Karlsruhe

Karlsruhe

Karlsruhe is a city in the south west of Germany, in the States of Germany Baden-W?rttemberg, located near the France-German border.Founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, the surrounding town became the seat of two of the highest courts in Germany, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany whose decisions have the force of a law, and the...
opera in 1861. When he visited the Vienna Court Opera to rehearse possible singers for this production, the management at Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the Capital of Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million...
suggested staging the opera in Vienna. 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

Ludwig II of Bavaria

Ludwig II was king of Kingdom of Bavaria from 1864 until shortly before his death. He is sometimes referred to as the Swan King in English language and der M?rchenk?nig in German language....
that enough resources could be found to mount the premiere of Tristan und Isolde. Hans von Bülow

Hans von Bülow

Cosima Wagner

Premiere

A premiere is generally "a first performance." This can refer to dramas, films, television programs, and so on. Premieres for theatrical, musical and other cultural presentations can become extravagant affairs, attracting large numbers of socialites and much Mass media attention....
on May 15^th 1865 had to be postponed because Isolde, Malvina Schnorr, had gone hoarse. It was only on June 10^th 1865 that the work finally premiered. Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld

Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld

Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld was a Germany heldentenor and the first singer of the role of Tristan und Isolde in Richard Wagner's opera Tristan und Isolde....
sang the role of Tristan and Malvina, his wife, sang Isolde. 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 conductor

Conducting

Conducting is the act of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. Orchestras, choirs, concert bands and other musical ensembles often have conductors....
s Felix Mottl

Felix Mottl

Felix Josef von Mottl was an Austrian conducting and composer.Born in Unter Sankt Veit, today Vienna, Mottl was regarded as one of the most brilliant conductors of his day....
in 1911 and Joseph Keilberth

Joseph Keilberth

Joseph Keilberth was a German Conducting.He started his career in the State Theatre of his native city, Karlsruhe. In 1940 he became director of the German Philharmonic Orchestra of Prague....
in 1968. Both men died after collapsing while conducting the second Act of the opera.

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. 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
Tristan chord

The Tristan chord is a chord made up of the notes F, B, D and G. More generally, it can be any chord that consists of these same Interval s: augmented fourth, augmented sixth, and augmented second above a root ....
, is of great significance in the move away from traditional tonal harmony

Harmony

Consonance and dissonance

In music, a consonance is a harmony, Chord , or interval considered stable, as opposed to a dissonance ? considered unstable . The strictest definition of consonance may be only those sounds which are pleasant, while the most general definition includes any sounds which are used freely....
chord:

One significant harmonic innovation is the consecutive use of two chords that feature a diminished (not perfect) fifth from the root bass note, the so called "devil interval in music" that was proclaimed illegal by the church fathers of Gregorian Chant. This type of sound within a chordal structure (excluding diminished chords) had never been heard up to that point.

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

Cadence (music)

In Classical music musical theory, a harmonic cadence is a chord progression of two chord s that Conclusion a phrase , section , or composition of music....
, thereby inspiring a desire and expectation on the part of the listener for musical resolution. 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.

The tonality of Tristan was to prove immensely influential in western Classical music. Giacomo Puccini

Giacomo Puccini

Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italians composer whose operas, including La boh?me, Tosca, Madama Butterfly and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the List of important operas....
, in the sketches of the final duet in Turandot
Turandot

Turandot is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. Though Puccini's first interest in the subject was based on his reading of Friedrich Schiller's adaptation of the play, his work is most nearly based on the earlier text Turandot by Carlo Gozzi....
(which he never completed), made a strange personal note: "then Tristan". Wagner's use of musical colour also influenced the development of film music. Bernard Herrmann

Bernard Herrmann

Bernard Herrmann was an United States composer noted for his work in motion pictures.An Academy Award-winner , Herrmann is particularly known for collaboration with director Alfred Hitchcock, most famously Psycho , North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo ....
's score for Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, Order of the British Empire was a British filmmaker and film producer who pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres....
's classic, Vertigo
Vertigo (film)

