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EspañolTRISTAN UND ISOLDE
'''Tristan und Isolde''' (''Tristan and Isolde'') is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the romance by Gottfried von Straßburg. It was composed between 1857 and 1859 and received its first performance, conducted by Hans von Bülow, in Munich on 10 June 1865.
In the first Act, Isolde is being taken by ship to Cornwall to be married against her will to King Marke. She is furious with Marke's adopted son, Tristan, whose life she once spared and who has now betrayed her. She summons him to drink atonement to her. Tristan believes that this drink is poisoned, but takes it anyway, and Isolde drinks the remainder. Believing that they are about to die, they declare their true feelings of love for each other, but discover that Isolde's maid Brangaene has switched the drink for a love potion. In the second Act the lovers meet while the King and his party are out hunting at night, but they are discovered and Tristan is mortally wounded. In the third Act, Tristan, now returned alone to his lands in Kareol, and barely alive, yearns for Isolde. Only her return can save his life. At the end of the Act, Isolde does return, and Tristan dies in her arms. Isolde joins him in death, transfigured by grief.
In composing ''Tristan und Isolde'', Wagner was inspired by his affair with Mathilde Wesendonck, and also by the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer. 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.
The opera was profoundly influential amongst Western classical composers, with Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, Alban Berg and Arnold Schoenberg all drawing inspiration from it. Many see ''Tristan'' as marking the beginning of the move away from conventional harmony and tonality which would ultimately lead classical music towards the 20th century atonal movement.[1]
Composition
In 1849 Wagner was forced to abandon his position as Conductor of the Dresden Opera because of his participation in the unsuccessful May Revolution, which resulted in a warrant being posted for his arrest. He fled to Zurich, leaving behind his wife, Minna. In Zurich in 1852 he met the wealthy Otto Wesendonck, who had made a fortune from his New York silk trading firm. Wesendonck became one of Wagner's supporters, and bankrolled the composer for several years. Wesendonck's wife, Mathilde, also became increasingly enamoured of the composer. Wagner was at that time working on Der Ring des Nibelungen, but found himself preoccupied by the legend of ''Tristan und Isolde''.
The re-discovery of medieval Germanic poetry, including Gottfried von Strassburg's version of ''Tristan'', the ''Nibelunglied'' and Wolfram von Eschenbach's ''Parzival'' had a major impact on German Romantic movements during the middle of the 19th century. The story of Tristan and Isolde was one of the quintessential romances of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Several versions exist, the earliest dating to the middle of the 12th century. Gottfried's version was of the so called "courtly" branch of the tradition, and had a huge influence on later German literature.[2] According to his autobiography ''Mein Leben'', Wagner decided to dramatise the Tristan legend following an attempt by his friend Karl Ritter to do so:
"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." [3]This, together with his discovery of the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer in October 1854, led him to 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, he had sketched out all three acts of an opera on the Tristan theme, based on Gottfried von Strassburg's telling of the story, although it was not until August 1857 that he began working full-time on the opera, putting aside the composition of ''Siegfried'' to do so. On 20th 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. [6] By this time Wagner was living in a cottage built in the grounds of Wesendonck's villa, and during his work on ''Tristan und Isolde'' was passionately involved with Mathilde Wesendonck, although it remains uncertain as to whether or not this relationship was platonic. One evening in September of that year, Wagner read the finished poem of ''Tristan'' to an audience which included his wife, Minna, his current muse, Mathilde, and his future mistress and later wife, Cosima von Bülow.
By October of 1857 he had begun the composition sketch of the first Act, and in November he set five of Mathilde's poems to music: these became known as the ''"Wesendonck Lieder."'' 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 much misery, Wagner persuaded Minna, who had a heart condition, to take a rest at a spa, while Otto Wesendonck took Mathilde to Italy, during which time 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.
He later described 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. Then in March 1859, fearing extradition back to Saxony, where he was still a fugitive, he moved to Lucerne where he composed the last Act, completing it in August 1859.
