Based largely on the 12th-century romance, Tristan and Iseult, by Gottfried von Strassburg, Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde – widely regarded as the greatest paean to pure erotic love recalling the legendary days of King Arthur – is notable for the composer’s unprecedented use of chromaticism, tonal ambiguity, orchestral colour and harmonic suspension. Wagner’s inspiration for writing it was greatly influenced by the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer as well as by his love affair with Mathilde Wesendonck, the wife of the successful silk merchant, Otto Wesendonck.
While Wagner was working on Der Ring des Nibelungen he was intrigued by the legend of Tristan and Isolde, a tragic tale of forbidden love between Tristan, a Cornish knight and sea captain, and Isolde, an Irish princess. The scenario follows Tristan’s voyage to Ireland returning with Isolde to marry his uncle King Marke of Cornwall against her will. On their journey, Tristan and Isolde consume a love potion – being a daughter of a witch, I guess Isolde was used to potions and suchlike – which ultimately leads to an uncontrollable and passionate love affair leading to tragedy.
The opera proved difficult to bring to the stage. Lots do, of course. Alois Ander, employed to sing Tristan, proved incapable of learning the part while parallel attempts to stage it in Dresden, Weimar and Prague came to nothing winning the opera a reputation as unperformable. Even the planned première on 15th May 1865 had to be postponed until Malvina Schnorr von Carolsfeld had recovered from a throat infection. The opera finally received it première on 10th June 1865 at the Königliches Hoftheater und Nationaltheater, Munich, with Hans von Bülow conducting and Malvina’s husband, Ludwig, partnering her as Tristan.
Having sung 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 may have 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 which, incidentally, Wagner finished at his home in Venice at Palazzo Giustinian overlooking the Grand Canal.
Eventually, Tristan found ground and was enormously influential to such distinguished composers as Alban Berg, Gustav Mahler, Arnold Schoenberg, Richard Strauss and, indeed, Benjamin Britten. In fact, during the playing of the Prelude, my thoughts wandered and caught up with the opening scene of Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier.
Enjoying 32 productions at Bayreuth between 1886 and 2022, this current production of Tristan, which first saw the light of day at last year’s festival thereby marking the 149th anniversary of its world première, fell to Icelandic-born director, Thorliefur Örn Arnarsson, making his début on the Green Hill.
So, too, is Lithuanian set designer and visual artist, Vytautas Narbutas, who created three impressive and imaginative sets fitting so well the overall scenario of such a fine and intriguing production. The first act takes place on the ship’s deck with standard rope rigging offering a decorative nautical touch to the overall stage picture witnessing Isolde sitting centre stage in a long-flowing ‘fit-and-flare’ custom-designed wedding dress lovingly created by Sibylle Wallum perusing the horizon thinking about life, the future, that sort of thing!
In fact, the scene recalls to mind Christoph Marthaler’s unconventional and minimalist Tristan seen at Bayreuth in 2009 in which the action took place on a large cruise ship devoid of passengers and isolated to a haunting degree thereby equating to the opera’s main characters, Tristan and Isolde.
The scenario of act II transports one to the ship’s hold stuffed with luggage and all sorts of personal trappings (I think I spied a stuffed fox) that Isolde needs in readiness to start her new life as the wife of King Marke, interrupted, though, on the journey to Cornwall by her falling head-over-heels in love with his nephew, the knight and sea captain. Tristan.
In the final act the action moves to the ship’s rather isolated main deck which could be seen as representing the destruction of the spirit and the sinking of the soul as Tristan lies dead with Isolde only a short distance away. Transfigured by her emotions she sings the great Liebestod (Love-Death aria) joining Tristan in death with King Marke dispassionately looking on.
A well-cast show all round it featured Austrian heldentenor, Andreas Schager as Tristan, who delivers a stoic and brilliant interpretation of this independent and charismatic character cutting through the score like a knife through butter with German bass, Günther Groissböck, matching well his performance by putting in a strong, authoritative and detailed performance as King Marke.
He produces a forlorn approach to this grand role showing his contempt not, I feel, for Isolde but for the betrayal by his nephew while Finnish soprano, Camilla Nylund, proves a wonderful Wagnerian singer who truly shows her colours and stamina in the strenuous role of Isolde. When you think of it, she’s on stage for the best part of the first two acts either engaging in solo arias or duets.