Vertigo is a psychological thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring James Stewart and Kim Novak and featuring Barbara Bel Geddes and Tom Helmore....
, is heavily reminiscent of the Liebestod, most evident concerning the resurrection scene. The opening of Tristan und Isolde was added to Luis Buñuel

Luis Buñuel

Luis Bu?uel Portol?s was a Spanish people-born filmmaker who worked mainly in France and Mexico, but also in his native Spain and in the United States....
and Salvador Dalí

Salvador Dalí

Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dal? i Dom?nech, 1st Marquis of P?bol was a Spain Catalonia surrealist painter born in Figueres.Dal? was a skilled Technical drawing, best known for the striking and bizarre images in his surrealism work....
's Surrealist film Un chien andalou
Un chien andalou

Un chien andalou is a short silent film surrealism film produced in France by two Spain auteurs: the Aragonian director Luis Bu?uel and the Catalonian artist Salvador Dal?....
. Not all composers, however, reacted favourably: Claude Debussy

Claude Debussy

Achille-Claude Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he is considered one of the most prominent figures working within the field of Impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions....
's piano piece "Golliwog's Cakewalk

Children's Corner

Children's Corner is a suite for solo piano by Claude Debussy, completed in 1908 .It is dedicated to Debussy's daughter, Claude-Emma , who was three years old at the time....
" mockingly quotes the gloomy "Tristan Chord" in the middle of a lighthearted piece.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere cast, 10 June 1865 (Conductor: Hans von Bülow Hans von Bülow Hans Guido Freiherr von B?low was a German Conducting, virtuoso pianist, and composer of the Romantic music. He was one of the most famous conductors of the 19th century, and his activity was critical for establishing the successes of several major composers of the time, including Richard Wagner.... )
Tristan	tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male voice type and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between the C one octave below middle C to the A above in choral music, and up to high C in solo work....	Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld was a Germany heldentenor and the first singer of the role of Tristan und Isolde in Richard Wagner's opera Tristan und Isolde....
Isolde	soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four part chorale style harmony the soprano takes the highest part which usually encompasses the melody....	Malvina Schnorr von Carolsfeld
Brangäne, Isolde's maid	mezzo-soprano	Anna Possart-Deinet
Kurwenal, Tristan's servant	baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of European classical music male voice type that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice....	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

Act 1

Isolde, promised to King Marke in marriage, and her handmaid, Brangäne, are quartered aboard Tristan’s ship being transported to the king's lands in Cornwall

Cornwall

Cornwall , constitutional Duchy and palatine, is a metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England of England, United Kingdom, located at the tip of the south-western peninsula of Great Britain....
. The opera opens with the voice of a young sailor

Sailor

A sailor or mariner is a person who navigates ships or assists in their operation, maintenance, or service. The term can apply to professional mariners, military personnel, and recreational sailors as well as a plethora of other uses....
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. In what is termed the "narrative and curse" her scorn

Scorn

Scorn is a feeling of contempt or disdain for something or somebody; to despise.Scorn may also refer to:Music* Scorn * Scorn of the Women, an album by Weddings Parties Anything...
and rage

Rage

Rage may refer to:* Jacob E. Leys* Rage * The Iliad* Rage , a fictional character from Marvel Comics* Rage , by Stephen King* RAGE , the biological receptor for advanced glycation endproducts...
are directed particularly at Tristan, the knight

Knight

File:Gothic armor 2.jpgKnight is the term for a social position originating in the Middle Ages. In the Commonwealth of Nations, knighthood is a non-heritable form of gentry....
responsible for taking her to Marke, and Isolde sends Brangäne to command Tristan to appear before her. Tristan, however, refuses Brangäne's request, claiming that his place is at the helm

