Tristan und Isolde

×

Expand

Image courtesy of Gran Teatre del Liceu.

Tristan und Isolde is an immense dramatic-musical poem; an infinite song of love and death inspired by the medieval Celtic legend from the 12th century, compiled by Gottfried von Strassburg, which became one of the cultural references of the Middle Ages and, in Wagner's hands, a cultural revolution.

The first scene takes place on the ship in which Tristan is taking Isolde to Cornwall to meet her betrothed, King Marke. The death potion that the princess has brought to carry out her revenge on Tristan for causing the death of her fiancé, Morold, is unexpectedly swapped by the servant Brangäne for a love potion, triggering the repressed passion of the protagonists, who, in the second act, present one of the most extraordinary scenes of ecstatic love in opera history. Fatality leads the lovers to reveal their impossible love. After Tristan's death, only her Transfiguration (Verklärung) remains for Isolde: a death of love (Liebestod) that occurs both musically and existentially, resulting in one of the most sublime moments.

Written between 1857 and 1859 and premiered in Munich in 1865, the opera starts with the tragic love story of Tristan and Isolde. With a libretto by Wagner himself, it serves as the most powerful expression of passionate love that asserts itself, uncontrollable, against one’s own will, moral norms, and divine laws, and, as Denis de Rougemont describes in Love and Western Culture, only finds its fulfillment in death.

For more music events check our online events calendar.