Premiere
''Tristan und Isolde'' proved to be a difficult opera to stage. Paris was the centre of the operatic world in the middle of the 19th century; however, following the disastrous staging of ''Tannhäuser'' at the Paris Opéra in 1861 Wagner offered the piece to the Karlsruhe opera. But when he visited the Vienna Court Opera to rehearse possible singers for this production, the management at Vienna suggested staging the opera there. Originally the tenor Alois Ander was to sing the part of Tristan, however he proved incapable of learning the role. Despite over 70 rehearsals between 1862 and 1864, ''Tristan und Isolde'' could not be staged in Vienna, winning the opera a reputation as unperformable.
It was only following Wagner's adoption by Ludwig II of Bavaria that resources could be found to mount the premiere of ''Tristan''. Hans von Bulow was chosen to conduct the production, to be staged at the Munich Opera, despite the fact that Wagner was having an affair with his wife Cosima von Bulow. Even then the planned premiere on May 15th 1865 had to be cancelled because the Isolde, Malvina Schnorr had gone hoarse. Only on June 10th 1865 was the work finally performed for the first time. Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld sang the role of Tristan with the role of Isolde sung by his wife, Malvina. 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'' also claimed the lives of conductors Felix Mottl in 1911, and Joseph Keilberth in 1968. Both died 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'' | 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
Act I
Isolde and her handmaid, Brangaene are quartered aboard Tristan’s ship, being transported to King Marke’s lands in Cornwall where Isolde is to be married to the King. The opera opens with the voice of a young sailor singing of a “wild Irish maid”, which Isolde takes 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 who is taking her to Marke. She sends Brangaene to command Tristan to appear before her, but Tristan refuses Brangaene's request, saying that his place is at the helm. His henchman, Kurwenal, answers more brusquely, saying that Isolde is in no position to command Tristan, and reminding Brangaene that Isolde’s previous fiancé, Morold, was killed by Tristan.
Brangaene returns to Isolde to relate these events, and Isolde sadly tells her of how, following the death of Morold, a stranger called Tantris had been brought to her, found mortally wounded in a boat, and that she had used her healing powers to restore him to health. However she discovered that Tantris was actually Tristan, the murderer of her husband, and had tried to kill him with his sword as he lay helpless before her. However Tristan had looked not at the sword that would kill him, but into her eyes, and this had pierced her heart. Tristan had been allowed to leave, but had returned with the intention of marrying Isolde to his uncle, King Marke. Isolde, in her fury at Tristan’s betrayal, insists that he drink atonement to her, and from her medicine-chest produces the vial which will make this drink. Brangaene is shocked to see that it is a lethal poison.
At this point Kurwenal appears in the women’s quarters saying that Tristan has agreed after all to see Isolde. When he 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 life is about to end, they declare their love for each other. Their rapture is interrupted by Kurwenal, who announces the imminent arrival on board of King Marke. Isolde asks Brangaene which potion she prepared and is told that it was no poison, but a love-potion. Outside, the sailors hail the arrival of King Marke.
''Tristan und Isolde'' by Ferdinand Leeke
Act II
A nocturnal hunting party leaves King Marke’s castle empty except for Isolde and Brangaene, who stand beside a burning brazier. Isolde several times believes that the hunting horns are far enough away to allow her to extinguish the flames, giving the signal for Tristan to join her. Brangaene warns Isolde that one of King Marke’s knights, Melot, has seen the 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.
The lovers, alone at last 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 that they can truly be together, and only in the long night of death that they can be eternally united. Brangaene is heard several times throughout their long tryst calling a warning that the night is ending, but the lovers ignore her. Finally the day breaks in on the lovers, and Melot leads Marke and his men to find Tristan and Isolde in each other's arms. Marke is heart-broken, not only because of his betrayal by his adopted son, Tristan, but because he, too, has come to love Isolde.
Tristan now asks Isolde if she will follow him again into the realm of night, and she agrees. Melot and Tristan fight, but at the crucial moment, Tristan throws his sword aside and is mortally wounded by Melot.
