TRISTAN UND ISOLDE
TRISTAN AND ISOLDE
Music-drama in three acts, words and music by Richard Wagner, who calls the work, "eine Handlung" (an action). Produced, under the direction of Hans von Bülow, Munich, June 10, 1865. First London production, June 20, 1882. Produced, December 1, 1886, with Anton Seidl as conductor, at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, with Niemann (Tristan), Fischer (King Marke), Lehmann (Isolde), Robinson (Kurwenal), von Milde (Melot), Brandt (Brangäne), Kemlitz (a Shepherd), Alvary (a Sailor), Sänger (a Helmsman). Jean de Reszke is accounted the greatest Tristan heard at the Metropolitan. Nordica, Ternina, Fremstad, and Gadski are other Isoldes, who have been heard at that house. Édouard de Reszke sang King Marke, and Bispham Kurwenal.
Characters
| Tristan, a Cornish knight, nephew to King Marke | Tenor |
| King Marke, of Cornwall | Bass |
| Isolde, an Irish princess | Soprano |
| Kurwenal, one of Tristan's retainers | Baritone |
| Melot, a courtier | Baritone |
| Brangäne, Isolde's attendant | Mezzo-Soprano |
| A Shepherd | Tenor |
| A Sailor | Tenor |
| A Helmsman | Baritone |
Sailors, Knights, Esquires, and Men-at-Arms.
Time—Legendary.
Place—A ship at sea; outside King Marke's palace, Cornwall; the platform at Kareol, Tristan's castle.
Wagner was obliged to remodel the "Tristan" legend thoroughly before it became available for a modern drama. He has shorn it of all unnecessary incidents and worked over the main episodes into a concise, vigorous, swiftly moving drama, admirably adapted for the stage. He shows keen dramatic insight in the manner in which he adapts the love-potion of the legends to his purpose. In the legends the love of Tristan and Isolde is merely "chemical"—entirely the result of the love-philtre. Wagner, however, presents them from the outset as enamoured of one another, so that the potion simply quickens a passion already active.