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151-981: " Liebestod " ( [ˈliːbəsˌtoːt] German for "love death") is the title of the final, dramatic music from the 1859 opera Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner . It is the climactic end of the opera, as Isolde sings over Tristan's dead body. The music is often used in film and television productions of doomed lovers. Mild und leise wie er lächelt, wie das Auge hold er öffnet —seht ihr's, Freunde? Seht ihr's nicht? Immer lichter wie er leuchtet, stern-umstrahlet hoch sich hebt? Seht ihr's nicht?       ertrinken, versinken, – unbewusst, – höchste Lust! Softly and gently how he smiles, how his eyes fondly open —do you see, friends? do you not see? how he shines ever brighter. Star-haloed rising higher Do you not see? [...and ends...] to drown, to founder – unconscious – utmost bliss! Tristan und Isolde Wagner's composition of Tristan und Isolde

302-607: A "Nibelungen workshop" (" Nibelungenwerkstatt ") together with the author of the Nibelungenklage . The latter work identifies a "meister Konrad" as the author of an original Latin version of the Nibelungenlied , but this is generally taken for a fiction. Although a single Nibelungenlied- poet is often posited, the degree of variance in the text and its background in an amorphous oral tradition mean that ideas of authorial intention must be applied with caution. It

453-527: A "great tragedy" (" große Tragödie ") in a series of lectures from 1802/3. Many early supporters sought to distance German literature from French Classicism and belonged to artistic movements such as Sturm und Drang . As a consequence of the comparison of the Nibelungenlied to the Iliad , the Nibelungenlied came to be seen as the German national epic in the earlier nineteenth century, particularly in

604-522: A "magic show, an illusion where things appear to be present but are not what they seem", and "conceals the true character of spiritual reality"; it finds its parallel in Schopenhauer’s "Phenomenon". Tristan denounces the lying "disguise" of Day and resolves to yearn for and seek out only the "Holy Night": Oh, now we are with Night anointed! The treacherous Day, with envy pointed, could part us with its disguise, but no longer cheat us with lies! Amid

755-418: 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 ." Wagner wrote of his preoccupations with Schopenhauer and Tristan in a letter to Franz Liszt (16 December 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

906-537: A cottage built in the grounds of Wesendonck's villa, where, during his work on Tristan und Isolde , he became passionately involved with Mathilde Wesendonck. Whether or not this relationship was platonic remains uncertain. One evening in September of that year, Wagner read the finished poem of "Tristan" to an audience including his wife, Minna, his current muse , Mathilde, and his future mistress (and later wife), Cosima von Bülow . By October 1857, Wagner had begun

1057-522: A courtly education in Xanten . More elaborate stories about Siegfried's youth are found in the Thidrekssaga and in the later heroic ballad Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid , both of which appear to preserve German oral traditions about the hero that the Nibelungenlied -poet decided to suppress for their poem. The portrayal of Kriemhild, particularly in the first half of the romance, as a courtly lady

1208-438: A detrimental effect on its early reception: when presented with a full edition of the medieval poem by Christoph Heinrich Myller, King Frederick II famously called the Nibelungenlied "not worth a shot of powder" (" nicht einen Schuß Pulver werth "). Goethe was similarly unimpressed, and Hegel compared the epic unfavorably to Homer. The epic nevertheless had its supporters, such as August Wilhelm Schlegel , who called it

1359-499: A falcon that is killed by two eagles. Her mother explains that this means she will love a man who will be killed; Kriemhild thus swears to remain unmarried. At the same time, the young Siegfried is receiving his courtly education in the Netherlands; he is dubbed a knight and decides that he will go to Worms to ask for Kriemhild as his wife. The story of how Siegfried slew a dragon, winning a large hoard of gold, and then bathed in

1510-432: A façade, under which the older heroic ethos of the poem remains. Additionally, the poet seems to have known Latin literature. The role given to Kriemhild in the second (originally first) stanza is suggestive of Helen of Troy , and the poem appears to have taken a number of elements from Vergil 's Aeneid . There is some debate as to whether the poet was acquainted with Old French chanson de geste . The language of

1661-406: A fourth foot to their final line, as these supposedly older stanzas are characterized by a more archaic vocabulary as well. German medievalist Jan-Dirk Müller notes that while it would be typical of a medieval poet to incorporate lines from other works in their own, no stanza of the Nibelungenlied can be proven to have come from an older poem. The nature of the stanza creates a structure whereby

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1812-511: A hook. The next night, Gunther asks Siegfried to wrestle Brünhild into submission using his Tarnkappe ; Siegfried takes Brünhilds belt and ring as a trophy and then lets Gunther take her virginity, causing her to lose her strength. After the wedding, Siegfried and Kriemhild return to the Netherlands. Before they do, Kriemhild wants to ask for her part of the inheritance from her brothers, but Siegfried advises her not to. Kriemhild wishes to take Hagen with her, but he refuses. Many years pass. In

1963-544: A more mythological origin. The story of the destruction of the Burgundians and Siegfried appear to have been originally unconnected. The Old Norse Atlakviða , a poem likely originally from the ninth century that has been reworked as part of the Poetic Edda , tells the story of the death of the Burgundians without any mention of Sigurd (Siegfried) and can be taken as an attestation for an older tradition. In fact,

2114-584: A more original version of the Nibelungen saga, newer scholarship has called this into question and notes that the connections made to Norse mythology and Germanic paganism , such as the semi-divine origin of the Nibelungen hoard, are likely more recent developments that are therefore unique to the Scandinavian tradition. Some elements of the Norse tradition, however, are assuredly older. The death of

2265-498: A mournful tune and asks if Tristan is awake. Kurwenal replies that only Isolde's arrival can save Tristan, and the shepherd offers to keep watch and claims that he will pipe a joyful tune to mark the arrival of any ship. Tristan awakes ("Die alte Weise – was weckt sie mich?") and laments his fate – to be, once again, in the false realm of daylight, once more driven by unceasing unquenchable yearning ("Wo ich erwacht' weilt ich nicht"). Tristan's sorrow ends when Kurwenal tells him that Isolde

2416-405: A musical climax, only to have the expected resolution destroyed by the dissonant interruption of Kurwenal ("Rette Dich, Tristan!"). Resolution of the music does not occur until the very end of the opera, after Isolde sings the closing excerpt commonly referred to as the " Liebestod " ("Love-Death"), after which she sinks down, "as if transfigured", dead onto Tristan's body. The tonality of Tristan

2567-536: A new life as the German national epic . The poem was appropriated for nationalist purposes and was heavily used in anti-democratic, reactionary, and Nazi propaganda before and during the Second World War . Its legacy today is most visible in Richard Wagner 's operatic cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen , which, however, is mostly based on Old Norse sources. In 2009, the three main manuscripts of

2718-415: 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. After enduring much misery, Wagner persuaded Minna, who had a heart condition, to rest at a spa while Otto Wesendonck took Mathilde to Italy. It was during the absence of the two women that Wagner began the composition sketch of

2869-563: A single version *AB, while a version *C is attested by manuscript C and most of the earliest fragments, including the oldest attestation of the Nibelungenlied . Using the final words of the epic, *AB is also called the Not -version, and *C the Lied- version; the *C version is clearly a reworking of an earlier version, but it is not clear if this version was *AB; *AB may also be an expanded version of an earlier text. Most scholars assume that manuscript B

