Today in Music (1865): Wagner's Tristan und Isolde opera premiered

Tristan and Isolde Richard Wagner (composer)

Recorded: 1857-1859 Premiered: June 10, 1865 Peak: -- Sales (in millions): -- Genre: classical > opera

Parts/Movements: Act I: Prelude "Hab acht, Tristan!" (Kurvenal) "Doch nun von Tristan!" (Isolde) "Wie lachend sie mir Lieer singen" (Isolde's Narrative and Curse) "So reihte sie die Mutter" (Brangane) "Begehrt, Herrin was ihr wunscht" (Tristan) Act II: Prelude a. "Isolde! Geliebte! Tristan! geliebter" (Tristan, Isolde) b. "O eitler Tagesknecht!" (Isolde) c. "O sink hernieder" (Beide) a. "Einsam wachend" (Brangane's Waming) b. "Lausch Geliebter!" c. "So sturben wir" (Tristan) d. "Lass' mich sterben!" (Isolde) "Tatest du's wirklich?" (King Marke's Monologue) "Konig... Wohin nun Tristan scheidet" (Tristan) Act III: Prelude "Die alte Weise - was weckt sie mich?" (Tristan) "Dunkt dich das?" (Tristan) "Wie sie selig" "O diese Sonne!" (Tristan) "Ha! Ich bin's, ich bin's" (Isolde) "Mild und leise" (Liebestod) (Isolde) "Prelude und Liebestod" (Concert version, arr. Humperdinck) Total Running Time: 222:30

Rating: 4.525 out of 5.00 (average of 2 ratings) Quotable: “One of the peaks of the operatic repertoire” – Wikipedia Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Work: “Wagner once explained it was his need to ‘vent his feelings musically’ that led him to compose Tristan und Isolde.” TM “This is a work of surprising sensuality – each bit of simmering musical tension becomes an integral part of the narrative.” TM He was inspired by his affair with Mathilde Wesendonck, his patron’s wife to whom he wrote poems which became the basis for five of the opera’s songs. JH The opera is largely based on Tristan, a 12th-century romance by Gottfried von Strassburg. Wagner “stated in his 1860 essay The Music of the Future, he wanted to compose an opera of more modest scale with a chance of being produced.” JH It premiered on June 10, 1865 at the Königliches Hof- und Nationaltheater in Munich with Hans von Bülow as the conductor. WK It “was notable for Wagner’s unprecedented use of chromaticism, tonal ambiguity, orchestral colour and harmonic suspension.” WK Many view Wagner’s opera as the onset of a movement away from “common practice harmony and tonality” WK which launched musical modernism and “the direction of classical music in the 20th century.” WK Wagner’s “libretto style and music” served as enormous influences on 19th and early 20th century symbolist poets as well as Western classical composers, proving inspirational to Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, Karol Szymanowski, Alban Berg, Arnold Schoenberg and Benjamin Britten. WK “The harmonic language of Tristan…not only enacts musically the sexual tension between the opera’s two central characters, but also points to the liberation of dissonance from the constraints of tonality that Arnold Schoenberg and others in the twentieth century would champion. The Prelude to Tristan fully exemplifies Wagner’s forward-looking approach to both harmony and the issue of musical form – or, some would say, formlessness – that operates centrally in his music-dramas.” JH Wagner also used instrumental music to introduce “central motives which correspond with characters and ideas.” JH “The famed ‘love duet’ in the second act…is not just another memorable opera moment…It’s larger than life, a meeting of big voices that spirals into something of a marathon. When the first act ends, Tristan has ingested what he believes is a death potion, served up by the spiteful Isolde in a moment of vengeance. Unbeknownst to either, Isolde’s maid has swapped the cocktail for a love potion, and in Act 2 the pair marvel at and celebrate the circumstances that have brought them together.” TM

Resources and Related Links: JH Jennifer Hambrick, AllMusic.com TM Tom Moon (2008). 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die. Workman Publishing Company, Inc.: New York, NY. Page 838. WK Wikipedia Related DMDB Links: Last updated 2/25/2026.