Helm

|-|align=right| |}Helm may refer to:a ship's steering mechanism; see tiller and steering wheel . Derived meanings:* The verb meaning steering as in "to helm a yacht"....
. His henchman

Henchman

The word henchman referred originally to one who attended on a horse, that is, a horse groom. Hence, like constable and marshal, also originally stable staff, henchman became the title of a official in a royal court or noble household....
, Kurwenal, answers more brusquely, saying that Isolde is in no position to command Tristan and reminds Brangäne that Isolde’s previous fiancé, Morold

Morholt

In Arthurian legend, Morholt is an Ireland warrior who demands tribute from Mark of Cornwall of Cornwall until he is slain by Tristan, Mark's nephew and defender....
, was killed by Tristan.

Brangäne 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

In 1948, the World Health Organisation defined health as ?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 murder

Murder

Murder as defined in common law countries, is the unlawful killing of another human being with intent , and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide....
er of her fiancé. Isolde attempted to kill the man with his own sword

Sword

A sword is a long, edged piece of metal, used as a cutting, thrusting, and clubbing weapon in many civilizations throughout the world. The word sword comes from the Old English language wikt:sweord, cognate to Old High German swert, Middle Dutch swaert, Old Norse sver? Old Frisian and Old Saxon swerd and Dutch langua...
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

Uncle

Uncle may refer to:* A family relationship, either the brother of a parent or the husband of a sister of a parent. A woman with an equivalent relationship is an aunt, and the reciprocal relationship is that of a nephew or niece....
, King Marke. Isolde, furious at Tristan’s betrayal, insists that he drink atonement

Atonement

The atonement is a doctrine found within both Christianity and Judaism. It describes how sin can be forgiven by God. In Judaism, Atonement is said to be the process of forgiving or pardoning a transgression....
to her, and from her medicine-chest

Chest (furniture)

A chest is one of the oldest forms of furniture. It is typically a rectangular structure with four walls and a liftable lid, for storage. The interior space may be subdivided....
produces a vial

Vial

A vial is a relatively small glass vessel or bottle, especially used to store medication as liquids, powders or in other forms like capsule s....
to make the drink. Brangäne is shocked to see that it is a lethal poison

Poison

In the context of biology, poisons are Chemical substance that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....
.

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

Potion

A potion is a consumable medicine or poison, usually possessing Magic properties.In mythology, a potion is a concoction used to heal, bewitch or poison people, made by a Magician , magic or witch....
, now prepared by Brangäne, 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 Brangäne which potion she prepared and Brangäne replies, as the sailors hail the arrival of King Marke, that it was not a poisonous drink, but rather a love-potion.

Act 2

King Marke leads a hunting

Hunting

Hunting is the practice of pursuing living animals for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to law....
party out into the night, leaving the castle empty save for Isolde and Brangäne, who stand beside a burning brazier

Brazier

A brazier is a container for fire, generally taking the form of an upright standing or hanging metal bowl or box. Used for holding burning coal as well as fires, a brazier allows for a source of light, heat, or cooking....
. 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. 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. Isolde, however, believes Melot to be Tristan’s most loyal friend, and, in a frenzy of desire, extinguishes the flames. Brangäne retires to the rampart

Defensive wall

A defensive wall is a fortification used to defend a city or settlement from potential aggressors. In ancient to modern times, they were used to enclose settlements....
s 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

Death

Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that define a life organism. It refers to both a particular event and to the condition that results thereby....
can they be eternally united. During their long tryst

Tryst

Tryst may refer to:*A meeting of two lovers, as in courtship*Tryst , a book by Elswyth Thane*Tryst , a play by Karoline Leach*A nightclub at the Wynn_Las_Vegas#Tryst hotel...
, Brangäne 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. The Act II love duet is regarded by some as the most rapturous in all of western music.