3020-407: A son, Ortlieb, and after thirteen years, she convinces Etzel to invite her brothers and Hagen to a feast. In Worms, Hagen advises against traveling to Etzel's castle, but Gunther and his brothers believe that Kriemhild has reconciled with them and decide to go. Nevertheless, they take Hagen's advice to travel with an army. The departure of the Burgundians, who are now increasingly called Nibelungs ,

3171-491: A spiritual and artistic reassessment. Schopenhauer's pessimistic worldview , his emphasis on the primacy of " Will " as the fundamental force of existence, and his notion that music is the highest of the arts because it directly expresses the Will resonated deeply with Wagner. In response, Wagner composed works such as Tristan and Isolde and Parsifal whose libretti are pervaded with Schopenhauer's ideas and whose music dominates

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3322-483: A story of Siegfried's youth that more closely resembles that found in the Old Norse Þiðreks saga and early modern German Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid , while k shortens the text and modernizes the language. The famous opening of the Nibelungenlied is actually thought to be an addition by the adaptor of the "*C" version of the Nibelungenlied , as it does not appear in the manuscript of B, which probably represents

3473-510: A sword and Hagen a shield. When the Burgundians arrive at Etzelnburg, they are warned by Dietrich von Bern that Kriemhild hates them. Kriemhild greets only Gisleher with a kiss and asks Hagen if he has brought with him what he took from her; later, she approaches him wearing her crown and in the company of many armed men. Hagen refuses to stand up for Kriemhild and places Siegfried's sword across her legs; recognizing it, Kriemhild's accompanying Huns still refuse to attack Hagen. Etzel, meanwhile,

3624-556: A theme that later became the prelude to Act III. But Wagner resolved to write Tristan only after he had secured a publishing deal with the Leipzig-based firm Breitkopf & Härtel , in January 1858. From this point on, Wagner finished each act and sent it off for engraving before he started on the next – a remarkable feat given the unprecedented length and complexity of the score. In April 1858 Wagner's wife Minna intercepted

3775-457: A traditional motif known from the Norse versions, she could mean the stolen hoard, but she could also mean her murdered husband. Hagen, similarly, in demanding that Gunther first be killed before he reveals the hoard's location, even though the hoard is at the bottom of the Rhine and cannot be retrieved, reveals Kriemhild's mercilessness while also showing his own duplicity. It is unclear which figure

3926-484: A transcendental "Love-Death" together as the ultimate consummation of their love. The music builds to ecstatic, mystically-elated climaxes, where they imagine the dissolution of their individual egos and merging into unity with each other and "supreme love": Nibelungenlied The Nibelungenlied ( German pronunciation: [ˌniːbəˈlʊŋənˌliːt] ; Middle High German : Der Nibelunge liet or Der Nibelunge nôt ), translated as The Song of

4077-503: A warning several times that the night is ending ("Einsam wachend in der Nacht"), but her cries fall upon deaf ears. The day breaks in on the lovers as Melot leads King Marke and his men to find Tristan and Isolde in each other's arms. Marke is heartbroken, not only because of his nephew's betrayal but also because Melot chose to betray his friend Tristan to Marke and because of Isolde's betrayal as well ("Mir – dies? Dies, Tristan – mir?"). When questioned, Tristan explains that he cannot reveal

4228-577: A way that the original historical context has been lost. The epic, and presumably the oral traditions that provided its material, have transformed historical events into relatively simple narrative schemas that can be compared with other, similar (originally) oral narratives from other cultures. What had originally been political motivations have been "personalized", so that political events are explained through personal preferences, likes, dislikes, and feuds rather than purely by realpolitik . Various historical personages, moreover, appear to be contemporaries in

4379-481: Is a new war brewing against the Saxons; he would like to know where Siegfried is vulnerable so that he can protect him. Kriemhild agrees to mark the spot between Siegfried's shoulder blades where a leaf had prevented his skin from becoming invulnerable. Rather than a war, however, Gunther invites Siegfried to go hunting. When Siegfried is bent over a spring to drink water, Hagen spears him in the back, killing him. The body

4530-675: Is a relatively recent one, only being attested from the seventh century onward, meaning that the original name may have been equivalent to the Old Norse Sigurd . Scholars such as Otto Höfler have speculated that Siegfried and his slaying of the dragon may be a mythologized reflection of Arminius and his defeat of the Roman legions in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD. Jan-Dirk Müller suggests that Siegfried likely has

4681-511: Is accompanied by various ill omens, but these are all dismissed by Hagen. When the Burgundians are about to cross the Danube in Bavaria, Hagen encounters three nixies , who prophecy to him that only the king's chaplain will return from Etzel's hall. To try to prove the prophecy false, Hagen throws the chaplain overboard from the ferry, but he swims to shore and returns to Worms. Hagen then destroys

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4832-499: 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. While suspension is a common compositional device (in use since before the Renaissance), Wagner was one of the first composers to employ harmonic suspension over

4983-489: Is also possible that there were several poets involved, perhaps under the direction of a single "leader" who could be considered the " Nibelungenlied- poet". The Nibelungenlied is conventionally dated to around the year 1200. Wolfram von Eschenbach references the cook Rumolt, usually taken to be an invention of the Nibelungenlied- poet, in his romance Parzival (c. 1204/5), thereby providing an upper bound on

5134-469: Is clueless about these events and welcomes his guests warmly. Hagen advises the Burgundians to remain armed. Fighting almost breaks out at a tournament when the Burgundian Volker von Alzey kills a Hun in a joust, but Etzel is able to prevent it. Kriemhild then seeks to convince Dietrich von Bern and Hildebrand to attack the Burgundians; they refuse, but Etzel's brother Bloedelin agrees. At

5285-399: Is common practice to judge or praise the poems of others, no other poet refers to the author of the Nibelungenlied . Attempts to identify the Nibelungenlied- poet with known authors, such as Bligger von Steinach , to whom a lost epic is attributed by Gottfried von Strassburg , have not found wide acceptance. The poem is nevertheless believed to have had a single author, possibly working in

5436-466: Is if she first kills Gunther, but afterwards tells her that now she will never learn. Kriemhild kills Hagen with Siegfried's sword. That this great hero has been killed by a woman sickens Etzel, Dietrich, and Hildebrand. Hagen's death so enrages Hildebrand that he kills Kriemhild. The Nibelungenlied , like other Middle High German heroic epics, is anonymous. This anonymity extends to discussions of literature in other Middle High German works: although it

5587-493: Is in the right and which in the wrong. With 36 extant manuscripts, the Nibelungenlied appears to have been one of the most popular works of the German Middle Ages and seems to have found a very broad audience. The poem is quoted by Wolfram von Eschenbach in his Parzival and Willehalm and likely inspired his use of stanzas in his unfinished Titurel . The manuscript witnesses and medieval references to

5738-515: Is likely an invention of the Nibelungenlied -poet. Earlier (and many later) attestations of Kriemhild outside of the Nibelungenlied portray her as obsessed with power and highlight her treachery to her brothers rather than her love for her husband as her motivation for betraying them. The poet still uses images from this traditional picture, but given the new motivation of the poem's Kriemhild, their meaning has changed. For instance, when Kriemhild demands that Hagen give back what he has taken from her,