Act III
Kurwenal has brought Tristan home to his castle at Kareol in Brittany. A shepherd pipes a mournful tune and asks if Tristan is awake. Kurwenal says that only Isolde’s arrival can save Tristan. The shepherd says he will keep watch and pipe a happy tune to mark the arrival of any ship. Tristan now wakes and mourns that he is again in the false realm of daylight, once more driven by unceasing unquenchable yearning, until Kurwenal tells him that Isolde is coming. Tristan is overjoyed and asks if her ship is in sight, but only the shepherd’s sorrowful tune is heard.
Tristan relapses and recalls that the shepherd’s tune is the one he heard when his father and then his mother died. Once again he rails against his desires and against the fateful love-potion until he collapses in delirium. At this point the shepherd is heard piping the arrival of Isolde’s ship, and as Kurwenal rushes to meet her, Tristan in his excitement tears the bandages from his wounds. As Isolde arrives at his side, Tristan dies with her name on his lips.
Isolde collapses beside him as the appearance of another ship is announced. Kurwenal sees Melot, Marke and Brangaene arrive and furiously attacks Melot to avenge Tristan. In the fight both Melot and Kurwenal are killed. Marke and Brangaene finally reach Tristan and Isolde. Marke, grieving over the body of his “truest friend” explains that he has learnt of the love-potion from Brangaene and had come, not to part the lovers, but to unite them. Isolde appears to wake but, in a final aria describing her vision of Tristan risen again (the “Liebestod”), dies of grief.
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] In this score Wagner uses 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 is the so-called ''Tristan chord'', often taken to be of great significance in the move away from traditional tonal harmony since it encompasses not one but two dissonances: [10]
'Sound sample'
★
★
The music of ''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.[11] While this device had been used before on occasion by other composers, 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 finally resolved until the very end 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 and then deliberately defers the anticipated resolution. A particularly notable example of this 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 (and some would say sexual) climax, only to have the expected resolution destroyed by the dissonant interruption of Kurwenal ("Rette Dich, Tristan!"). The long-awaited completion of this series of cadences arrives only in the final ''Liebestod'', in 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 made a strange personal note in the sketches for the final duet in ''Turandot'', which he never completed: "then Tristan". Wagner's use of musical colour also influenced the development of film music. Bernard Herrmann's score for Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece, ''Vertigo'' is heavily reminiscent of the ''Liebestod'', most notably during the resurrection scene, and the opening of ''Tristan und Isolde'' was added to Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí's Surrealist film ''Un chien andalou''.
Not all composers reacted favourably: Claude Debussy's piano piece "Golliwog's Cakewalk" mockingly quotes the gloomy "Tristan Chord" in the middle of a lighthearted piece.
Influence of Schopenhauer on ''Tristan und Isolde''
Wagner was introduced to the work of the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer by his friend Georg Herwegh in late 1854.[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 it is clear that the composer and the philosopher had a very similar world-view.
Schopenhauer’s influence on ''Tristan und Isolde'' is felt most directly in the second and third acts. The first act is relatively straightforward, consisting mostly of an exposition of how Tristan and Isolde come to be in their current state. However the second act, where the lovers meet, and the third act, in 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 where the lovers must deny their love and pretend they do not care for each other, where they are bound by the dictates of King Marke’s court: 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 against Tristan's secret desires. The realm of Night, in contrast, is the representation of intrinsic reality, where the lovers can be together, where their desires can be openly expressed and reach fulfillment: it is the realm of oneness, truth and reality. 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.[15] 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 is Wagner’s intention.
In Schopenhauer’s philosophy, the world as we experience it is a representation of an unknowable reality. Our representation of the world (which is false) is Phenomenon, while the unknowable reality is Noumenon: these concepts are developments of ideas originally posited by Kant. Importantly for Tristan and Isolde, Schopenhauer’s concept of Noumenon is one where all things are indivisible and one: and it is this very idea of one-ness that Tristan yearns for in Acts 2 and 3 of Tristan und Isolde. Tristan is also aware that this realm of Night, or Noumenon can only be shared by the lovers in its fullest sense when they die. The realm of Night therefore also becomes the realm of death: the only world in which Tristan and Isolde can be united 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”).[16]
Tristan rages against the daylight in Act 3 and frequently cries out for release from his desires (Sehnen): it is also part of Schopenhauer’s philosophy that man is driven by continued, unachievable desires, and that the gulf between our desires and the possibility of achieving them leads to misery. The only way for man to achieve inner peace is to renounce his desires: a theme that Wagner explores fully in his last opera, ''Parsifal''. In fact Wagner at one point considered having the character of Parsifal meet Tristan during his sufferings in Act 3, but later rejected the idea.[17]
Reactions to ''Tristan und Isolde''
Although ''Tristan und Isolde'' is today performed in major opera houses around the world, critical opinion was not always favorable. "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....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." Such was the opinion in the 5 July 1865 edition of the ''Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung''.