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

Brittany is a former independent Celtic nations monarchy and duchy, now incorporated into France. It is also, more generally, the name of the cultural area whose limits correspond to the historic province and independent duchy....
. A shepherd

Shepherd

A shepherd is a person who tends to, feeds or guards sheep, especially in flocks. The word may also refer to one who provides religious guidance, as a pastor....
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 (written for the tarogato

Tárogató

The t?rogat? refers to two different Hungary woodwind instruments: the ancient t?rogat? and the modern t?rogat?. The modern t?rogat? was intended to be a recreation of the original t?rogat?, but the two instruments are thought to have little in common....
but usually played on the cor anglais

Cor anglais

The cor anglais, or English horn, is a Double reed woodwind Musical instrument in the oboe family.The cor anglais is a transposing instrument pitched in F, a perfect fifth lower than the oboe , and is consequently approximately one-third longer....
). 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

Delirium is an acute and relatively sudden decline in attention-focus, perception, and cognition. In medical usage it is not synonymous with drowsiness, and may occur without it....
. After his collapse, the shepherd is heard piping the arrival of Isolde’s ship, and, as Kurwenal rushes to meet her, Tristan tears the bandage

Bandage

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....
s from his wound

Wound

In medicine, a wound is a type of injury in which the skin is torn, cut or punctured , or where blunt force physical trauma causes a bruise . In pathology, it specifically refers to a sharp injury which damages the dermis of the skin....
s in his excitement. 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 and, in an attempt to avenge Tristan, furiously attacks Melot. Both Melot and Kurwenal, however, are killed in the fight. Marke and Brangäne finally reach Tristan and Isolde. Marke, grieving

Grief

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 dimensions....
over the body of his “truest friend,” explains that he learned of the love-potion from Brangäne and has come not to part the lovers, but to unite them. Isolde appears to wake at this, but instead, in a final aria

Aria

An aria in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. The term is now used almost exclusively to describe a self-contained piece for one voice usually with orchestral accompaniment....
describing her vision

Precognition

Precognition or Precog denotes a form of extrasensory perception wherein a person is said to perceive information about places or events through paranormal means before they happen....
of Tristan risen again (the “Liebestod”, "love death"), dies of grief.

Instrumentation
Instrumentation

Instrumentation is the branch of science that deals with measurement and control.An instrument is a device that measures or manipulates variables such as flow, temperature, level, or pressure....

The score

Score

Score may refer to:...
calls for:

3 flute
Flute

The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike other woodwind instruments, a flute is a reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air against an edge....
s, (III. also a piccolo
Piccolo

The piccolo is a small flute. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger component, the flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written....
), 2 oboe
Oboe

The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois", "hoboy", or "French hoboy"....
s, Cor anglais
Cor anglais

The cor anglais, or English horn, is a Double reed woodwind Musical instrument in the oboe family.The cor anglais is a transposing instrument pitched in F, a perfect fifth lower than the oboe , and is consequently approximately one-third longer....
, 2 clarinet
Clarinet

The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The name derives from adding the suffix -et meaning little to the Italian word clarino meaning a particular type of trumpet, as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet....
s, bass clarinet
Bass clarinet

The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common Soprano clarinet, it is usually pitched in B , but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B clarinet....
, 3 bassoon
Bassoon

The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the Bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher....
s, contrabassoon
Contrabassoon

The contrabassoon is a larger version of the bassoon sounding an octave lower. Its technique is similar to its smaller cousin, with a few notable differences....
4 French horns, 3 trumpet
Trumpet

The trumpet is a musical instrument with the highest Register in the brass instrument family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BC....
s, 3 trombone
Trombone

The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass instrument family. Like all brass instruments, it is a lip-reed aerophone: sound is produced when the player?s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate....
s, bass tuba
timpani
Timpani

Timpani are musical instruments in the percussion instrument family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a drumhead stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper, and more recently, constructed of more lightweight fiberglass....
, cymbal
Cymbal

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 manufacture....
s, triangle
Triangle (instrument)