5889-542: Is likely that his presence there inspired these new poems. Many of the following heroic epics appear to respond to aspects of the Nibelungenlied : the Kudrun (c. 1250), for instance, has been described as a reply to the Nibelungenlied that reverses the heroic tragedy of the previous poem. Kudrun herself is sometimes seen as a direct reversal of Kriemhild, as she makes peace among warring factions rather than driving them to their deaths. No Middle High German heroic epic after

6040-442: Is of great significance in the move away from traditional tonal harmony as it resolves to another dissonant chord: The opera is noted for its numerous expansions of harmonic practice; for instance, one significant innovation is the frequent use of two consecutive chords containing tritones (diminished fifth or augmented fourth), neither of which is a diminished seventh chord (F–B, bar 2; E–A ♯ , bar 3). Tristan und Isolde

6191-506: Is on her way. Tristan, overjoyed, asks if her ship is in sight, but only a sorrowful tune from the shepherd's pipe is heard. Tristan relapses and recalls that the shepherd's mournful tune is the same as was played when he was told of the deaths of his father and mother ("Muss ich dich so versteh'n, du alte, ernst Weise"). He rails once again against his desires and against the fateful love potion ("verflucht sei, furchtbarer Trank!") until, exhausted, he collapses in delirium . After his collapse,

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6342-527: Is placed in front of Kriemhild's door. Kriemhild immediately suspects Gunther and Hagen and her suspicions are confirmed when Siegfried's corpse bleeds in Hagen's presence. Siegfried is buried and Kriemhild chooses to stay in Worms, eventually officially reconciling with Hagen and her brothers though she stays in mourning. Hagen has Siegfried's hoard taken from her. Kriemhild remains unmarried for 13 years. After

6493-457: Is the closest to the original *AB version. By 1300, the Nibelungenlied was circulating in at least five versions: Most fragments from after 1300 belong to the two mixed versions ( Mischenfassungen ), which appear to be based on copies of both the Not and Lied versions. Three later manuscripts provide variant versions: one, m (after 1450), is lost while two are still extant: n (c. 1470/80) and k (c.1480/90). Manuscripts m and n contain

6644-848: The Nibelungenlied were inscribed in UNESCO 's Memory of the World Register in recognition of their historical significance. It has been called "one of the most impressive, and certainly the most powerful, of the German epics of the Middle Ages". There are 37 known manuscripts and manuscript fragments of the Nibelungenlied and its variant versions. Eleven of these manuscripts are essentially complete. Twenty-four manuscripts are in various fragmentary states of completion, including one version in Dutch (manuscript "T"). The text of

6795-584: The Nibelungenlied by Karl Simrock into modern German in 1827 was especially influential in popularizing the epic and remains influential today. Also notable from this period is the three-part dramatic tragedy Die Nibelungen by Friedrich Hebbel . Following the founding of the German Empire , recipients began to focus more on the heroic aspects of the poem, with the figure of Siegfried in particular becoming an identifying figure for German nationalism. Especially important for this new understanding of

6946-426: The Nibelungenlied conform more closely to these principles in his own reworkings of the poem, leaving off the first part in his edition, titled Chriemhilden Rache , in order to imitate the in medias res technique of Homer . He later rewrote the second part in dactylic hexameter under the title Die Rache der Schwester (1767). Bodmer's placement of the Nibelungenlied in the tradition of classical epic had

7097-492: The Nibelungenlied is characterized by its formulaic nature, a feature of oral poetry , meaning that similar or identical words, epithets, phrases, and even lines can be found in various positions throughout the poem. These elements can be used flexibly for different purposes in the poem. As the Nibelungenlied is generally thought to have been conceived as a written work, these elements are typically taken as signs of "fictive orality" (" fingierte Mündlichkeit ") that underscore

7248-602: The Nibelungenlied maintains the tragic heroic atmosphere that characterized earlier Germanic heroic poetry, and the later poems are often further hybridized with elements of chivalric romance . Reception of the Nibelungenlied ceases after the fifteenth century: the work is last copied in manuscript as part of the Ambraser Heldenbuch around 1508, and its last mention is by the Viennese historian Wolfgang Lazius in two works from 1554 and 1557 respectively. It

7399-418: The Nibelungenlied manuscript C was rediscovered by Jacob Hermann Obereit in 1755. That same year, Johann Jacob Bodmer publicized the discovery, publishing excerpts and his own reworkings of the poem. Bodmer dubbed the Nibelungenlied the "German Iliad " (" deutsche Ilias "), a comparison that skewed the reception of the poem by comparing it to the poetics of a classical epic. Bodmer attempted to make

7550-481: The Nibelungenlied show that medieval recipients were most interested in the Nibelungenlied as the story of the destruction of the Burgundians; the first half of the poem was often shortened or otherwise summarized. The Ambraser Heldenbuch titles its copy of the Nibelungenlied with "Ditz Puech heysset Chrimhilt" (this book is named "Kriemhild"), showing that she was seen as the most important character. The areas of medieval interest seem in particular to have been

7701-464: The Nibelungenlied was heavily employed in anti-democratic propaganda following the defeat of Germany and Austria-Hungary. The epic supposedly showed that the German people were more well suited to a heroic, aristocratic form of life than democracy. The betrayal and murder of Siegfried was explicitly compared to the "stab in the back" that the German army had supposedly received. At the same time, Hagen and his willingness to sacrifice himself and fight to

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7852-533: The Nibelungs , is an epic poem written around 1200 in Middle High German . Its anonymous poet was likely from the region of Passau . The Nibelungenlied is based on an oral tradition of Germanic heroic legend that has some of its origin in historic events and individuals of the 5th and 6th centuries and that spread throughout almost all of Germanic-speaking Europe. Scandinavian parallels to

8003-527: The Orient and already acquainted with Islamic mysticism prior to reading Schopenhauer in 1854, having written to his friend August Röckel in September 1852 declaring the Persian Sufi poet Hafez to be the "greatest of all poets". Schopenhauer’s discussion of German Christian mystics , such as Meister Eckhart , further piqued Wagner’s interest in mysticism . When Tristan and Isolde willingly drink

8154-529: 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 employed to sing the part of Tristan, but later proved incapable of learning the role. Parallel attempts to stage the opera in Dresden, Weimar and Prague failed. Despite over 70 rehearsals between 1862 and 1864, Tristan und Isolde

8305-531: The Burgundian vassal Hagen with Gunther's involvement. In the second part, the widow Kriemhild is married to Etzel , king of the Huns . She later invites her brother and his court to visit Etzel's kingdom intending to kill Hagen. Her revenge results in the death of all the Burgundians who came to Etzel's court as well as the destruction of Etzel's kingdom and the death of Kriemhild herself. The Nibelungenlied

8456-430: The Burgundians finds its origins in the destruction of the historical Burgundian kingdom on the Rhine. This kingdom, under the rule of king Gundaharius , was destroyed by the Roman general Flavius Aetius in 436/437, with survivors resettled in eastern Gaul in a region centered around modern-day Geneva and Lyon (at the time known as Lugdunum ). The Lex Burgundionum , codified by the Burgundian king Gundobad at

