One of the most profound and innovative pieces of music in history. People who experience it tell of being overwhelmed and transformed.
The Blond Isolde, painting by Gaston Bussiere. Image used by Auckland Philharmonia for their marketing of this event. Photo: Public Domain
Simon O'Neill (Tristan)
Ricarda Merbeth (Isolde)
Katarina Karnéus (Brangäne)
Johan Reuter (Kurwenal)
Albert Dohmen (Marke)
Andrew Goodwin (Sailor, Shepherd, Helmsman)
Jared Holt (Melot)
NZ Opera Chorus, director Karen Grylls
Auckland Philharmonia conducted by Giordano Bellincampi
The story as told by the opera is on one level quite simple and it may at first seem remarkable that Wagner was to create four hours out of it: man and woman meet, fall in love, die. But of course beyond that there is a great deal of detail of event and below, a surging sea of emotion and motivation driving the events.
Still further down, is the opera’s reliance on the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer. In Schopenhauer’s vision, we are victims of a longing driven by unachievable desires. What we experience and our own representation of the world is entirely divorced from an ultimate reality that is hidden and unknowable.
Wagner chose to use the metaphor of day and night to signify these two realms. Day represents the world Tristan and Isolde inhabit where they are bound by the dictates of King Marke’s court – he as Marke’s most trusted knight and she as the king’s new wife – and must deny their love for each other. Night represents the seemingly unattainable world where they could be together. But they come to see that world as their true reality … attainable, but only through death.
The first act is set on Tristan’s ship. King Marke of Cornwall has sent him to fetch Isolde, an Irish princess, who has been betrothed to Marke. Isolde is furious, not at the betrothal but at Tristan, whom she considers has dishonoured her. The backstory is told: in the war between Cornwall and Ireland, Tristan killed Morold, Isolde’s beloved. Tristan himself was injured in the fight; Isolde found him and healed him with her magic potions, not knowing at first that he was Morold’s killer. When she found out however, she was about to kill him in revenge but was stopped by an anguished look from him. She now feels that Tristan, who owes her his life on two counts, is breaking a promise never to show his face again.
On the ship she demands that he drink a draught of atonement … a drink that they will both share and which she says will make reparation for her dishonour. She has asked her maid Brangäne to bring a potion of death but Brangäne, in alarm at the enormity of that, has secretly prepared a love potion instead.
Tristan and Isolde drink the potion together and fall utterly and inescapably in love … but it’s a love that perhaps has been there since they first met – they just couldn’t acknowledge it.
The act ends as the ship arrives in Cornwall to great pomp and clamour. The lovers scarcely know what’s real.
The second act of Tristan and Isolde is set in King Marke’s castle in Cornwall. A night hunting party, which includes Marke and one of his knights, Melot, is departing as the day ends. Marke’s new wife Isolde and her companion Brangäne are left behind. Isolde has pre-arranged a signal for Tristan – a burning brazier will be extinguished and then it will be safe for him to come to her. Brangäne warns that Melot is suspicious of the two lovers and urges caution.
Isolde is impatient and puts out the flame; Brangäne leaves. Tristan comes to Isolde and they sing a long scene together. At first they are all burning passion but later the music becomes quieter and they start discussing what their future might be – she as the wife of the king and he as a loyal knight.
Tristan decries daylight, which keeps them apart, as false, unreal and hated. They can only be together at nighttime – so for them that is the true reality. He goes further and claims that only in the long night of death can they be united eternally.
During all this, Brangäne repeatedly calls out to them that the night is ending and that the hunting party will be returning soon. But her cries are unheeded – Marke and Melot return to the castle and find Isolde and Tristan in each other’s arms.
Marke, of course, feels betrayed but wants to understand. Tristan cannot put into words a justification. He appeals to Isolde, who agrees to follow Tristan into the night, that is ‘death’.
Melot is incensed and he and Tristan fight. At a crucial moment, Tristan drops his sword and allows Melot a free strike. Tristan is severely wounded, bringing Act 2 to an end.
In the third act of Tristan and Isolde, we are at Tristan’s castle Kareol – his home – in Brittany. Kurwenal, Tristan’s trusty servant has brought the knight here from Cornwall for him to recover from the injury sustained in the fight with Melot. Things aren’t looking good though – he’s grievously ill and is fading in and out of consciousness. Kurwenal has sent for Isolde, as he realises that only her presence and the possibility of her magic potions can hope to bring Tristan fully back to life. He tells a shepherd, who’s been playing a mournful tune on his pipe, to signal when Isolde’s ship is sighted on the horizon.
Time passes with Tristan waking and lamenting his fate. He is momentarily encouraged when he learns that Isolde is on her way, but relapses again when the shepherd continues the mournful tune. He recalls that the tune was also played at the death of both his mother and father.
Eventually the ship is seen and the shepherd changes his melody. There’s a flurry of activity as Kurwenal rushes to meet it, Tristan tears the bandages from his wound in his excitement. However, as Isolde arrives at Tristan’s side, he’s a spent force and dies.
Another ship has been following Isolde’s … on it Marke and Melot and Brangäne. Kurwenal attacks Melot, thinking that he’s come to kill Tristan. Marke tries to stop the fight but the two – Kurwenal and Melot – are both killed. Marke and Brangäne finally reach the lovers and Marke, in grief at the sight of Tristan dead, explains that Brangäne has revealed the secret of the love potion to him. He has come not to separate Tristan and Isolde, but to allow them to be together.
Isolde, utterly transfigured, sings her final aria – the Liebestod – describing her vision of Tristan rising again. She then falls on his body and dies herself, finally united with her ultimate beloved.
Recorded by RNZ Concert, Auckland Town Hall, 10 August 2024
Sound Engineer: Adrian Hollay
Producer: Tim Dodd