Eduard Hanslick's reaction in 1868 to the Prelude to ''Tristan'' was that it "reminds me of the old Italian painting of a martyr whose intestines are slowly unwound from his body on a reel." 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. We grant there is nothing so repulsive in ''Tristan'' as in ''Die Walküre'', but the system is the same. The passion is unholy in itself and its representation is impure, and for those reasons we rejoice in believing that such works will not become popular. If they did we are certain their tendency would be mischievous, and there is, therefore, some cause for congratulation in the fact that Wagner's music, in spite of all its wondrous skill and power, repels a greater number than it fascinates."
Mark Twain, visiting Germany, went to hear ''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."[18]
With the passage of time, ''Tristan'' became more favourably regarded. Giuseppe Verdi interviewed shortly before his death said that he "stood in wonder and terror" before Wagner's ''Tristan''. In '' the writer and satirist George Bernard Shaw said ''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 was initially dismissive of Tristan, saying that Wagner's music: "would kill a cat and would turn rocks into scrambled eggs from fear of [its] hideous dischords." However he later became part of the Bayreuth coterie and writing to Cosima Wagner in 1892 declared; "I have conducted my first ''Tristan''. It was the most wonderful day of my life." He later wrote: "''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 as a student heard his first ''Tristan und Isolde'' in 1889: "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 was one of Wagner's staunchest allies in his younger years, and 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 he described his reaction to the Prelude to Tristan: “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 following his break with Wagner, Nietzsche still considered ''Tristan'' to be 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 always been acknowledged as one of the greatest operas, and 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 a number of live performances with this pair directed by conductors such as Thomas Beecham, Fritz Reiner, Artur Bodanzky and Erich Leinsdorf. 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.[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. In the 1960s the soprano Birgit Nilsson was considered the major Isolde interpreter, and she was often partnered by the Tristan of Wolfgang Windgassen. Their performances at Bayreuth in 1966 were captured by Deutsche Grammophon, under the baton of Karl Böhm, a performance often recommended as one of the best recordings of the work.[20] Some collectors prefer the pairing of Nilsson with the Canadian tenor Jon Vickers, available in “unofficial” recordings from performances in Vienna or Orange.
Karajan did not record the opera officially until 1971, and his set is still controversial for the use of a lighter soprano voice (Helga Dernesch) as Isolde, paired with an extremely intense Vickers, and also for the unusual balance between orchestra (the Berlin Philharmonic) and singers favoured at that time by Karajan. In the 1990s the Berlin Philharmonic would record the opera with conductor Daniel Barenboim, featuring Waltraud Meier's 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. The set by Kleiber is notable since Isolde is sung by the famous Mozartian soprano Margaret Price, who never sang the role of Isolde on stage. 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.