8607-504: The Burgundians, Siegfried cannot be firmly identified with a historical figure. He may have his origins in the Merovingian dynasty, where names beginning with the element Sigi- were common and where there was also a famous and violent queen Brunhilda (543–613). The feud between this historical Brunhilda and the rival queen Fredegund may have provided the origin of the feud between Brünhild and Kriemhild. The name Siegfried itself

8758-514: The Burgundians. He fights Gernot and the two kill each other. Rüdiger's death causes Dietrich von Bern's heroes to intervene, although Dietrich has told them not to. The conflict leads to the death of all the Burgundians except Hagen and Gunther, and all of Dietrich's heroes except for his mentor Hildebrand. Dietrich himself now fights and takes Hagen and Gunther prisoner. Kriemhild demands that Hagen give her back what he has taken from her. He convinces her that he will tell her where Siegfried's hoard

8909-514: The Day's deluded churning, remains one single yearning— the yearning for the Holy Night, where all-eternal's solely true Love does laugh with delight! After expressing this sentiment, the famous Act II love duet, the "Liebesnacht" ("O sink hernieder, Nacht der Liebe"), begins. Here, Tristan and Isolde dedicate themselves to eternal Night and wish that Day would never come again, instead dying

9060-670: The German poem are found especially in the heroic lays of the Poetic Edda and in the Völsunga saga . The poem is split into two parts. In the first part, the prince Siegfried comes to Worms to acquire the hand of the Burgundian princess Kriemhild from her brother King Gunther . Gunther agrees to let Siegfried marry Kriemhild if Siegfried helps Gunther acquire the warrior-queen Brünhild as his wife. Siegfried does this and marries Kriemhild; however, Brünhild and Kriemhild become rivals, leading eventually to Siegfried's murder by

9211-583: The History of Indian Buddhism , and Hindu texts published in Adolf Holtzmann’s Indian Sagas . In addition to Tristan , this culminated in the conception of two additional operas at this time, Die Sieger , based on the life of the Buddhist monk Ānanda , and Parsifal , a Holy Grail quest based on the medieval poem Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach . Wagner was interested in

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9362-664: The Icelandic queen Brünhild as his wife. However, Brünhild is supernaturally strong and challenges those seeking her hand in marriage in various martial and physical contests, killing the losers. Therefore, Gunther wants Siegfried's help; Siegfried tells Gunther he shouldn't marry Brünhild, but is convinced to help by Gunther's promise that he will let him marry Kriemhild in exchange. Arriving in Iceland, Siegfried claims to be Gunther's vassal and uses his magical cloak of invisibility ( Tarnkappe ) to secretly help Gunther win in all of

9513-482: The King if Tristan does not come before her as she had previously ordered and drink atonement to her. When Tristan arrives, Isolde reproaches him about his conduct and tells him that he owes her his life and how his actions have undermined her honour, since she blessed Morold's weapons before battle and therefore she swore revenge. Tristan first offers his sword but Isolde refuses; they must drink atonement. Brangäne brings in

9664-574: The Nationaltheater in Munich, despite the fact that Wagner was having an affair with his wife, Cosima von Bülow . Even then, the planned premiere on 15 May 1865 had to be postponed until the Isolde, Malvina Schnorr von Carolsfeld , had recovered from hoarseness . The work finally premiered on 10 June 1865, with Malvina's husband Ludwig partnering her as Tristan. On 21 July 1865, having sung

9815-432: The Netherlands, Siegfried and Kriemhild are crowned; both couples have a son. Brünhild is unhappy that Siegfried, whom she still believes to be Gunther's vassal, never comes to pay tribute. She convinces Gunther to invite Siegfried and Kriemhild to Worms for a feast. However, she and Kriemhild soon begin arguing about which of their husband's has the higher rank. The conflict peaks when both Kriemhild and Brünhild arrive at

9966-551: The Rhine is thus historically attested, the saga locates its destruction at the court of Attila (Etzel), king of the Huns . The destruction of Attila's kingdom itself is likely inspired by Attila's sudden death following his wedding in 453, which was popularly blamed on his wife, a Germanic woman named Hildico . Her name, containing the element hild , may have inspired that of Kriemhild. Kriemhild most likely originally killed Etzel and avenged her relatives rather than her husband, but this change had already taken place some time before

10117-576: The Tristan legend after his friend, Karl Ritter, attempted to do so, writing that: 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. This influence, together with his discovery of the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer in October 1854, led Wagner to find himself in

10268-409: The caesura. The fourth line adds an additional foot following the caesura, making it longer than the other three and marking the end of the stanza. The final word before the caesura is typically female (a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable), whereas the final word of a line is typical male (a stressed syllable). The lines rhyme in pairs, and occasionally there are internal rhymes between

10419-434: The cathedral at the same time; the higher ranking one should enter first. Brünhild repeats her assertion that Siegfried is a vassal, after which Kriemhild claims that Siegfried, not Gunther, took Brünhild's virginity, producing the ring and belt as proof. Siegfried and Gunther afterwards deny this, but Brünhild remains offended. Hagen advises Gunther to have Siegfried murdered. Hagen goes to Kriemhild and tells her that there

10570-404: The commentary of the narrator, who frequently reminds the poem's audience of the coming catastrophe, while the manner in which the epic is told serves to delay the inevitable disaster. The action becomes more and more intense as the epic nears its end. Behind Nibelungenlied stands a large oral tradition, the so-called Nibelungen saga . This oral tradition, moreover, continued to exist following

10721-538: The composer. Though Wagner was working on his epic Der Ring des Nibelungen , he found himself intrigued by the legend of Tristan and Isolde . The re-discovery of medieval Germanic poetry, including Gottfried von Strassburg 's version of Tristan  [ de ] , the Nibelungenlied and Wolfram von Eschenbach 's Parzival , left a large impact on the German Romantic movements during

10872-464: The composition of the Nibelungenlied , as proven by the Rosengarten zu Worms and Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid , both of which were written later than the Nibelungenlied but contain elements of the saga that are absent in it. These oral traditions have, at least in some cases, a historical core. However, various historical events and figures have been melded together into a single plot in such

11023-573: The composition sketch of the first act. During November, however, he set five of Mathilde's poems to music known today as the Wesendonck Lieder . This was an unusual move by Wagner, who almost never set to music poetic texts other than his own. Wagner described two of the songs – "Im Treibhaus" and "Träume" – as "Studies for Tristan und Isolde": "Träume" uses a motif that forms the love duet in Act II of Tristan , while "Im Treibhaus" introduces

11174-442: The connection of the poem to its traditionally oral subject matter. The Nibelungenlied is written in four-line stanzas. Although no melody has survived for the text, melodies for similar stanzas in other German heroic poems have, so that it is certain that the text was meant to be sung. The stanza consists of three Langzeilen ("long lines"), which consist of three metrical feet , a caesura , and three metrical feet following

11325-401: The content of their speeches are all relatively stable between versions extant before the 1400s. Generally, scholars have proposed that all versions of the Nibelungenlied derive from an original version (the "archetype") via alterations and reworking; Jan-Dirk Müller instead proposes that the Nibelungenlied has always existed in variant forms, connecting this variance to the transmission of

