When Wagner tried to interest opera impresarios in his new work, he was turned down by house after house because of his daring use of chromaticism and harmonic suspension. It was just too modern. Finally, Wagner took the two principal parts of the opera, the Prelude to Act I and the “Liebestod” ending, put them together, and toured them as symphonic works to garner interest in the opera. King Ludwig II of Bavaria stepped forward and the opera was given its première on 10 June 1865 at the Munich Opera with Hans von Bülow conducting.
The music is some of the most dissonant and difficult that Wagner ever wrote and it has been said that from the first notes of the “Prelude,” the audience would have felt the inherent tragedy that was to be laid out before them. It is also said that from the first notes of the “Prelude,” most of modern music found its starting point. Musical tension is created all over the opera by the use of prolonged unfinished cadences – Wagner builds to a point of tension and then delays the resolution, drawing the listener even deeper into desire. It is only with the final aria, the “Liebestod” that the tensions that have been building up over the entire opera resolve – and in that resolution, we have Isolde’s death.
When done right, the “Prelude,” with its pianissimo opening, moving to the exposed “Tristan chord” can lift you off your seat and move you into an uneasy world of love and emotion. Don’t listen to this in a bright room – turn out the lights, close your eyes and let Wagner transport you to a world of love and tragedy.
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde: Act I Prelude (Royal Swedish Opera Orchestra , Leif Segerstam, cond.)
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde: Act II: Mild un leise wie er lächelt, “Liebestod” (Royal Swedish Opera Orchestra , Leif Segerstam, cond.)
As you listen to the “Liebestod,” concentrate on the end where, as she finishes singing, there is a marvelous resolution in all the tension she had built around her. The music goes to the minor at 05:13 and then at 05:24, we’re in the clear and sailing above all the world’s problems. The orchestra has the final word, returning us to a world that is calm, if empty of love.
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