There are several DVD productions of the opera including a staging by the Deutsche Oper, Berlin featuring the seasoned Wagnerians René Kollo and Dame Gwyneth Jones in the title roles, in Götz Friedrich's production. 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
★ Karl Elmendorff conducting the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra with Nanny Larsen-Todsen and Gunnar Graarud, 1928 (heavily abridged; Columbia Records, mono, rereleased in 2003 by Naxos)[21]
★ Fritz Reiner conducting the Covent Garden Orchestra with Kirsten Flagstad and Lauritz Melchior, 1936 (Naxos and VAI, mono)
★ Thomas Beecham conducting the Covent Garden Orchestra with Kirsten Flagstad and Lauritz Melchior, 1937 (Archipel, mono)
★ Erich Leinsdorf conducting the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra with Lauritz Melchior and Helen Traubel, 1943 (Naxos, mono)
★ Erich Kleiber conducting the Buenos Aires Opera with Kirsten Flagstad and Set Svanholm, 1948 (Myto, mono)
★ Hans Knappertsbusch conducting the Bavarian State Opera Orchestra with Helena Braun and Gunther Treptow, 1950 (Orfeo, mono)
★ Victor de Sabata conducting the Orchestra of La Scala Milan with Gertrude Grob-Prandl and Max Lorenz, 1951 (Archipel, mono)[22]
★ Herbert von Karajan conducting the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra with Martha Mödl and Ramón Vinay , 1952 (available on multiple labels, mono)[23]
★ Wilhelm Furtwängler conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra with Kirsten Flagstad and Ludwig Suthaus, 1953 (EMI, mono).[24]
★ Karl Böhm conducting the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra with Birgit Nilsson and Wolfgang Windgassen, 1966 (Deutsche Grammophon, stereo)
★ Horst Stein conducting the Buenos Aires Teatro Colon Orchestra with Birgit Nilsson and Jon Vickers, 1971 (VAI, stereo)
★ Herbert von Karajan conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra with Helga Dernesch and Jon Vickers, 1972 (EMI, stereo)
★ Reginald Goodall conducting the Chorus and Orchestra of Welsh National Opera with Linda Esther Gray and John Mitchinson, 1980-1 (Decca, stereo)
★ Carlos Kleiber conducting the Staatskapelle Dresden with Margaret Price and René Kollo, 1982 (Deutsche Grammophon, stereo)
★ Daniel Barenboim conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra with Waltraud Meier and Siegfried Jerusalem, 1994 (Teldec, stereo)
★ Christian Thielemann conducting the Vienna State Opera with Deborah Voigt and Thomas Moser, 2003 (Deutsche Grammophon, stereo)
★ Antonio Pappano conducting the Royal Opera House Orchestra with Nina Stemme and Plácido Domingo, 2005 (EMI, stereo)
Video
★ ''Tristan und Isolde'' Conductor: Pierre Boulez. Soloists: Wolfgang Windgassen; Birgit Nilsson; Chorus and Orchestra of the Osaka Festival. Recorded [on black and white film], Osaka, 10 April 1967. Production was directed by Wieland Wagner.
★ ''Tristan und Isolde'' Conductor: Karl Böhm. Soloists: Jon Vickers; Birgit Nilsson. New Philharmonia Chorus; ORTF Orchestra. Théâtre Antique, Orange, France, 7 July 1973. This is a highly valued video recording due to its excellent performance despite some technical problems (as of 2005-11-21). DVD: Hardy Classic Video HCD 40009 (2 DVDs) (2003) is a good print
★ ''Tristan und Isolde'' Conductor: Daniel Barenboim, Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele, Staged and Directed by: Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, Soloists: René Kollo, Johanna Meier, Matti Salminen, Hermann Becht, Hanna Schwarz, Unitel 1983, Laserdisc Philips 070-509-1
Prelude and Liebestod
The ''Prelude and Liebestod'' is a concert version of the overture and Isolde's Act 3 aria, arranged by Wagner, which was first performed in 1862, before the premiere of the opera itself 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
★ Borchmeyer, Dieter (2003), ''Drama and the World of Richard Wagner'', Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691114972
★ Tristan Und Isolde on Record, , Jonathan, Brown, Greenwood Press, ,
★ 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
★ 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
★ Tristan and Isolde, , Richard, Wagner, J. Calder, , Includes libretto, English translation and commentaries.
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. http://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1281
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 218.
16. Magee, Bryan (2001), ''ibid'' page 221.
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
★ Bilingual side by side German English Libretto Also available in Italian
★ Wagner Operas. A comprehensive website featuring photographs of productions, recordings, librettos, and sound files.
★ Richard Wagner - Tristan und Isolde. A gallery of historic postcards with motifs from Richard Wagner's operas.
★ Recordings of ''Tristan and Isolde'' rated. Recordings reviewed by Geoffrey Riggs.
★ Discography of ''Tristan und Isolde''. List of recordings and videos from 1901 - 2004 by Jonathan Brown.
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