11476-419: The contests and Brünhilt agrees to return to Worms and marry Gunther. Once they have returned, Siegfried ask Kriemhild to marry him; this displeases Brünhild, as she believes Siegfried to be a vassal while Kriemhild is the daughter of a king. When Gunther does not explain why he is letting a vassal marry his sister, Brünhild refuses to sleep with him on their wedding night, instead tying him up and hanging him from

11627-584: The context of the Napoleonic Wars . The Nibelungenlied was supposed to embody German bourgeois virtues that the French were seen as lacking. This interpretation of the epic continued during the Biedermeier period, during which the heroic elements of the poem were mostly ignored in favor of those that could more easily be integrated into a bourgeois understanding of German virtue. The translation of

11778-492: The course of an entire work. The cadences first introduced in the prelude are not resolved until the finale of Act III, 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 – only to deliberately defer the anticipated resolution. One particular example of this technique occurs at the end of the love duet in Act II ("Wie sie fassen, wie sie lassen...") where Tristan and Isolde gradually build up to

11929-468: The creation of the Nibelungenlied . Jan-Dirk Müller doubts that we can be certain which version is more original given that in both cases Kriemhild brings about the destruction of the Hunnish kingdom. The differences may be because the continental saga is more favorable to Attila than the Norse, and so Attila could not be held directly responsible for the treacherous invitation of the Burgundians. Unlike

12080-461: The date the epic must have been composed. Additionally, the poem's rhyming technique most closely resembles that used between 1190 and 1205. Attempts to show that the poem alludes to various historical events have generally not been convincing. The current theory of the creation of the poem emphasizes the poet's concentration on the region of Passau : for example, the poem highlights the relatively unimportant figure of Bishop Pilgrim of Passau , and

12231-517: The death made him into a central figure in the reception of the poem. During the Second World War , Hermann Göring would explicitly use this aspect of the Nibelungenlied to celebrate the sacrifice of the German army at Stalingrad and compare the Soviets to Etzel's Asiatic Huns. Postwar reception and adaptation of the poem, reacting to its misuse by the Nazis, is often parodic. At the same time,

12382-552: The death of his first wife, Helche, Etzel, the king of the Huns, chooses to ask Kriemhild to marry him. All of the Burgundians except for Hagen are in favor of the match. Kriemhild only agrees after Etzel's messenger, Margrave Rüdiger von Bechelaren , swears loyalty to her personally and she realizes she can use the Huns to gain revenge on Siegfried's murderers. Before her departure, she demands Siegfried's treasure but Hagen refuses her. After seven years as Etzel's wife, Kriemhild bears him

12533-470: The different manuscripts of the Nibelungenlied varies considerably from one another, though there is less variance than found in many other Middle High German heroic epics, such as the Dietrich epics . Although the different versions vary in their exact wording and include or exclude stanzas found in other versions, the general order of events, the order of the appearance of characters, their actions, and

12684-407: The dragon's blood to receive an impenetrable skin is then recounted by Hagen , one of Gunther's vassals, when the Burgundians see Siegfried approaching. Siegfried lives in Worms for a year without seeing Kriemhild before Siegfried helps Gunther fight against attack by the Saxons and Danes. Because of his valor in combat, he is finally allowed to see Kriemhild. Gunther decides that he wishes to take

12835-524: The earlier version. It may have been inspired by the prologue of the Nibelungenklage . Manuscript B instead begins with the introduction of Kriemhild , the protagonist of the work. Kriemhild grows up as a beautiful woman in Worms , the capital of the Burgundian kingdom , under the protection of her brothers Gunther , Gernot, and Giselher. There she has a dream portending doom, in which she raises

12986-440: The earliest attested work to connect Siegfried explicitly with the destruction of the Burgundians is the Nibelungenlied itself, though Old Norse parallels make it clear that this tradition must have existed orally for some time. When composing the Nibelungenlied , its poet was faced with setting an oral tradition down into a definitive version although that tradition was by its very nature amorphous. In choosing which elements of

13137-523: The end of the sixth century, contains many names that can be connected with the Nibelungen saga, including, besides Gundaharius, Gislaharius (Giselher), Gundomaris (possibly the historical figure behind the Old Norse Gothorm, who is replaced by Gernot in the German tradition), and Gibica (attested in Germany as Gibich but not found in the Nibelungenlied ). Although the Burgundian kingdom on

13288-622: The epic's material from orality to literacy. Using the versions provided by the three oldest complete manuscripts, the Hohenems-Munich manuscript A (c. 1275-1300), the Sankt Gall manuscript B (c. 1233-1266), and the Hohenems-Donaueschingen manuscript C (c. 1225-1250), scholars have traditionally differentiated two versions that existed near the time of the poem's composition; A and B are counted as belonging to

13439-476: The extinguishing of the brazier – the prearranged signal for Tristan to join her ("Nicht Hörnerschall tönt so hold"). Brangäne warns Isolde that Melot, one of King Marke's knights, has seen the amorous looks exchanged between Tristan and Isolde and suspects their passion ("Ein Einz'ger war's, ich achtet' es wohl"). Isolde, however, believes Melot to be Tristan's most loyal friend, and, in a frenzy of desire, extinguishes

13590-744: The famous opening Tristan chord of its prelude, marks a defining moment in the evolution of modern music, characterized by unprecedented use of chromaticism , tonal ambiguity, orchestral colour, and prolonged harmonic suspension . While these innovations divided audiences initially, the opera grew in popularity and became enormously influential among Western classical composers, providing direct inspiration to Anton Bruckner , Gustav Mahler , Richard Strauss , Alban Berg , Arnold Schoenberg , and Benjamin Britten . Other composers such as Claude Debussy , Maurice Ravel , and Igor Stravinsky formulated their styles in contrast to Wagner's musical legacy. Wagner

13741-596: The ferry once they have landed to show that there can be no return. When the Bavarians attack the Burgundians in order to avenge their ferryman, whom Hagen had killed, Hagen takes control of the defense and defeats them. The Burgundians then arrive in Etzel's kingdom and are welcomed to the city of Bechelaren by the Margrave Rüdiger; on Hagen's suggestion, Rüdiger betroths his daughter to Gisleher and gives Gernot

13892-681: The fight to no avail. Both Melot and Kurwenal are killed in the fight. Marke and Brangäne finally reach Tristan and Isolde. Marke, grieving over the body of his "truest friend" ("Tot denn alles!"), explains that Brangäne revealed the secret of the love potion and that he had come not to part the lovers, but to unite them ("Warum Isolde, warum mir das?"). Isolde appears to wake at this and in a final aria describing her vision of Tristan risen again (the " Liebestod ", "love death"), dies ("Mild und leise wie er lächelt"). Reading The World as Will and Representation by German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer in 1854 profoundly impacted Wagner and triggered in him

14043-402: The first Middle High German heroic poem to be written, the Nibelungenlied can be said to have founded an entire genre of Middle High German literature. As a result, other Middle High German heroic poems are sometimes described as "post-Nibelungian" ("nachnibelungisch"). The majority of these epics revolve around the hero Dietrich von Bern , who plays a secondary role in the Nibelungenlied : it

14194-409: 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. By the end of 1854, Wagner had sketched out all three acts of an opera on the Tristan theme, based on Gottfried von Strassburg's telling of