The triangle is an idiophone type of musical instrument in the Percussion instrument family. It is a bar of metal, usually steel in modern instruments, bent into a triangle shape....
harp
Harp

The 'harp' is a stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicular to the Sounding board. It is also considered to be a percussion instrument....
strings
String instrument

A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones....
: 16 first violins, 16 second violins, 12 violas, 12 cellos, 8 double basses
On stage: Cor anglais
Cor anglais

The cor anglais, or English horn, is a Double reed woodwind Musical instrument in the oboe family.The cor anglais is a transposing instrument pitched in F, a perfect fifth lower than the oboe , and is consequently approximately one-third longer....
, 6 horns
Horn (instrument)

The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. It is descended from the natural horn and is informally known as the French horn....
, 3 trumpet
Trumpet

The trumpet is a musical instrument with the highest Register in the brass instrument family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BC....
s, trombone
Trombone

The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass instrument family. Like all brass instruments, it is a lip-reed aerophone: sound is produced when the player?s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate....
s

Influence of Schopenhauer on Tristan und Isolde

Wagner's friend, Georg Herwegh

Georg Herwegh

Georg Friedrich Rudolph Theodor Herwegh , son of an innkeeper, was born in Stuttgart.He initially studied theology but had to give up his studies and worked as a journalist and translator....
, introduced him in late 1854 to the work of the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. 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

The World as Will and Representation

The World as Will and Representation is the central work of German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. It was published in December 1818....
), and the similarities between the two men's world-views became clear.

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

Phenomenon

A phenomenon is any observation occurrence. In popular usage, a phenomenon often refers to an extraordinary event. In physics, a phenomenon may be a feature of matter, energy, or spacetime....
, while the unknowable reality is Noumenon

Noumenon

The noumenon is a posited object or event as it is in itself, independent of the senses. It classically refers to an object of human inquiry, understanding or cognition....
: concepts originally posited by Kant

KANT

KANT is a computer algebra system for mathematicians interested in algebraic number theory, performing sophisticated computations in algebraic number fields, in Global field function fields, and in local fields....
. 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. 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 fulfilment: 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”). 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

Phenomenon

Noumenon

The noumenon is a posited object or event as it is in itself, independent of the senses. It classically refers to an object of human inquiry, understanding or cognition....
. 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

Parsifal is an opera, or music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner. It is loosely based on Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, the medieval Epic poetry of the Arthurian knight Parzival and his quest for the Holy Grail....
. In fact Wagner even considered having the character of Parsifal

Parsifal

Parsifal is an opera, or music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner. It is loosely based on Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, the medieval Epic poetry of the Arthurian knight Parzival and his quest for the Holy Grail....
meet Tristan during his sufferings in Act 3, but later rejected the idea.

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 5^th, 1865 edition of the Allgemeine 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 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

Eduard Hanslick

Eduard Hanslick was a Bohemian-Austrian writer on music....
's reaction in 1868 to the Prelude to Tristan was that it "reminds one of the old Italian painting of a martyr whose intestines are slowly unwound from his body on a reel" (likely Erasmus of Formiae

Erasmus of Formiae

Saint Erasmus of Formiae is a Christian saint and Christian martyrs who died ca. 303, also known as Saint Elmo. He is venerated as the patron saint of sailors....
). The first performance in London's Drury Lane Theatre

Theatre Royal, Drury Lane

The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a London borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane....
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. We grant there is nothing so repulsive in Tristan as in Die Walküre
Die Walküre

Die Walk?re is the second of the four operas that comprise Der Ring des Nibelungen , by Richard Wagner. It is the source of the famous piece Ride of the Valkyries....
, 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."

Mark Twain

Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an United Statesmerican author and humorist. Twain is most noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which has since been called the Great American Novel, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer....
, 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. I feel strongly out of place here. Sometimes I feel like the one sane person in the community of the mad."