Supporting roles from the likes of Ekaterina Gubanova (Brangäne), Jordan Shanahan (Kurwenal) and Alexander Grassauer (Melot) are well executed while those lovely junior roles comprising the Shepherd (Daniel Jenz), the Steersman (Lawson Anderson) and the Young Sailor (Matthew Newlin) were confidently sung.
The philosophical element appertaining to Tristan becomes apparent when one recalls Wagner was among one of the first European composers to appreciate Buddhism and, indeed, to be inspired by this religion. Therefore, in 1856, in the prime of his creativity and at 33 years old, he read his first book about Buddhism and conceived two deeply connected opera projects associated with it: one was Die Sieger (The Victors), an opera scenario based on an Indian Buddhist legend translated from Sanskrit but, more importantly, the other was Tristan und Isolde.
These two projects mirrored Wagner’s burning desire for the consummation of his love and the necessity of renunciation and this Buddhist opera project occupied Wagner’s mind for decades until his death in 1883. Indeed, the composer’s last words were about the Buddhist figure of his scenario and his relationship with the opposite sex.
Therefore, Thorliefur Örn Arnarsson’s realization of Tristan, I feel, is a well-planned and thoughtful affair while adding weight to Wagner’s metaphor of Day and Night in which he usefully employs in the second act to designate the realms inhabited by the two stricken lovers.
For instance, the world of Day is one in which the lovers are bound by the dictates of King Marke’s court in which they must smother their mutual love and pretend as if they do not care for each other. A realm of falsehood and unreality. And under the dictates of the realm of Day, Tristan’s forced to remove Isolde from Ireland and wed her to Marke totally against his secret desires.
In stark contrast, the realm of Night, represents the intrinsic reality in which the lovers can be together, their desires openly expressed and, therefore, reaching fulfilment. But the realm of Night also becomes the realm of Death, too, the only world in which Tristan and Isolde can really be as one forever in eternity.
Of course, the big moment comes in the third act with Isolde, in a climatic burst of dramatic energy and transfigured by her emotions, sings so tenderly and sorrowfully the ‘Liebestod’ – Liebe (love); Tod (death). However, in this production, Isolde’s not seen cradling her lover Tristan in her arms in the usual way but is seen crawling about the stage clasping her wedding dress just a short distance away which could be said mirrors the barrier that stood between them right from the very start.
Achieving a good balance between pit and the stage, Soviet-born American conductor. Semyon Bychkov, took charge of a brilliant and honest production with members of the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, hand-picked from some of the best orchestras in Germany, who play such a dominant role commenting on every psychological and dramatic development through leitmotivs and the endless melodising that Wagner substituted for arias and duets, found themselves on top form especially in the big orchestral flourishes such as the famous ‘Tristan chord’ heard in the opening scene, the ‘Liebestod’ motif, the ‘pain of death’ motif (prominently featured as Tristan lies dying) and the ‘glance’ motif (the fateful exchange that triggers their passionate, yet doomed love affair in the first act and recalled in the final act) were magnificently and rapturously played while the cor anglais solo highlighting the Shepherd’s lament in act III, a tender, mournful and serene melody, was gently, smoothly and so refreshingly played reflecting the desolate mood of the doomed lovers. Romeo and Juliet – move over!
Conductor: Semyon Bychkov
Director: Thorliefur Örn Arnarsson
Set designer: Vytautas Narbutas
Costume designer: Sibylle Wallum
Lighting designer: Sascha Zauner
Dramaturgy: Andri Hardmeier
Chorus master: Thomas Eitler-de Lint
Bayreuth Festival Orchestra
Bayreuth Festival Chorus
Tristan: Andreas Schager
Isolde: Camilla Nylund
King Marke: Günther Groissböck
Kurwenal: Jordan Shanahan
Melot: Alexander Grassauer
Brangäne: Ekaterina Gubanova
Shepherd: Daniel Jenz
Steersman: Lawson Anderson
Young sailor: Matthew Newlin
[Note: All Images in this post are courtesy Bayreuther Festspiele / Enrico Nawrath, and are used with permission.]