14345-485: The flames. Brangäne retires to the ramparts to keep watch as Tristan arrives. The lovers, at last alone 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, he claims, that they can truly be together and only in the long night of death can they be eternally united ("O sink' hernieder, Nacht der Liebe"). During their long tryst, Brangäne calls

14496-491: The following feast, Kriemhild has her and Etzel's son Ortlieb brought into the hall. Bloedelin then attacks and kills the Burgundian squires outside the feast hall, but is killed by Hagen's brother, Dankwart. When Dankwart, the sole survivor, enters the hall and reports the attack, Hagen beheads Ortlieb, and fighting breaks out within the feast hall itself. The Huns are unarmed and slaughtered, but Dietrich and Hildebrand arrange for Etzel, Kriemhild, Rüdiger, and their own men to exit

14647-433: The hall. The Burgundians barricade themselves in the hall, which is besieged by Etzel's warriors. Various Hunnish attempts to attack are repulsed, but a truce cannot be agreed because Kriemhild demands that Hagen be handed over to her. Kriemhild orders the hall set on fire, but the Burgundians survive. The next day, Etzel and Kriemhild force Rüdiger to enter the battle, although he is bound by guest-friendship and kinship to

14798-401: The inescapability of the slaughter at the end of the poem and Kriemhild and Hagen's culpability or innocence. The earliest attested reception of the Nibelungenlied , the Nibelungenklage , which was likely written only shortly afterwards, shows an attempt both to make sense of the horror of the destruction and to absolve Kriemhild of blame. The C version of the Nibelungenlied , redacted around

14949-412: The inner world of truth, love, and authentic existence, where Tristan and Isolde can express their love freely and fully. It is a realm where the constraints of the external world are suspended, and their deepest desires can be realized. However, this realm is also linked to death, as true fulfillment and unity can only be achieved beyond the physical world. Schopenhauer's philosophy distinguishes between

15100-428: The intention of marrying Isolde to his uncle, King Marke. Isolde, furious at Tristan's betrayal, insists that he drink atonement to her, and from her medicine chest produces a vial to make the drink. Brangäne is shocked to see that it is a lethal poison. Kurwenal appears in the women's quarters ("Auf auf! Ihr Frauen!") and announces that the voyage is coming to an end. Isolde warns Kurwenal that she will not appear before

15251-462: The king's lands in Cornwall . The opera opens with the voice of a young sailor singing of a "wild Irish maid" ("Westwärts schweift der Blick"), which Isolde construes to be a mocking reference to herself. In a furious outburst, she wishes the seas to rise up and sink the ship, killing herself and all on board ("Erwache mir wieder, kühne Gewalt"). Her scorn and rage are directed particularly at Tristan,

15402-401: The knight responsible for taking her to Marke, and Isolde sends Brangäne to command Tristan to appear before her ("Befehlen liess' dem Eigenholde"). Tristan, however, refuses Brangäne's request, claiming that his place is at the helm. His henchman, Kurwenal, answers more brusquely, saying that Isolde is in no position to command Tristan and reminds Brangäne that Isolde's previous fiancé, Morold ,

15553-427: The libretto. The music itself embodies Schopenhauer's concept of the Will, a force that is inherently restless and never fully satisfied that drives all human urges and desires, leading to a cycle of longing and suffering. Wagner captures this in the musical structure of the opera through his use of unresolved harmonic tension and extreme chromaticism, creating a sense of perpetual yearning and lack of resolution. Only at

15704-468: The loyalty to death between Hagen and the Burgundians. While militaristic, the use of imagery from the Nibelungenlied remained optimistic in this period rather than focusing on the doom at the end of the epic. The interwar period saw the Nibelungenlied enter the world of cinema in Fritz Lang 's two part film Die Nibelungen (1924/1925), which tells the entire story of the poem. At the same time,

15855-521: The mid-19th century. The story of Tristan and Isolde is a quintessential romance of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance . Several versions of the story exist, the earliest dating to the middle of the 12th century. Gottfried's version, part of the "courtly" branch of the legend, had a huge influence on later German literature. According to his autobiography , Mein Leben , Wagner decided to dramatise

16006-447: The narrative progresses in blocks: the first three lines carry the story forward, while the fourth introduces foreshadowing of the disaster at the end or comments on events. The fourth line is thus often the most formulaic of the stanza. Stanzas often seem to have been placed after each other without necessarily being causally or narratively connected; for instance, two consecutive stanzas might portray two different reactions to an event by

16157-632: The only performers of the roles were another husband–wife team, Heinrich Vogl and Therese Vogl . The next production of Tristan was in Weimar in 1874. Wagner himself supervised another production of Tristan in Berlin in March 1876, but the opera was only performed in his own theatre at the Bayreuth Festival after his death; Cosima Wagner, his widow, oversaw this in 1886, a production that

16308-500: The opening of the opera in a distorted form, instructing the passage to be played ' avec une grande emotion '. However, Debussy was highly influenced by Wagner and was particularly fond of Tristan. Frequent moments of Tristan -inspired tonality mark Debussy's early compositions. Tristan und Isolde is scored for the following instruments: on-stage Isolde , promised to King Marke in marriage, and her handmaid, Brangäne , are quartered aboard Tristan's ship being transported to

16459-649: The opera. This is in contrast to Wagner’s earlier theorizing in The Artwork of the Future (1849) that music, poetry, and drama should be balanced and serve as equal partners in the Gesamtkunstwerk . Wagner gives heightened importance to music in Tristan und Isolde , often regarded as his most symphonically rich work. Unlike his other operas, Wagner wrote some music material for Tristan prior to completing

16610-493: The other hand, is shared with the Danubian minnesinger known as Der von Kürenberg who flourished in the 1150s and 1160s. The Nibelungenlied- poet may have been inspired by this lyrical stanza. Their use of the stanza would thus cite an oral story-telling tradition while at the same time creating some distance to it. Philologist Andreas Heusler supposed that the poet had taken some earlier orally transmitted stanzas and added

16761-680: The plan. He then proposed that the premiere take place in Strasbourg , following interest in the project shown by the Grand Duchess of Baden. Again, the project failed to eventuate. His thoughts then turned to Paris, the centre of the operatic world in the middle of the 19th century. However, after a disastrous staging of Tannhäuser at the Paris Opéra , Wagner offered the work to the Karlsruhe opera in 1861. When Wagner visited

16912-415: The poem are constructed in a much less regular manner. It is likely that the Nibelungenlied cites an oral story-telling tradition in using singable stanzas; however, the longer final line is generally thought to belong to a more refined artistic milieu, as later heroic epics typically use a stanza without this longer final line (the so-called "Hildebrandston" ). The stanzaic form of the Nibelungenlied , on

17063-472: The poem continues to play a role in regional culture and history, particularly in Worms and other places mentioned in the Nibelungenlied . Much discussion has centered on whether and how the epic ought to be taught in schools. The material of the Nibelungen saga has continued to inspire new adaptations. These include Die Nibelungen , a German remake of Fritz Lang's film from 1966/67, and the television film Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King from 2004. However,