With the passage of time, Tristan became more favourably regarded. In an interview shortly before his death, Giuseppe Verdi

Giuseppe Verdi

Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic music composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers in the 19th century....
said that he "stood in wonder and terror" before Wagner's Tristan. In The Perfect Wagnerite
The Perfect Wagnerite: A Commentary on the Niblung's Ring

The Perfect Wagnerite: A Commentary on the Niblung's Ring is a philosophical commentary on Der Ring des Nibelungen, Richard Wagner's chief work, by Ireland writer, playwright, satirist and Nobel Laureate George Bernard Shaw....
, writer and satirist George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw, was an Irish people playwright.Although Shaw's first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, his talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60 plays....
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". 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

Bayreuth Festspielhaus

The Bayreuth Festspielhaus is an opera house north of Bayreuth, Germany, dedicated principally to the performance of operas by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner....
coterie and writing to Cosima Wagner

Cosima Wagner

Cosima Francesca Gaetana Wagner was the daughter of composer Franz Liszt. She became famous as the second wife of the German composer Richard Wagner and, after his death, as director of the Bayreuth Festival for 31 years....
in 1892 declared: "I have conducted my first Tristan. 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

Bruno Walter

Bruno Walter was a Germany-born Conducting and composer. He was born in Berlin, but moved to several countries between 1933 and 1939, finally settling in the United States in 1939....
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... 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

Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th century philosophy Germans philosophy and classical philology. He wrote critical texts on religion, morality, contemporary culture, philosophy, and science, using a distinctive German language style and displaying a fondness for metaphor and aphorism....
, 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. . . 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

See Tristan und Isolde discography
Tristan und Isolde discography

This is an incomplete discography of Tristan und Isolde, an opera by Richard Wagner. It premiered on 10 June 1865 in Munich....
.

Prelude and Liebestod

The Prelude and Liebestod is a concert version of the overture and Isolde's Act 3 aria, "Mild und leise

Mild und leise

Mild und Leise, which means "fair and gentle" in German language, is the opening line of the Liebestod, the final aria from Richard Wagner opera Tristan und Isolde....
". 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

Franz Liszt

Bibliography

Borchmeyer, Dieter (2003), Drama and the World of Richard Wagner, Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691114972

Chafe, Eric (2005), "The Tragic and the Ecstatic: The Musical Revolution of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde". Oxford University Press ISBN 978-0195176476
Gutman, Robert W. (1990), Wagner - The Man, His Mind and His Music, Harvest Books. ISBN 978-0156776158
Magee, Bryan (2001), The Tristan Chord: Wagner and Philosophy, Metropolitan Books. ISBN 978-0805071894
May, Thomas (2004), Decoding Wagner. Amadeus Press, ISBN 978-1574670974
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
Scruton, Roger (2004), Death-Devoted Heart: Sex and the Sacred in Wagner's Tristan and Isolde. Oxford University Press ISBN 0195166914

Includes libretto, English translation and commentaries.

External links

Also available in Italian
. A comprehensive website featuring photographs of productions, recordings, librettos, and sound files.
. A gallery of historic postcards with motifs from Richard Wagner's operas.
. Recordings reviewed by Geoffrey Riggs.
. List of recordings and videos from 1901–2004 by Jonathan Brown.
BBC / Metropolitan Opera synopsis
Comprehensive website containing source material and musical motives

Tristan und Isolde

Composition

Premiere

Significance in the development of classical music

Roles

Synopsis

Act 1

Act 2

Act 3

InstrumentationInstrumentationInstrumentation is the branch of science that deals with measurement and control.An instrument is a device that measures or manipulates variables such as flow, temperature, level, or pressure....

Influence of Schopenhauer on Tristan und Isolde

Reactions to Tristan und Isolde

Recordings

Prelude and Liebestod

Bibliography

External links

Instrumentation
Instrumentation

Instrumentation is the branch of science that deals with measurement and control.An instrument is a device that measures or manipulates variables such as flow, temperature, level, or pressure....