Tristan und Isolde

*Tristan und Isolde*
Tristan und Isolde
Music drama by Richard Wagner
	Ludwig and Malvina Schnorr von Carolsfeld as Tristan and Isolde in the first performance, conducted by Hans von Bülow
Librettist	Richard Wagner
Language	German
Based on	Tristan and Iseult; by Gottfried von Strassburg
Premiere	10 June 1865; Königliches Hof- und Nationaltheater, Munich

Tristan und Isolde (Tristan and Isolde), WWV 90, is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the 12th-century romance Tristan and Iseult by Gottfried von Strassburg. It was composed between 1857 and 1859 and premiered at the Königliches Hoftheater und Nationaltheater in Munich on 10 June 1865 with Hans von Bülow conducting. Wagner referred to the work not as an opera, but called it "eine Handlung" (literally a drama, a plot, or an action).

Wagner's composition of Tristan und Isolde was inspired by the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer (particularly The World as Will and Representation), as well as by Wagner's affair with Mathilde Wesendonck. Widely acknowledged as a pinnacle of the operatic repertoire, Tristan was notable for Wagner's unprecedented use of chromaticism, tonal ambiguity, orchestral colour, and harmonic suspension.

The opera was enormously influential among Western classical composers and provided direct inspiration to composers such as 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.^{[citation needed]} Many see Tristan as a milestone on the move away from common practice harmony and tonality and consider that it lays the groundwork for the direction of classical music in the 20th century.^[1] Both Wagner's libretto style and music were also profoundly influential on the symbolist poets of the late 19th century and early 20th century.^[2]

The autograph manuscript of the opera is preserved in the Richard Wagner Foundation.

^ Millington 1992, p. 301.
^ The Richard Wagner Cult, Degeneration (1892), translated by G.l. Mosse, New York, 1968, pp. 171–213.

[FOOTNOTEMillington1992301-1] Millington 1992, p. 301.

[2] The Richard Wagner Cult, Degeneration (1892), translated by G.l. Mosse, New York, 1968, pp. 171–213.

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