17214-512: The poem despite not having lived at the same time historically. The Nibelungen saga also seems to have had an early reception in Scandinavia, so that parallel stories are found among the heroic lays of the Poetic Edda (written down in 1270 but containing at least some much older material) and in the Völsunga saga (written down in the second half of the thirteenth century). While the Norse texts were once usually considered to contain

17365-400: The poem in its written form is entirely new, although he admits the possibility that an orally transmitted epic with relatively consistent contents could have preceded it. German philologist Elisabeth Lienert, on the other hand, posits an earlier version of the text from around 1150 due to the Nibelungenlied's use of a stanzaic form current around that time (see Form and style ). Whoever

17516-768: The poem was Richard Wagner 's operatic cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen , which, however, was based almost entirely on the Old Norse versions of the Nibelung saga. Wagner's preference for the Old Norse versions followed a popular judgment of the time period: the Nordic versions were seen as being more "original" than the courtly story portrayed in the German poem. In the First World War , the alliance between Germany and Austria-Hungary came to be described as possessing Nibelungen-Treue (Nibelungen loyalty), referring to

17667-498: The poet may have been, they appear to have had a knowledge of German Minnesang and chivalric romance . The poem's concentration on love ( minne ) and its depiction of Siegfried as engaging in love service for Kriemhild is in line with courtly romances of the time, with Heinrich von Veldeke 's Eneasroman perhaps providing concrete models. Other possible influences are Hartmann von Aue 's Iwein and Erec . These courtly elements are described by Jan-Dirk Müller as something of

17818-430: The poet's geographical knowledge appears much more firm in this region than elsewhere. These facts, combined with the dating, have led scholars to believe that Wolfger von Erla , Bishop of Passau (reigned 1191–1204) was the patron of the poem. Wolfger is known to have patronized other literary figures, such as Walther von der Vogelweide and Thomasin von Zirclaere . The attention paid to Bishop Pilgrim, who represents

17969-492: The potion at the end of Act I but do not die, their eyes are opened to the illusions of material Day and to the higher spiritual insight of Night. Tristan celebrates the enlightenment brought about by the potion in Act II: Oh hail the potion! Hail to the draft! Hail to its magic's magnificent craft! Through the gates of Death, to me it flowed, wide and open, for me it showed, that which I've only dreamed to have sight,

18120-505: The potion that will seal their pardon; Tristan knows that it may kill him, since he knows Isolde's magic powers ("Wohl kenn' ich Irlands Königin"). The journey almost at its end, Tristan drinks and Isolde takes half the potion for herself. The potion seems to work, but instead of death, it brings relentless love ("Tristan!" "Isolde!"). Kurwenal, who announces the imminent arrival on board of King Marke, interrupts their rapture. Isolde asks Brangäne which potion she prepared and Brangäne replies, as

18271-420: The real historical figure Bishop Pilgrim of Passau, would thus be an indirect homage to Wolfger. Wolfger was, moreover, attempting to establish the sainthood of Pilgrim at the time of the poem's composition, giving an additional reason for his prominence. Some debate exists as to whether the poem is an entirely new creation or whether there was a previous version. German medievalist Jan-Dirk Müller claims that

18422-534: The reason for his betrayal to the King, as he believes the King wouldn't understand. He then turns to Isolde, who agrees to accompany him once again into the realm of night. Tristan further reveals that Melot has also fallen in love with Isolde. A fight ensues between Melot and Tristan, but at a critical moment, Tristan deliberately throws his sword aside, allowing Melot to stab him. Kurwenal has brought Tristan home to his castle at Kareol in Brittany . A shepherd pipes

18573-507: The role only four times, Ludwig died suddenly – prompting speculation that the exertion involved in singing the part of Tristan had killed him. (The stress of performing Tristan has also claimed the lives of conductors Felix Mottl in 1911 and Joseph Keilberth in 1968. Both men died after collapsing while conducting the second act of the opera.) Malvina sank into a deep depression over her husband's death, and never sang again, although she lived for another 38 years. For some years thereafter,

18724-399: The saga to include in his version, the poet therefore often incorporated two versions of an event that were likely not combined in the oral tradition. An example is the beginning of the fighting in Etzel's hall, which is motivated both by an attack on the Burgundians' supplies and Hagen's killing of prince Ortlieb . The Old Norse Thidrekssaga , which is based on German sources, contains only

18875-402: The saga. Most significantly, the poet has suppressed the mythological or fantastical elements of Siegfried's story. When these elements are introduced, it is in a retrospective tale narrated by Hagen that reduces the slaying of the dragon to a single stanza. Hagen's story, moreover, does not accord with Siegfried's youth as the narrator of the Nibelungenlied has portrayed it, in which he receives

19026-412: The sailors hail the arrival of King Marke, that it was not poison ; rather, she has substituted a love potion in order to save Isolde from herself. King Marke leads a hunting party out into the night, leaving Isolde and Brangäne alone in the castle, who both stand beside a burning brazier. Isolde, listening to the hunting horns, believes several times that the hunting party is far enough away to warrant

19177-445: The same figure. Often, the same reaction is given to multiple figures in different stanzas, so that the impression of collective rather than individual reactions is created. Enjambment between stanzas is very rare. The epic frequently creates multiple motivations for events, some of which may contradict each other. This style of narration also causes the events within the poem to come to a frequent halt, which can last for years within

19328-596: The same time as the Klage , shows a similar strategy. The presence of the Nibelungenklage in all manuscripts of the Nibelungenlied shows that the ending of the Nibelungenlied itself was evidently unsatisfying to its primary audience without some attempt to explain these two "scandalous" elements. The Rosengarten zu Worms , on the other hand, demonizes Kriemhild thoroughly, while the late-medieval Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid takes her side even more strongly. As

19479-579: The second act of Tristan during his eight-month exile in Venice, where he lived in the Palazzo Giustinian . In March 1859, fearing extradition to Saxony , where he was still considered a fugitive , Wagner moved to Lucerne where he composed the last act, completing it in August 1859. Tristan und Isolde proved to be a difficult opera to stage, and Wagner considered various possibilities for

19630-646: The second act of Tristan . However, Minna's return in July 1858 did not clear the air, and on 17 August, Wagner was forced to leave both Minna and Mathilde and move to Venice . Wagner would later describe 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. Wagner finished

19781-432: The second act to designate the realms inhabited by Tristan and Isolde. The Day represents the external world of social obligations, duties, and constraints—embodied by King Marke's court, where Tristan and Isolde must suppress their love and live according to the norms and expectations of society. This is a world of falsehood and deception because it requires them to deny their true feelings. The Night, by contrast, represents

19932-467: The second element, meaning that the two motivations were likely variants that were hardly ever combined in practice. Victor Millet concludes that the poet deliberately doubles the motivations or occurrences of various events, including Siegfried's wooing of Kriemhild, the deception of Brünhild, Hagen's humiliation of Kriemhild, and Kriemhild's demand for the return of Nibelungen treasure. The poet also appears to have significantly altered various aspects of

20083-627: The shepherd is heard piping the arrival of Isolde's ship, and, as Kurwenal rushes to meet her, Tristan tears the bandages from his wounds in his excitement ("Hahei! Mein Blut, lustig nun fliesse!"). As Isolde arrives at his side, Tristan dies with her name on his lips. Isolde collapses beside her deceased lover just as the appearance of another ship is announced. Kurwenal spies Melot, Marke and Brangäne arriving ("Tod und Hölle! Alles zur Hand!"). He believes they have come to kill Tristan and, in an attempt to avenge him, furiously attacks Melot. Marke tries to stop

