Richard Wagner, Tristan und Isolde

Artist and Work

Richard Wagner. Tristan und Isolde.

Program Description

While writing the Ring cycle, Wagner decided to take a break and write a different opera. Most composers would have selected a comedy, or at least something lighter, but not Wagner: he decided to write one of his most demanding works, Tristan und Isolde. Tristan is unlike any other opera by Wagner, or anyone else, in its concentration upon the inner lives of its protagonists. It is an opera about love or, to be more precise, about desire and yearning for the infinite. The love of Tristan and Isolde is really not in any way akin to the love of Romeo and Juliet, or Heloise and Abélard. A meeting of glances – the “Augenblick” – followed by no words of explanation, no declaration of love, is the key to the whole drama. From the very first mesmerizing chord, the so-called Tristan chord, the complexity and beauty of the music captivates listeners, and the drama of the work, both musically as well as the story itself, makes it unique in the history of opera.

Discussion Leader

Iain Scott is one of Canada’s leading experts on opera. His company Opera-IS develops opera appreciation courses, opera tours, and opera guides. He has been a regular guest quiz panelist and commentator on CBC Radio’s Saturday Afternoon at the Opera and Texaco Opera Quiz from the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Iain is also in great demand as a lecturer on opera in Canada and the U.S. He is excited to lead a seminar on a work that changed the entire course of Western music.