20234-406: The story. While the earliest extant sketches date from December 1856, it was not until August 1857 that Wagner began devoting his attention entirely to the opera, putting aside the composition of Siegfried to do so. On 20 August he began the prose sketch for the opera, and the libretto (or poem , as Wagner preferred to call it) was completed by 18 September. Wagner, at this time, had moved into

20385-409: The time portrayed in the poem. The division of the epic into Âventiuren ( lit.   ' adventures ' ) underlines the disconnect between the various episodes. The connection between the first half of the epic (Siegfried's murder) and the second half (Kriemhild's marriage to Etzel) is especially loose. The epic nevertheless maintains the causal and narrative connection between episodes through

20536-685: The venue. In 1857 he was invited by a representative of Pedro II , Emperor of Brazil , to stage his operas in Rio de Janeiro (in Italian, the language of the Imperial Opera); he told Liszt he was considering settling in Rio, and that that city would be given the honour of premiering Tristan . Wagner sent the Emperor bound copies of his earlier operas in expression of his interest, but nothing more came of

20687-430: The very end of the opera, when Isolde undergoes transfiguration and "Love-Death", does the musical tension finally resolve. The passion of the music is often referred to as being "sensual" and "erotic", this not only reflects the desires of the illicit lovers but is consistent with Schopenhauer's position that the sexual urge is the most powerful manifestation of the Will. Wagner uses the metaphors of "Day" and "Night" in

20838-479: The wondrous realm of Night! Mythologist Joseph Campbell described this moment of drinking the potion as follows: "...as [Tristan and Isolde] have already renounced psychologically both love as lust and the fear of death, when they drink, and live, and again look upon each other, the veil of māyā has fallen." Māyā is a concept in the Indian religions that refers to the appearance of the material world, connoting

20989-534: The words at the end of the caesura, as in the first stanza (see Synopsis ). Medieval German literature scholar Victor Millet uses the poem's sixth stanza as an example of this metrical form. An acute accent indicates the stressed beat of a metrical foot, and || indicates the caesura: Ze Wórmez bí dem Ríne || si wónten mít ir kráft. in díente vón ir lánden || vil stólziu ríterscáft mit lóbelíchen éren || unz án ir éndes zít. si stúrben sit jǽmerlíche || von zwéier édelen fróuwen nít. Many stanzas of

21140-649: The world as " Phenomenon "—the world of appearances shaped by our perceptions and intellect—and the " Noumenon ", which refers to the underlying reality that is not directly accessible to us but is the true essence of existence. Wagner implicitly equates the realm of Day with Schopenhauer's concept of Phenomenon and the realm of Night with the concept of Noumenon. In the years leading up to 1857, when Wagner would set aside his work on The Ring to instead focus on Tristan und Isolde , Wagner’s interests were dominated by spiritual matters. In 1855 his attention turned to Indian religion , reading Eugène Burnouf’s Introduction to

21291-429: Was actually Tristan, the murderer of her fiancé. Isolde attempted to kill the man with his own sword as he lay helpless before her. However, Tristan looked not at the sword that would kill him or the hand that wielded the sword, but into her eyes ("Er sah' mir in die Augen"). His gaze pierced her heart and she was unable to slay him. Tristan was allowed to leave with the promise never to come back, but he later returned with

21442-509: Was forced to abandon his position as conductor of the Dresden Opera in 1849, as there was a warrant posted for his arrest for his participation in the unsuccessful May Revolution . He left his wife, Minna , in Dresden, and fled to Zürich . There, in 1852, he met the wealthy silk trader Otto Wesendonck. Wesendonck became a supporter of Wagner and bankrolled the composer for several years. Wesendonck's wife, Mathilde , became enamoured of

21593-580: Was held at the Metropolitan Opera in December 1886, conducted by Anton Seidl . The score of Tristan und Isolde has often been cited as a landmark in the development of Western music. Throughout the opera, Wagner uses a remarkable range of orchestral colour, harmony, and polyphony, doing so with a freedom rarely found in his earlier operas. The first chord in the piece, the Tristan chord ,

21744-442: Was inspired in part by the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer , as well as by his relationship with his muse Mathilde Wesendonck . The opera, which explores existential themes such as that of mankind's insatiable striving and the transcendental nature of love and death, incorporates spirituality from Christian mysticism and well as Vedantic and Buddhist metaphysics, subjects that also interested Schopenhauer. As such, Wagner

21895-482: Was killed by Tristan ("Herr Morold zog zu Meere her"). Brangäne returns to Isolde to relate these events, and Isolde, in what is termed the "narrative and curse", sadly tells her of how, following the death of Morold, she happened upon a stranger who called himself Tantris. Tantris was found mortally wounded in a barge ("von einem Kahn, der klein und arm") and Isolde used her healing powers to restore him to health. She discovered during Tantris' recovery, however, that he

22046-466: Was not printed and appears to have been forgotten. The Nibelungen saga, however, was not forgotten completely; the Rosengarten zu Worms was printed as part of the printed Heldenbuch until 1590 and inspired several plays in the early seventeenth century, while Hürnen Seyfrid continued to be printed into the nineteenth century in a prose version. After having been forgotten for two hundred years,

22197-469: Was one of the earliest Western artists to introduce concepts from the Dharmic religions into their works. Tristan und Isolde is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest achievements of Western art music , intriguing audiences with philosophical depths not usually associated with opera, and the "terrible and sweet infinity" of its musical-poetic language. Its advanced harmony, immediately announced by

22348-481: Was the first heroic epic put into writing in Germany, helping to found a larger genre of written heroic poetry there. The poem's tragedy appears to have bothered its medieval audience, and very early on a sequel was written, the Nibelungenklage , which made the tragedy less final. The poem was forgotten after around 1500 but was rediscovered in 1755. Dubbed the "German Iliad ", the Nibelungenlied began

22499-621: Was to prove immensely influential in western Classical music. Wagner's use of musical colour also influenced the development of film music . Bernard Herrmann 's score for Alfred Hitchcock 's classic, Vertigo , is heavily reminiscent of the Liebestod , most evidently in the resurrection scene. The Liebestod was incorporated in Luis Buñuel 's Surrealist film L'Age d'Or . Not all composers, however, reacted favourably: Claude Debussy 's piano piece " Golliwog's Cakewalk " mockingly quotes

22650-454: Was unable to be staged in Vienna, winning the opera a reputation as unperformable. It was only after King Ludwig II of Bavaria became a sponsor of Wagner (he granted the composer a generous stipend and supported Wagner's artistic endeavours in other ways) that enough resources could be found to mount the premiere of Tristan und Isolde . Hans von Bülow was chosen to conduct the production at

22801-498: Was widely acclaimed. The first production outside of Germany was given at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane , London in 1882; Tristan was performed by Hermann Winkelmann , who later that year sang the title role of Parsifal at Bayreuth. It was conducted by Hans Richter , who also conducted the first Covent Garden production two years later. Winkelmann was also the first Vienna Tristan, in 1883. The first American performance

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